Federal Appeals Court Rules Texas Can Keep Floating Border Barriers

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that Texas can keep the buoys Governor Greg Abbott ordered installed in the Rio Grande. The Biden-Harris administration sued the State of Texas to stop Texas from placing the barriers in the river that separates Mexico from the U.S.

“Biden tried to remove them. I fought to keep them in the water,” Abbott posted on social media. “That is exactly where they will stay.”

Breitbart Texas reported that just over one year ago, contractors began placing the floating border buoys in the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass, Texas.

Texas Department of Public Safety

Later that month, the Biden-Harris administration’s Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the Lone Star State demanding the removal of the barriers.

Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim and U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas Jaime Esparza sent a letter to Governor Abbott claiming the State illegally installed a floating border barrier in the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass, Texas. The letter claims the buoy barrier was installed without the approval of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The DOJ also claims the barrier violates the Rivers and Harbors Act by creating a hazard to navigation on the river.

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Following an en banc appeal, the court’s majority opinion overturned a lower court’s preliminary injunction and wrote, “We hold that the district court clearly erred in finding that the United States will likely prove that the barrier is in a navigable stretch of the Rio Grande. We cannot square the district court’s findings and conclusions with over a century’s worth of precedent.”

The full court’s ruling also overturned an earlier ruling by the three-judge panel, which initially upheld the lower court’s ruling.

The case now goes back to the lower court in the Western District of Texas, where a trial on the matter is planned for August 6 in Austin, Texas.

The case is USA v. Greg Abbott, No. 23-50632, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit en banc.