The Biden administration and the state are engaged in a growing confrontation over immigration enforcement, and on Monday, a divided Supreme Court let Border Patrol officials continue chopping the razor wire that Texas had installed along a portion of the U.S.-Mexico border.
The 5-4 vote makes it possible for Border Patrol personnel to remove or cut the concertina wire that Texas installed along the Rio Grande’s banks in an effort to stop illegal immigrants from entering the country. The barbed wire has caused injuries to a few migrants, and the Justice Department claims the barrier makes it more difficult for the American government to monitor the border and assist those in need of assistance.
Not a single justice offered a justification for their decision. As the litigation over the wire continues, the one-page decision represents a win for the Biden administration.
Greg Abbott, a Republican governor of Texas who has served three terms in office, approved the wire as part of an aggressive campaign to halt unauthorized border crossings from Mexico. According to his spokesman, the lack of razor wire and other barriers encourages migrants to take risks when crossing the border and makes the work of Texas border officials more challenging.
According to Abbott spokesperson Andrew Mahaleris, “This case is ongoing, and Governor Abbott will continue fighting to defend Texas’ property and its constitutional authority to secure the border.”
After a federal appeals court ordered federal agents to stop cutting the concertina wire last month, the White House welcomed the order.
White House spokesman Angelo Fernández Hernández stated, “Texas’ political stunts, like placing razor wire near the border, simply make it harder and more dangerous for frontline personnel to do their jobs.”
The concertina wire spans approximately 30 miles (48 kilometers) in the vicinity of Eagle Pass, a border city where the Texas Military Department took over a city-owned park earlier this month and started preventing Border Patrol agents from entering.
One of the busiest locations on the southern border of the United States for people entering illegally from Mexico is Eagle Park. Abbott has expressed his dissatisfaction at what he claims are illegal migrants coming through Eagle Pass and then being loaded onto buses by federal officers, saying that Texas will no longer permit Border Patrol personnel into Shelby Park.
Abbott also gave the go-ahead for the installation of floating barriers in the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass, as well as the ability for troopers to detain and arrest thousands of migrants for trespassing. In federal court, the administration is contesting those measures as well.
In court documents, the government argued that federal immigration law supersedes Texas’s efforts to stop the flow of immigrants into the country and that the wire prevents Border Patrol agents from catching migrants as they cross the river.
Texas officials contend that before bringing them in for processing, federal officers cut the wire to assist parties who were crossing the river illegally.
Amy Coney Barrett, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Chief Justice John Roberts all supported the administration. Texas was the voting state for Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Clarence Thomas.
