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| AP Photo/Eric Gay |
Texas takes its border showdown with President Biden to a panel of judges on Thursday, arguing that the illegal immigrants streaming into the U.S. constitutes an invasion that the state has a right to repel, including by deploying its floating wall in the Rio Grande.
The 1,000-foot-long string of buoys, which Texas calls “marine floating barriers,” has nearly eliminated illegal crossings and drug smuggling near Eagle Pass, the state says.
The Biden administration sued to tear down the floating wall. Officials said Texas didn’t obtain federal permission and the buoys violated the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act of 1899.
The case is the first significant test of the “invasion” theory, popular among conservatives. The theory argues that states have the right under the Constitution to defend themselves from invasion. That, Texas argues, is exactly what the migrant crisis has become.
“Gov. [Greg] Abbott has asserted this power here because the U.S. has unconstitutionally refused to protect Texas — and, more importantly, its citizens — against the dangers posed by transnational cartels,” Lanora C. Pettit, Texas’ principal deputy solicitor general, told the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The floating wall is a line of orange spherical buoys lined shoulder to shoulder, with plates in between to prevent anyone from climbing over the seams. The buoys are anchored to the riverbed, deterring anyone from swimming underneath, and they spin to prevent migrants from grasping the barrier.
Razor wire on the U.S. shore is a further deterrence.
The floating wall has enraged the Mexican government, which blames several drownings on the buoys, and has irked the Biden administration, which says the federal government gets the final say on what goes into international boundary waters. --->READ MORE HERE
There is another border control controversy, as the floating barrier installed by Texas Governor Greg Abbott went before a panel of judges Thursday.
Attorneys with the state and the Biden Administration made their arguments, with Thursday’s hearing lasting about 30 minutes.
Two of the three judges hearing arguments on the 1,000-foot floating barrier Texas installed in the Rio Grande in June to block migrants voiced skepticism at the state’s assertion it needed no federal permission because the buoys are only temporary.
It is another test of state versus federal power over border control, with the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans taking up the case of Gov. Abbott's floating barrier.
An attorney for the Department of Justice argued Texas violated the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 in two ways.
"First, Texas obstructed the river's navigable capacity without congressional authorization," Michael Gray said. "Second, they built a boon or other structure in the river without a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers."
An attorney for the state argued that the 1899 law only applies to navigable rivers. That stretch of the Rio Grande is no more than four feet deep. --->READ MORE HERE
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