Texas will be allowed to keep its floating border barrier deterring illegal crossings across the Rio Grande thanks to a Thursday ruling from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Appeals Court granted a motion from Texas to place an administrative stay after Senior U.S. District Court Judge David Ezra ordered Texas officials to remove the floating barriers from the river that Governor Greg Abbott (R-TX) had installed.
Abbott’s legal team said on Thursday that “buoys have nearly eliminated illegal crossings of people and drugs where they’ve been placed.”
Ezra’s order followed the Department of Justice suing Texas over the barrier, citing environmental and humanitarian concerns. Ezra, a Reagan appointee, said Texas’ actions had violated the Rivers and Harbors Act (RHA) of 1899.
“The Court finds that the barrier’s threat to human life, its impairment to free and safe navigation, and its contraindication to the balance of priorities Congress struck in the RHA…
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