The Biden administration filed a lawsuit against Texas on Monday in an effort to get the state to take down the floating barricades it has placed in the middle of the Rio Grande. According to federal authorities, the buoys put migrants and Border Patrol personnel at danger.
Nine Page Lawsuit
Texas officials were obligated to request and acquire permission from the federal government before building the barriers, which were placed in place early this month, according to the Justice Department’s nine-page lawsuit, which was filed in the federal district court in Austin. The government said that the river buoys break a long-standing federal statute that regulates buildings in navigable rivers. Texas was ordered by the lawsuit to remove the river buoys.
Last week, the Biden administration suggested that Texas might be able to avoid a lawsuit by agreeing to remove the buoys. However, on Monday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican and outspoken opponent of the administration, defended the legitimacy of his state’s actions and expressed enthusiasm for a legal dispute, saying, “See you in court, Mr. President.”
The lawsuit filed on Monday represents an intensification of a political standoff between the administration and Abbott over how the federal government has handled significant numbers of irregular border crossings since President Biden took office in 2021.
Lone Star Operation
Source: cnn
The floating barriers are a component of Operation Lone Star, a broader, multibillion-dollar project Abbott ordered that has sparked ethical and legal questions about how refugees would be treated. The program, according to Abbott and other state officials, is essential to reducing unauthorized border crossings since the Biden administration has not done enough to discourage migration to the United States.
On July 15, 2023, at Eagle Pass, Texas, migrants pass through a line of buoys set in the water along the Rio Grande border with Mexico in an effort to stop the admission of illegal immigrants into the US.
The Texas Department of Public Safety has refuted the medic’s claims that state authorities ordered troopers to physically drive migrants back into the Rio Grande and deprive them of water. Instead, the department has announced an internal inquiry into the medic’s claims.
