Biden administration sues Texas governor over Rio Grande migrant barrier

AUSTIN, Texas —  The Justice Department on Monday sued Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott over a newly installed floating barrier on the Rio Grande that is the Republican’s latest aggressive tactic to try to stop migrants from crossing into the U.S. from Mexico.

The lawsuit asks a federal judge in Austin to force Texas to remove a roughly 1,000-foot line of bright orange, wrecking ball-sized buoys that the Biden administration says raises humanitarian and environmental concerns. The suit claims that the state unlawfully installed the barrier between the border cities of Eagle Pass, Texas, and Piedras Negras, Mexico.

The buoys are the latest escalation of Texas’ border security operation that also includes razor-wire fencing, arrests of migrants on trespassing charges and the transport of busloads of asylum seekers to Democratic-led cities in other states.

Critics have long called into question the effectiveness of the two-year operation, known as Operation Lone Star, and a state trooper’s account this month of the measures injuring migrants has put the mission under intensifying new scrutiny.

In anticipation of the lawsuit, Abbott sent President Biden a letter earlier Monday defending Texas’ right to install the barrier. He accused Biden of putting migrants at risk by not doing more to deter them from making the journey to the U.S.

“Texas will see you in court, Mr. President,” Abbott wrote in his letter.

The Biden administration has said illegal border crossings have declined significantly since new immigration rules took effect in May. In June, the first full month since the new policies took effect, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said migrant encounters were down 30% from the month prior and were at the lowest levels since Biden’s first full month in office.

The Justice Department warned Texas in a letter last week that the state had until Monday to commit to removing the barrier or face a lawsuit. The letter said the buoy wall “poses a risk to navigation, as well as public safety, in the Rio Grande River, and it presents humanitarian concerns.”

The state deployed the buoys without notifying the International Boundary and Water Commission or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Mexico’s secretary of state asked the federal government to intervene, saying the barrier violates international treaties.

The lawsuit is not the first time the Biden administration has sued Texas overs it actions on the border.

U.S. Atty. General Merrick Garland in 2021 accused the state of usurping and even interfering with the federal government’s responsibility to enforce immigration laws after Abbott empowered state troopers to stop vehicles carrying migrants on the basis that they could increase the spread of COVID-19.