A federal judge in Austin (Texas) ordered this Wednesday that the state must remove the barriers installed in the Rio Grande (or Rio Bravo) to prevent the immigration of undocumented immigrants, with the consequent risk that this entails for their lives, as part of the called "operation lone star".
The order is a consequence of the complaint filed by the Biden administration against the state governor, the ultra-conservative Greg Abbott, arguing that Texas does not have the right to install these structures on federal waterways.
"Governor Abbott announced that he was not seeking permission for his anti-immigration program to build floating barriers," Judge David Alan Ezra wrote. “Unfortunately for Texas, a permit is exactly what federal law requires before installing obstructions to national waterways,” the magistrate remarked in his ruling.
The judge's order, which requires not placing additional barriers, has a deadline of next day 15. However, the governor took advantage of platform X, formerly Twitter, to immediately reply that he will appeal the decision and that he will continue with the use of “strategic structures”.
The chains of buoys cover more than 300 meters in length in the Rio Grande, the final crossing for those trying to enter the United States. They are anchored in the bed of the channel, buttressed on each side by mountings of rounded blades with jagged edges similar as a whole to a circular saw.
The assembly was carried out on July 10, just a few days after four immigrants, including a child, drowned while crossing the river. This is one more of the governor's measures, but it has been the most controversial, to which at least a couple of deaths have been attributed, and it has created tension with Mexico, which observed in this operation an act of inhumanity, like the same Washington government.
Judge Ezra remarked that he has taken into account in his decision a formal complaint from Mexican diplomacy when establishing the damage caused as a reason to justify the complaint. His resolution is very critical of the arguments used by Abbott to defend his installation, especially the idea that the state can take whatever measures they are in the face of what it unilaterally considers an invasion.
“And the whole argument is to require the court to take further steps, beyond the unsubstantiated question of whether the federal government has failed to protect Texas from invasion, by upholding Texas' assertion of full power to testify and respond to all types of invasion, including those by non-state actors," said the magistrate.
"By this logic, once Texas decides, in its sole discretion, that it has been invaded, it is not in control of the means it chooses to wage war, and this is an impressive statement," he continued.
Abbott insisted that he will continue to make a show of force at the border and criticized President Joe Biden. “Texas has the right to do the job that Biden should do for himself,” the governor replied.
He maintained that the judge's decision is incorrect, that he will seek the amendment and promised that his state will continue using all the necessary strategies to seal the border, a field in which he spoke of deploying the national guard and installing deterrent barriers.
“Our battle to defend the sovereign authority to protect lives in the face of the chaos caused by President Biden's open borders policy has only just begun. We are prepared to fight all the way to the Supreme Court,” he promised.
The Justice Department urged Texas in July to remove the barriers within 10 days, citing the state's complete lack of jurisdiction to challenge federal power over immigration and foreign affairs.
