A federal judge ordered the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection agents to stop cutting the razor wire that Texas officials installed along the border to deter migrant crossings, at least for the next two weeks.
The temporary restraining order allows for the border barrier to be removed only during medical emergencies, if migrants get caught in the concertina wire and need immediate medical aid while crossing the Rio Grande into Texas. Cases of wire-caused injuries have been occurring since the stateโs border-protection measure was implemented in recent weeks. In any other circumstance, U.S. district judge Alia Moses ruled that U.S. border officials should leave the wire intact for now.
โAnother win for Texas & our historic border mission,โ Governor Greg Abbott (R., Texas) posted on X shortly after the order was issued Monday.
The judgeโs decision came nearly a week after Republican Texas attorney general Ken Paxton sued the Biden administration for destroying sections of the southern border fence that runs alongside Mexico at sites such as Eagle Pass.
โBy cutting Texasโs concertina wire, the federal government has not only illegally destroyed property owned by the State of Texas; it has also disrupted the Stateโs border deterrence efforts, leaving gaps in Texasโs border barriers and damaging Texasโs ability to effectively deter illegal entry into Texas,โ the lawsuit, filed in the Western District of Texas last Tuesday, reads. The attorney general alleged Border Patrol agents not only cut parts of the fencing but also attached โropes or cables from the back of pickup trucks to ease aliensโ ability to illegally climb up the riverbank into Texasโ since late September.
Thousands more of illegal aliens poured into the U.S. through Eagle Pass as a result of those actions, the suit claimed.
The razor-wire fence was created as part of Texasโs 2021 initiative, Operation Lone Star, which seeks to deter migrant crossings and divert the flow of illegal immigration toward state-recognized ports of entry. Abbott has faced criticism for recently installing the concertina wire, as well as buoy barriers that prevent migrants from crossing the border underwater. The governor is also challenging the Biden administration over the floating barriers after the Department of Justice sued Texas for refusing to remove them this summer.
The newly released restraining order remains in effect until November 13, and a preliminary injunction hearing in the case is set for next Tuesday.







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