A win for Texas for now
The floating buoy barrier in the Rio Grande River at Eagle Pass, Texas remains in place, at least for now. Thanks to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, Governor Abbott was handed a victory Wednesday.
When you hear someone in the Biden administration say that they are working on securing the southern border, what they mean is that the Biden DOJ is filing another lawsuit against Texas for trying to secure the state’s border with Mexico. In this case, the DOJ is aggressively trying to dismantle the buoy barrier installed in the Rio Grande River through Operation Lone Star, the border security initiative implemented by Governor Abbott in March 2021. It became obvious that Biden was going to ignore the border and leave it wide open. What’s a governor to do? He is doing all he can, doing the job of the president, yet at every turn, Biden sues to keep the border open.
In December the court ruled against Abbott in an order that would have forced him to move the barrier from the river. But on Wednesday, the court granted Abbott’s request for a rehearing of the case with the entire Fifth Circuit instead of the three-judge panel that made the initial call.
The decision means Abbott will get to keep the bouy barrier in the water at least through May when the new hearing is scheduled to be held.
So, in this round of this lawsuit, Governor Abbott gets the W and the DOJ gets the L. This battle has been going on since last July. Abbott had the buoys put up without getting the go-ahead from the Army Corps of Engineers. The federal Rivers and Harbors Act requires that the Army Corps of Engineers be involved.
The DOJ responded.
“This floating barrier poses a risk to navigation, as well as public safety, in the Rio Grande River, and it presents humanitarian concerns,” Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said in a statement announcing the suit.
