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The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in Texas’s favor, lifting an injunction that ordered the state to remove buoys it placed in the Rio Grande River to deter illegal border crossings.
TheBidenDepartmentofJusticebroughtalegalchallengeagainsttheLoneStarStatelastyearforinstallingthebuoyswithoutfederalauthorization.
AssociateAttorneyGeneralVanitaGuptaclaimedthefloatingbarrierwasathreattonavigationandpresentedapublicsafetyconcern.Italsorisked“damagingU.S.foreignpolicy”withMexicooverthecountry’sobjectiontothebarrier.
In2023,Texasdeployedthebuoystoaddressthehistoriclevelsofaliensattemptingillegal,dangerous—andinsomecases,deadly—rivercrossings.TheBidenAdministrationthensuedanddemandedTexasremovethebuoysandreopentheborder.AfederaldistrictcourtgrantedtheBidenAdministrationapreliminaryinjunctionandorderedthebuoystoberemovedandaFifthCircuitpanelissuedasplitdecisionupholdingtheorder.However,inJanuary2024,AttorneyGeneralPaxtonsecuredanenbancrehearingbeforetheFifthCircuit.
Thefullcourthasnowruledthatt