A federal appeals court sided with Texas on Tuesday, saying that the state does not have to remove a water buoy barrier placed in the Rio Grande to deter illegal immigration.
In its decision, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Biden administration failed to provide evidence that the barrier needed to be removed, vacating a lower court’s order. The Justice Department had filed a lawsuit against Texas accusing it of violating federal law after it placed a chain of floating buoys along a stretch of the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass.
“Cognizant of our role as a court of review and of the reality that a preliminary injunction is an exceptional remedy, we hold that the district court clearly erred in finding that the United States will likely prove that the barrier is in a navigable stretch of the Rio Grande,” Circuit Judge Don Willett wrote. “We cannot square the…
