Texas has seized back security of its international border with Mexico from a federal government seemingly uninterested in enforcing national sovereignty, improving defenses and manning the national frontier with authorities who answer to the southern state.
But this very act of securing the border is now putting the Lone Star State at odds with the federal government.
A Department of Justice letter addressed to Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Angela Colmenero, the state’s interim attorney general, alleges the barriers’ construction violates federal law and put the public and environment at serious risk.
The barriers being addressed by the DOJ letter are part of a floating buoy system that Texas officials began installing on July 7. Abbott posted a video of the buoys that day, showing the massive objects being unloaded from a truck.
New marine barrier installation on the Rio Grande begins today.
Texas DPS is overseeing the project in Eagle Pass.
More to come. pic.twitter.com/nHrTqUG7Fi
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) July 7, 2023
On July 13, Abbott updated the public again on continuing construction of the barrier. He vowed Texas would use “every tool and strategy” to end the border crisis.
Marine barrier installation making progress in Eagle Pass.
Texas will use every tool and strategy to respond to this border crisis. pic.twitter.com/92KAnzEnYP
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) July 13, 2023
Are Texas’ barriers unlawful?
Yes: 2% (1 Votes)
No: 98% (51 Votes)
The DOJ’s letter, dated July 20, accuses Texas of violating federal law in the “unlawful construction” of the maritime barriers.
“We write to inform you pursuant to the Justice Manual, J.M. § 1-10.100, that the United States intends to file legal action in relation to the State of Texas’s unlawful construction of a floating barrier in the Rio Grande River,” a copy of the letter states. “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.”
Citing the Rivers and Harbors Act, the DOJ asserts the barrier obstructs a navigable waterway and must be removed immediately.
“This floating barrier poses a risk to navigation, as well as public safety, in the Rio Grande River, and it presents humanitarian concerns,” the DOJ argues.
“Thus, we intend to seek appropriate legal remedies, which may include seeking injunctive relief requiring the removal of obstructions or other structures in the Rio Grande River.”
Despite the threat of legal action brought by the federal government, Abbott is digging in for a fight.
“Texas has the sovereign authority to defend our border, under the U.S. Constitution and the Texas Constitution,” Abbott wrote in a Friday Twitter post. “We have sent the Biden Administration numerous letters detailing our authority, including the one I hand-delivered to President Biden earlier this year.”
“The tragic humanitarian crisis on the border was created because of Biden’s refusal to secure the border,” Abbott continued. “His open border policies encourage migrants to risk their lives crossing illegally through the Rio Grande, instead of safely and legally over a bridge.”
Where President Joe Biden failed on the border, Abbott affirmed that Texas has stepped up to defend her people and land.
The White House’s efforts have been largely ineffective in mitigating the astronomical numbers of immigrants illegally crossing America’s southern border, if that was even the administration’s intention in the first place.
Communities on the border and further toward the heartland routinely bear the burden of this spiraling crisis. At times, these small towns must deal with tens of thousands of migrants while getting little to no outside help.
Shuffling immigrants around the country, a shell game favored by the White House, is slowly giving many areas problems that were formerly restricted largely to border towns.
Violent crime tied to illegal immigrant suspects, including murder, continues to grow in states that are nowhere near the border.
And as for Biden himself, Abbott has just one thing to say about the threat of legal action:
“We will see you in court, Mr. President.”
