The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday ruled in the Biden administration’s favor and ordered Texas to remove its border buoys from the Rio Grande.
In a 2-1 decision, the conservative appeals court upheld a lower court’s preliminary injunction issued in September.
In July, the Justice Department sued Texas over the floating border barriers on the Rio Grande – which Republican Gov. Greg Abbott deployed as part of his border security initiative known as Operation Lone Star. In the lower court, the Justice Department argued that Texas deployed the barriers without authorization while Abbott said that Texas has constitutional authority to install them.
“AG Paxton & I will seek an immediate rehearing by the entire court. We’ll go to SCOTUS if needed to protect Texas from Biden’s open borders,” Abbott posted on X Friday.
This is the second time in a week that Texas lost a legal battle in its ongoing border saga with the Biden administration over security at the southern border.
On Thursday, a federal judge ruled in the federal government’s favor after Texas asked the court to force border patrol agents to stop cutting razor wire installed by the state. In a lawsuit filed in October, Texas alleged federal agents were destroying state property by cutting razor wire in Eagle Pass, Texas, with the intention of allowing migrants into the US. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has appealed the order.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
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