Migrants wait to climb over concertina wire after they crossed the Rio Grande and entered the U.S. from Mexico, Sept. 23, 2023, in Eagle Cross, Texas.
Eric Homosexual/AP
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Eric Homosexual/AP
NEW ORLEANS — A federal appeals court docket Wednesday dominated that Border Patrol brokers can’t reduce razor wire that Texas put in on the U.S.-Mexico border within the city of Eagle Cross, which has turn into the middle of the state’s aggressive measures to curb migrant crossings.
The choice by the fifth U.S. Circuit Courtroom of Appeals is a victory for Texas in a long-running rift over immigration coverage with the Biden administration, which has additionally sought to take away floating limitations put in on the Rio Grande.
Texas has continued to put in razor wire alongside its roughly 1,200-mile (1,900 kilometers) border with Mexico over the previous yr. In a 2-1 ruling, the court docket issued an injunction blocking Border Patrol brokers from damaging the wire in Eagle Cross.
“We proceed including extra razor wire border barrier,” Republican Gov. Greg Abbott posted on the social platform X in response to the ruling.
A spokesperson for the Division of Homeland Safety didn’t instantly reply to an electronic mail looking for remark Wednesday.
Some migrants have been injured by the sharp wire, and the Justice Division has argued the barrier impedes the U.S. authorities’s potential to patrol the border, together with coming to assistance from migrants in want of assist. Texas contended within the lawsuit initially filed final yr that federal authorities was “undermining” the state’s border safety efforts by slicing the razor wire.
The ruling comes forward of President-elect Donald Trump returning to workplace and pledging a crackdown on immigration. Earlier this month, a Texas official supplied a parcel of rural ranchland alongside the U.S.-Mexico border to make use of as a staging space for potential mass deportations.
Arrivals on the U.S.-Mexico border have dropped 40% from an all-time excessive in December. U.S. officers principally credit score Mexican vigilance round rail yards and freeway checkpoints.