Texas Gov. Abbott Scores Court Win to Keep Buoy Barrier in Rio Grande

The floating buoy barrier in the Rio Grande River at Eagle Pass, Texas remains in place, at least for now. Thanks to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, Governor Abbott was handed a victory Wednesday.

When you hear someone in the Biden administration say that they are working on securing the southern border, what they mean is that the Biden DOJ is filing another lawsuit against Texas for trying to secure the state’s border with Mexico. In this case, the DOJ is aggressively trying to dismantle the buoy barrier installed in the Rio Grande River through Operation Lone Star, the border security initiative implemented by Governor Abbott in March 2021. It became obvious that Biden was going to ignore the border and leave it wide open. What’s a governor to do? He is doing all he can, doing the job of the president, yet at every turn, Biden sues to keep the border open.

In December the court ruled against Abbott in an order that would have forced him to move the barrier from the river. But on Wednesday, the court granted Abbott’s request for a rehearing of the case with the entire Fifth Circuit instead of the three-judge panel that made the initial call.

The decision means Abbott will get to keep the bouy barrier in the water at least through May when the new hearing is scheduled to be held.

So, in this round of this lawsuit, Governor Abbott gets the W and the DOJ gets the L. This battle has been going on since last July. Abbott had the buoys put up without getting the go-ahead from the Army Corps of Engineers. The federal Rivers and Harbors Act requires that the Army Corps of Engineers be involved.

The DOJ responded.

“This floating barrier poses a risk to navigation, as well as public safety, in the Rio Grande River, and it presents humanitarian concerns,” Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said in a statement announcing the suit. “Additionally, the presence of the floating barrier has prompted diplomatic protests by Mexico and risks damaging U.S. foreign policy.”

I’m not sure what navigation the people who live in D.C. think is going on there but maybe they are talking about the kayaks and canoes that use the river. What the Biden administration is most concerned about is that Mexican officials doesn’t like the buoys there. The barrier prevents illegal immigrants from crossing the river at that point and that is its purpose. The buoy barrier is only 1,000 feet long. That’s nothing in the Rio Grande River. It was put there specifically because Eagle Pass has been an epicenter of illegal immigration for months.

Governor Abbott is not giving up. He said that Texas has a constitutional right to secure its border. Abbott pledges to take the lawsuits filed against Texas all the way to the Supreme Court.

In other news, DHS issued a warning to Texas to stop interfering with the U.S. Border Patrol’s access to the border. Abbott seized about 2 1/2 miles of land in the Eagle Pass area to prevent Border Patrol from using a city park as a staging station for illegal immigrants. The Texas National Guard is in control there now. DHS gave Abbott until Wednesday to open the park back up and let Border Patrol go back to using it as a staging area. Wednesday came and went and Abbott did not respond. Abbott ignored the cease and desist letter issued by DHS.

In a letter to the Department of Homeland Security, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton rejected the Biden administration’s request for the state to “cease and desist” its takeover of Shelby Park, an epicenter of southwest border illegal immigration in Eagle Pass.

“Because the facts and law side with Texas, the State will continue utilizing its constitutional authority to defend her territory, and I will continue defending those lawful efforts in court,” Paxton wrote.

The cease and desist was in reaction to a drowning that took place in the Rio Grande River. A woman and her two children drowned. The initial story was that Border Patrol was denied access to the river to rescue the people. Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) represents Eagle Pass and he immediately sided with the story coming from Border Patrol and denied by Texas National Guard troops. As the story blew up in media coverage, it quickly became apparent that it was a phony story. Mexican officials confirmed that the drownings happened on the Mexican side of the river and they recovered the bodies. The call from Border Patrol came an hour after the drownings occurred. The media has been very slow in correcting the story.

The media and the Biden administration are quick to blame Governor Abbott as he does Joe Biden’s job. The Texas Military Department said it was aware of the distress reported but could not find anything. Of course they couldn’t – the incident happened on the Mexican side. If needed, Texas National Guard would have rescued them. The media and Biden administration implied that the illegals would just be allowed to drown on the Texas side.

Look for DOJ to file another lawsuit against Texas over shutting down the Eagle Pass park as a staging station for illegal immigrants.

Texas beginning arrests of illegal immigrants for criminal trespass in Eagle Pass in the city park the state recently kicked the Feds out of & seized control of. Biden admin gave Texas a deadline of today to allow Border Patrol back in. TX declined – and is now making arrests. https://t.co/ygpBBDcxHp

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) January 18, 2024