McALLEN, Texas — Border Patrol agents can provisionally cut razor wire that Texas installed at the U.S.-Mexico border under a ruling by a judge who also held President Joe Biden's administration accountable for its handling of immigration enforcement.
The ruling is at least a temporary defeat for Texas officials who say Border Patrol agents repeatedly cut, damaged and moved some of the roughly 30 miles (48 kilometers) of concertina wire the state has installed near the border town of Eagle Pass, where large numbers of the migrants have been crossing in recent months.
U.S. District Judge Alia Moses, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, initially issued an emergency order in October that prevented officers from cutting razor wire in Eagle Pass except in emergencies. However, on Wednesday she ruled that the state had not met the requirements to issue a broader preliminary injunction.
At the same time, she said barbed wire has proven effective in deterring migrants elsewhere along Texas' 1,200-mile southern border.
“The law may be on the side of the defendants and force a resolution in their favor today, but it does not excuse their culpable and duplicitous conduct,” Moses wrote. “The evidence presented amply demonstrates Defendants' complete failure to deter, prevent, and stop unlawful entry into the United States.”
On Thursday, Texas filed an appeal with the conservative-leaning 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals.
“I am disappointed that the federal government's blatant and disturbing efforts to undermine law and order at our state's border with Mexico will continue,” Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement. declaration.
Border Patrol agents are allowed to cut the cord in emergency situations, such as when a migrant on the other side needs medical attention. But Texas officials have argued that federal agents were also cutting the river to help groups crossing illegally before taking them in for processing. Moses said Texas failed to prove that wire cutting was a formal policy.
Spokespeople for U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not immediately return an email seeking comment Thursday.
Texas has also built razor wire around El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley, where migrants have also been crossing in large numbers. But the barrier has drawn its sharpest criticism in Eagle Pass, where some state troopers have raised concerns about the many injuries caused by razor wire.
According to Moses' 34-page ruling, the Biden administration produced documents reflecting how the wire “impedes the Border Patrol's ability to patrol the border.” comes to the concertina thread, the “relationship has deteriorated over time.”
Eagle Pass is a hub of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's massive border mission known as Operation Lone Star. He has also authorized the installation of floating barriers in the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass and allowed troops to arrest and jail thousands of migrants on trespassing charges.