Court Rules in Favor of Controversial Texas Border Barrier
The Fifth Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Texas’ floating border barrier on Thursday, dealing a blow to the Biden administration and pro-immigration groups.
Senior U.S. District Court Judge David Ezra originally ordered Texas officials to remove the floating barriers from the river that Governor Greg Abbott (R-TX) had installed before the Appeals Court granted a motion from Texas.
Abbott’s legal team said on Thursday that “buoys have nearly eliminated illegal crossings of people and drugs where they’ve been placed.”
The Daily Wire has more:
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 outweigh Texas’s interest in implementing its buoy barrier in the Rio Grande River,” the judge wrote. “The harm to navigation is clearly evident from the evidence presented, while the State of Texas did not present any credible evidence that the buoy barrier as installed has significantly curtailed illegal immigration across the Rio Grande River.”
Abbott argued that Ezra’s ruling was wrong and vowed that Texas would challenge it.
“This ruling is incorrect and will be overturned on appeal,” Abbott said in a statement. “We will continue to utilize every strategy to secure the border, including deploying Texas National Guard soldiers and Department of Public Safety troopers and installing strategic barriers.”














