By Steve Neavling
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration on Tuesday, arguing that Border Patrol agents illegally destroyed state property when they cut through miles of razor wire strung up along the Rio Grande, the El Paso Times reports.
In an effort to stem illegal immigration, the state of Texas spent $11 million to place 70,000 rolls of concertina wire across the border, causing some migrants to be seriously injured and increasing the risk of drownings.
The Border Patrol is opposed to the wire, saying it’s preventing agents from reaching at-risk migrants, including infants and unaccompanied children.
In the lawsuit, Paxton claimed agents had seized or cut wire since Sept. 20. Paxton argues agents have no authority to damage or seize state property that is not on federal land.
“By cutting Texas’s concertina wire, the federal government has not only illegally destroyed property owned by the State of Texas; it has also disrupted the State’s border deterrence efforts, leaving gaps in Texas’s border barriers and damaging Texas’s ability to effectively deter illegal entry into Texas,” the attorney general’s office said in a statement.
The defendants in lawsuit are the heads of Homeland Security, CBP, and the Border Patrol.
