The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a temporary order limiting the Biden administration's authority to remove barbed wire erected by Texas along the U.S.-Mexico border. The order allows wire to be cut in the event of a medical emergency but prohibits damaging or destroying it while a challenge by Texas is pending.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a temporary order limiting the federal government's authority to remove barbed wire erected by Texas along the U.S.-Mexico border. Texas had appealed a lower-court ruling allowing federal agents to cut the wire. The order prohibits the federal government from damaging the wire but allows cutting it in medical emergencies. The case is part of a lawsuit filed by Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton. Governor Abbott signed legislation giving Texas law enforcement officers authority to arrest migrants who enter the state from Mexico without legal authorization. El Paso County and two immigrant rights groups filed a lawsuit to halt the law. The federal appeals court ordered Texas to remove a barrier of floating buoys in the Rio Grande. For more than two years, Governor Abbott has been testing the legal limits of what a state can do to enforce immigration law, including expanding the use of concertina wire along the riverbank.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a temporary order limiting the federal government's authority to remove barbed wire erected by Texas along the U.S.-Mexico border. Texas had appealed a lower-court ruling allowing federal agents to cut the wire. The order prohibits the federal government from damaging the wire but allows cutting it in medical emergencies. The case is part of a lawsuit filed by Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton. Governor Abbott signed legislation giving Texas law enforcement officers authority to arrest migrants who enter the state from Mexico without legal authorization. El Paso County and two immigrant rights groups filed a lawsuit to halt the law. The federal appeals court ordered Texas to remove a barrier of floating buoys in the Rio Grande. For more than two years, Governor Abbott has been testing the legal limits of what a state can do to enforce immigration law, including expanding the use of concertina wire along the riverbank.