By Steve Neavling
The Biden administration is asking the Supreme Court to allow Border Patrol agents to remove razor wire that the state of Texas strung up along the Rio Grande River to curtail migrant crossings.
Texas filed a lawsuit against the administration last year, arguing that federal agents illegally destroyed state property when they cut through miles of razor wire.
Last month, a federal appeals court ordered Border Patrol agents to stop removing the wire pending a judicial decision.
Now the Justice Department is asking the Supreme Court to overturn that decision, arguing that federal agents have authority to access private land along the border. The DOJ also says the wire is preventing agents from reaching at-risk migrants, including infants and unaccompanied children.
“The injunction prohibits agents from passing through or moving physical obstacles erected by the State that prevent access to the very border they are charged with patrolling and the individuals they are charged with apprehending and inspecting,” Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar wrote in a court filing Tuesday.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, responded in a post on X, formerly Twitter, “Americans & courts will reject Biden’s hostility to immigration laws.” He said the state would continue to deploy the National Guard “to build border barriers & repel illegal immigrants.”
