Austin, Texas — A floating barrier on the Rio Grande intended to discourage migrants from trying to cross from Mexico to Texas can stay for now, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.
The decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned an earlier decision by a court panel. The decision is the latest development in a standoff between Texas and president Joe Biden administration over immigration on the state’s 1,200-mile (1,930-kilometer) border with Mexico.
In December, a divided 5th Circuit panel had sided with a federal district judge in Texas who said the buoys must be moved. The full appeals court said Tuesday that the court abused its discretion in granting the injunction.
The broader district court case is set for trial beginning Aug. 6, where the Biden administration accuses Texas of violating the federal Rivers and Harbors Act. Vanita Gupta, associate attorney general, said Texas has “flouted federal law” and risks harming U.S. foreign policy.
The series of interconnected, concrete-anchored buoys stretches approximately the length of three football fields, in one of the busiest locations for illegal border crossings. The state installed it along the international border with Mexico, between the border town of Eagle Pass, Texas, and Piedras Negras, Coahuila.
The Department of Justice asked a federal court order Texas to remove the buoys, saying the water barrier poses humanitarian and environmental concerns along the international border. Governor of Texas Greg Abbotta Republican, rejected the lawsuit while being cheered by conservative allies who are eager for cases that would empower states to take more aggressive immigration measures.
The barrier is a focal point in legal disputes over border control between the Democratic president and Abbott. The Biden administration is also fighting for the right to cut barbed wire fence at the border and for access to a municipal park on the border fenced by the state.
This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
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