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Biden administration sues Texas over Rio Grande buoy barrier meant to stop migrants

Published:Monday | July 24, 2023 | 9:12 PM
Migrants trying to enter the US from Mexico approach the site where workers are assembling large buoys to be used as a border barrier along the banks of the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass, Texas, Tuesday, July 11, 2023. The floating barrier is being deployed in an effort to block migrants from entering Texas from Mexico. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Justice Department on Monday sued Texas Governor 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 United States from Mexico.

The lawsuit asks a federal judge in Austin to force Texas to remove a roughly 1,000-foot (305-metre) line of bright orange, wrecking ball-sized buoys that the Biden administration says raises humanitarian and environmental concerns.

The suit claims that Texas unlawfully installed the barrier without permission between the border cities of Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras, Mexico.

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

Critics have long questioned the effectiveness of the two-year operation, known as Operation Lone Star.

A state trooper's account this month that some of the measures injured migrants has put the mission under intensifying new scrutiny.

The Biden administration has said illegal border crossings have declined significantly since new immigration restrictions took effect in May.

In June, the first full month since the new polices took effect, US 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.

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