Justice Department sues Texas over Mexico border buoys

The Justice Department sued the state of Texas on Monday after Gov. Greg Abbott (R) declined to remove 1,000 feet of floating barrier on the Rio Grande River between the U.S. and Mexico. The Justice Department had given Texas a Monday deadline to voluntarily remove the buoys, which Mexico and the federal government say violate U.S. law and international treaties. Abbott told the White House earlier Monday that "Texas will see you in court."

Texas installed the orange barrels in a shallow section of river between Eagle Pass on the U.S. side and Piedras Negras, Mexico. The spinning barrels, chained together and to the river bottom, are difficult to cross, sending migrants to deeper sections of the river and then into razor concertina wire barriers Abbott also installed in the past few weeks as part of his multibillion-dollar state immigration enforcement effort, Operation Lone Star.

A Texas state trooper deployed as part of Operation Lone Star told a supervisor earlier this month that the razor wire and barrels are "an inhumane trap," urging their removal and an end to other policies, including pushing asylum-seekers back into the river and refusing them water.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Monday's lawsuit "represents the first time that the Justice Department has directly challenged Mr. Abbott over his effort to enforce immigration laws," and Abbott "appeared eager to enter a legal fight" against President Biden, The New York Times reported. But the Justice Department's legal action, filed in federal court in Austin, is "focused on the buoy barriers and federal law surrounding navigable waters," specifically the Rivers and Harbors Act, not immigration law.

"This floating barrier poses threats to navigation and public safety and presents humanitarian concerns," Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said in a statement.

Abbott argued in his letter to Biden that he guarding the Texas border using his "constitutional authority to deal with the crisis you have caused," specifically citing his own role as "commander-in-chief of our state's militia."

White House spokesman Abudllah Hasan said Biden's new border policies have cut unlawful border crossings by 30%, to the lowest level since Biden took office. "Gov. Abbott's dangerous and unlawful actions are undermining that effective plan, making it hard for the men and women of Border Patrol to do their jobs of securing the border, and putting migrants and border agents in danger."