Credit: Photographer: Jordan Vonderhaar/Bloomberg via Getty Images.
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 district court’s findings and conclusions with over a century’s worth of precedent, which on a fair and faithful reading renders inapplicable or unpersuasive the evidence on which the district court relies.”
Willett said the lower court sided with the DOJ, saying that the barrier threatened human life and safety, impaired navigation, and violated the Rivers and Harbors Act. He said that neither justification was supported by the evidence.
The decision specifically criticized the district court attributing the barrier to drownings in the river.
“The district court again set aside reason by inferring that the barrier caused the deaths of two people found nearby—one at the southern end of the barrier and the other three miles upriver — from news articles that said nothing of the sort,” Willett wrote.
In a dissent, Circuit Judge Dana Douglas wrote that the lower court’s decision was backed by the evidence.
“The district court relied on all the evidence discussed herein to find that the balance of hardships favors the United States. It considered the threat to navigation and federal government operations on the Rio Grande, as well as the potential threat to human life the floating barrier created,” he wrote.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Republican Governor Greg Abbott celebrated the decision.
“We fought to keep these barriers in the water, and with the Fifth Circuit’s decision, that is exactly where they will remain,” Abbott said. “This fight is far from over. Texas will continue to defend our constitutional right to secure our southern border to keep our state and the nation safe.”
Further litigation on the barriers is expected to begin on August 6.
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