Wednesday, October 23

Biden administration sues Texas Gov. Greg Abbott over Rio Grande buoy barrier

AUSTIN, Texas — The Justice Department on Monday sued Texas Gov. Greg Abbott over a newly put in floating barrier on the Rio Grande that’s the Republican’s newest aggressive tactic to attempt stopping migrants from crossing into the U.S. from Mexico.

The lawsuit asks a federal choose in Austin to pressure Texas to take away a roughly 1,000-foot (305-meter) line of shiny orange, wrecking ball-sized buoys that the Biden administration says raises humanitarian and environmental issues. The go well with claims that Texas unlawfully put in the barrier with out permission between the border cities of Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras, Mexico.

The buoys are the newest escalation of Texas’ border safety operation that additionally consists of razor-wire fencing, arresting migrants on trespassing prices and sending busloads of asylum-seekers to Democratic-led cities in different states. Critics have lengthy referred to as into query the effectiveness of the two-year operation, referred to as Operation Lone Star, and a state trooper’s account this month of the measures injuring migrants has put the mission underneath intensifying new scrutiny.



In anticipation of the lawsuit, Abbott despatched President Joe Biden a letter earlier Monday that defended Texas’ proper to put in the barrier. He accused Biden of placing migrants in danger by not doing extra to discourage them from making the journey to the U.S.

“Texas will see you in court, Mr. President,” Abbott wrote.

The Biden administration has stated unlawful border crossings have declined considerably since new immigration restrictions took impact in May. In June, the primary full month for the reason that new polices took impact, U.S. Customs and Border Protection stated migrant encounters had been down 30% from the month prior and had been on the lowest ranges since Biden’s first full month in workplace.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre instructed reporters that Abbott’s insurance policies as a complete have made it tough for U.S. Border Patrol brokers to entry Rio Grande.

“Those are unlawful actions that are not helpful and is undermining what the president has put forward and is trying to do,” she stated.

In a letter final week, the Justice Department gave Texas till Monday to decide to eradicating the barrier or face a lawsuit. The letter stated the buoy wall “poses a risk to navigation, as well as public safety, in the Rio Grande River, and it presents humanitarian concerns.”

The state deployed the buoys with out notifying the International Boundary and Water Commission or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Mexico’s secretary of state requested the federal authorities to intervene, saying the barrier violates worldwide treaties.

The lawsuit shouldn’t be the primary time the Biden administration has sued Texas overs it actions on the border.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2021 accused the state of usurping and even interfering with the federal authorities’s duty to implement immigration legal guidelines after Abbott empowered state troopers orders to cease automobiles carrying migrants on the premise that they may enhance the unfold of COVID-19.

Gonzalez reported from McAllen, Texas.

Copyright © 2023 The Washington Times, LLC.

Content Source: www.washingtontimes.com