Texas must remove floating border buoys from the Rio Grande River by Friday, Sept. 15, and cannot install similar structures in that river stream without receiving proper approval, a federal judge decided Wednesday in a ruling with strong criticism of Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott for ignoring federal law, according to The Dallas Morning News.
U.S. District Judge David Ezra of the Western District of Texas further wrote that the Department of Justice (DOJ) will likely prevail in the civil lawsuit filed against Abbott over the installation of a floating buoy barrier on the Rio Grande River, which is the natural border between Mexico and the United States.
The DOJ argued in a lawsuit filed in July that Texas violated a federal law prohibiting unauthorized construction in waterways.
In the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, the Justice Department alleged that Texas and Abbott, a Republican, violated the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act by building a structure in U.S. waters without the permission of the Army Corps of Engineers and sought an injunction to prevent Texas from building additional barriers on the river.
Texas argued in the lawsuit that federal rules did not apply because the area of the river where the buoys are located is shallow and cannot be considered navigable. The Texas government also said it had a right to protect against an “invasion” of immigrants.
The judge did not accept that argument. “The Court has determined that the United States is likely to succeed on the merits of its claim that the defendants have violated (the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899),” Ezra wrote Wednesday. “The Court also finds that Texas’ conduct irreparably harms public safety, navigation, and the operations of federal agency officials in and around the Rio Grande.”
Federal Judge Ezra’s injunction does not conclude the case brought by the Justice Department but adds to the legal process.
Abbott previously said that Texas was not “asking for permission” by installing barbed wire fencing along the border. Texas can appeal the injunction to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS( began placing the floating barrier of buoys in the river at Eagle Pass in early July.
It was later revealed that 80% of the nearly 1,000-foot buoy barrier had been placed in Mexican territory on the river. Texas quietly moved the buoys onto U.S. property.
In an hour-long hearing last week, Judge Ezra rejected Texas’ claim that an “invasion” of immigrants gave the state wide latitude to install the buoys without seeking proper authorization from the federal government.
Ezra, a judge appointed by former President Ronald Reagan, said the case specifically concerns whether or not the buoys impede navigation along the Rio Grande.
The floating barrier of buoys on the Rio Grande has also drawn backlash from congressional Democrats and President Joe Biden, as well as international rejection.
Mexican Foreign Secretary Alicia Barcena has sent three formal protests to the United States since late June complaining about the buoys and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has repeatedly complained about the buoys in his daily press conferences and has called Abbott’s actions against immigrants at the border “inhumane.”