The United States Justice Department plans to sue Texas for the creation of a floating barrier of buoys on the Rio Grande River after the Governor refused to take it down. It is there with the sole purpose of stopping illegal immigrants from Mexico from crossing the river into Texas. The United States doesn’t support illegal immigrants but doesn’t allow the Texan Government to stop the immigrants in such a manner.
The Justice Department had already sent a letter to Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, about the illegal actions Texas did on the Rio Grande River. In the letter, which was later published in full by the Washington Post, they stated that “the State of Texas’s actions violate federal law, raise humanitarian concerns, present serious risks to public safety and the environment, and may interfere with the federal government’s ability to carry out its official duties.” Texas also violated the Rivers and Harbors Act that “prohibits the creation of any obstruction to the navigable capacity of waters of the United States.”
Seeing these accusations, Gov. Abbott took to Twitter and responded, “Texas has the sovereign authority to defend our border, under the U.S. Constitution and the Texas Constitution.” Gov. Abbott believes what he did was right and that he had the authority to do so. However, the Texas government needed to receive authorization from the US Corps of Engineers to put the barrier in place.
Additionally, Texas recently come under more heat, as news about the behavior of Troopers at the Texas-Mexico border was released. They were ordered to push children trying to cross, back into the river. They also did not provide water to people crossing the river even under extreme heat. This raises humanitarian concerns because people could have died of heat stroke and the children could have drowned. These orders may be because of Gov. Abbott, who has been cracking down on the crossings. He does this by using intense border security efforts in the Lone Star Operation, which is an operation that plans to stop illegal immigration on the Texas border with Mexico.
The barrier was installed on July 12, 2023. However, Gov. Abbott was asked to remove it by July 24, 2023, or legal action would be pursued by the United States Government. Gov. Abbott refused to remove the Barrier and replied., “We will continue to deploy every strategy to protect Texans and Americans — and the migrants risking their lives. We will see you in court, Mr. President.” As of now, the DOJ has filed a lawsuit against Abbott.
Sources:
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/doj-abbott-border-buoys-18253897.php
https://www.washingtonpost.com/documents/33c65c2f-f8f0-4106-aa39-8739fe0f416c.pdf?itid=lk_interstitial_manual_5
https://www.latimes.com/delos/story/2023-07-21/immigration-border-asylum-doj-rio-grande-barrier-abbott
https://twitter.com/GregAbbott_TX/status/1682451372766121989
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txwd.1172749163/gov.uscourts.txwd.1172749163.1.0.pdf
The Justice Department had already sent a letter to Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, about the illegal actions Texas did on the Rio Grande River. In the letter, which was later published in full by the Washington Post, they stated that “the State of Texas’s actions violate federal law, raise humanitarian concerns, present serious risks to public safety and the environment, and may interfere with the federal government’s ability to carry out its official duties.” Texas also violated the Rivers and Harbors Act that “prohibits the creation of any obstruction to the navigable capacity of waters of the United States.”
Seeing these accusations, Gov. Abbott took to Twitter and responded, “Texas has the sovereign authority to defend our border, under the U.S. Constitution and the Texas Constitution.” Gov. Abbott believes what he did was right and that he had the authority to do so. However, the Texas government needed to receive authorization from the US Corps of Engineers to put the barrier in place.
Additionally, Texas recently come under more heat, as news about the behavior of Troopers at the Texas-Mexico border was released. They were ordered to push children trying to cross, back into the river. They also did not provide water to people crossing the river even under extreme heat. This raises humanitarian concerns because people could have died of heat stroke and the children could have drowned. These orders may be because of Gov. Abbott, who has been cracking down on the crossings. He does this by using intense border security efforts in the Lone Star Operation, which is an operation that plans to stop illegal immigration on the Texas border with Mexico.
The barrier was installed on July 12, 2023. However, Gov. Abbott was asked to remove it by July 24, 2023, or legal action would be pursued by the United States Government. Gov. Abbott refused to remove the Barrier and replied., “We will continue to deploy every strategy to protect Texans and Americans — and the migrants risking their lives. We will see you in court, Mr. President.” As of now, the DOJ has filed a lawsuit against Abbott.
Sources:
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/doj-abbott-border-buoys-18253897.php
https://www.washingtonpost.com/documents/33c65c2f-f8f0-4106-aa39-8739fe0f416c.pdf?itid=lk_interstitial_manual_5
https://www.latimes.com/delos/story/2023-07-21/immigration-border-asylum-doj-rio-grande-barrier-abbott
https://twitter.com/GregAbbott_TX/status/1682451372766121989
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txwd.1172749163/gov.uscourts.txwd.1172749163.1.0.pdf