Texas ordered to remove floating barrier meant to block migrants

A United States judge ruled on Wednesday that Texas state in the South Central region must move a large floating barrier that was placed in the middle of the Rio Grande, one of the principal rivers in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, to block migrants from crossing the border.

Gregory Wayne Abbott, the 48th governor of Texas, ordered the authorities to place a large floating barrier on the river Rio Grande between the U.S. and Mexico this summer in order to block migrants from crossing the US-Mexico border.

On Wednesday, Senior U.S. District Judge David A. Ezra ordered Texas to move the floating buoys from the Rio Grande to an embankment on the Texas side of the river. The judge also issued a preliminary injunction in Austin that required Texas to move the barrier out of the water by 15 September. 

U.S. District Judge David Ezra also said that Texas produced no “evidence that the buoy barrier as installed has significantly curtailed illegal immigration.”

Texas slammed for illegally placing floating buoy barrier

The floating barrier installed in mid July drew sharp criticism from Mexico. Mexico said that the move violated water and boundary treaties. The United States Department of Justice also slammed Gregory Wayne Abbott over the installation of buoys. The Justice Department said that Texas had no jurisdiction over the river. 

The recent lawsuit against Texas was brought by the US Justice Department in July. Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta representing the US Justice Department said, “We allege that Texas has flouted federal law by installing a barrier in the Rio Grande without obtaining the required federal authorization.”

The residents and business owners in Eagle Pass, a city in Texas, also sued the state over buoy installation in Rio Grande. The Justice Department also slammed Texas’ border policies.

Texas arrests migrants

In recent months, Texas has arrested various migrants crossing the Rio Grande on trespassing charges. Under Operation Lone Star, Texas transferred the migrants into a jail for weeks or months before turning them over to the Border Patrol.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration said that illegal border crossings by migrants decreased following the new immigration rules in May.