The barriers, erected at a busy site at irregular border crossings near Eagle Pass, Texas, have sparked protests from Mexican authorities.
The state of Texas can leave a chain of buoys each 1,000 feet long in the Rio Grande on the border with Mexico while legal challenges to the structure are pending, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.
ALSO READ:
US judge orders Texas to remove xenophobic buoys
The decision came a day after a lower court told the state, led by Republican Greg Abbott, to move its floating border barrier.
Thursday’s order from a three-judge panel of the conservative 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was a victory for Abbott, making the buoys a centerpiece of Operation Lone Star, the state’s campaign to block border crossings. Irregularly to Texas.
BREAKING: The conservative-controlled 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals just issued a temporary stay allowing the state of Texas to continue maintaining floating barriers in the Rio Grande.
Incredible.
– Antonio Arellano (@AntonioArellano)
September 8, 2023
President Joe Biden’s federal administration sued last July after Texas erected the barriers in the middle of the river, arguing that the state did not have the authority to place buoys in an international waterway over which the federal government has jurisdiction.
The appeals court did not address the merits of the case in its brief order, but said the lower court’s decision remains pending pending further action by the court.
�� 5. Cir stays #BidenAdministration interim injunction against #Texas. Buoys stay where they are.#BidenBorderCrisis pic.twitter.com/aHtOluznLx
— Robert Henneke (@robhenneke)
September 8, 2023
The barriers, erected at a busy site at irregular border crossings near Eagle Pass in Texas, have sparked protests from authorities in Mexico, where there are long-standing treaties with the United States over water use and construction along the canal.
In fact, Mexico’s ambassador to Washington, Esteban Moctezuma, welcomed the district court’s ruling Thursday morning, calling it “good news” in an online post.