Texas Secures Legal Win in Border Barrier Fight

Texas Secures Legal Win in Border Barrier Fight
Texas Secures Legal Win in Border Barrier Fight. Credit | REUTERS

United States: A split U.S. appeals court, frustrated immigration policy delay, denied the Biden administration stay to dismantle razor-wire fencing that Texas erected along the border with Mexico to stop the migration.

A 2-1 ruling from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals clears the GOP-dominated state to proceed with a trespass claim against the federal government without having to dismantle the barriers.

Texas Gains Legal Ground Against Federal Government

It also overturned a federal judge’s Nov. 2023 order denying a preliminary injunction to Texas, as the state opposes federal attempts to dismantle fencing along the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass, Texas, as reported by Reuters.

Circuit Judge Kyle Duncan, appointed by President-elect Donald Trump, highlighted his point in Wednesday’s majority that Texas was not wrong in attempting to protect its property and was likely to prevail on the trespass claims against the regulation of the U.S. Border Patrol.

Duncan dismissed the federal government’s argument that acceptance of Texas’s position would hinder the enforcement of immigration law and negatively affect the government’s relationship with Mexico as this is a sovereign that gave it up.

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He also stated that the public interest «favors explicit restrictions on government trespass and take» and ensures that federal immigration law enforcement does not infringe on the rights of innumerable property owners.

U.S. DOJ has not yet returned a request for comment.

The Chairman of the Texas National Party, Ken Paxton, took to social media platform X, registering his delight as follows: ‘Huge win for Texas’.

‘VIRTUAL POWER OF REVIEW’

Circuit Judge Don Willett, Trump’s appointee, agreed with Duncan in this opinion.

Biden Circuit Judge Irma Carrillo Ramirez dissented, arguing that Texas failed to claim that the federal government has also waived sovereign immunity or is entitled to prevail on the merits.

According to her, Texas asserted a “virtual power of review” over federal initiatives to implement immigration law, which would make it more difficult for the government to guarantee that federal law is faithfully implemented.

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Conservative commentators have accused Biden of encouraging a rise in the number of migrants entering the United States without permission.

The White House has been involved in lawsuits with Texas and numerous other states that have sought to discourage and penalize unlawful migration. Hence, Trump’s administration is more likely to be sensitive to such alarmists’ grievances.

Ongoing Legal Battles

May saw the full 5th Circuit hearing arguments in another case of Texas and the White House on whether the state can keep a 1,000-foot-long floating barrier in the Rio Grande.

The appeals court is also rehearing a temporary injunction issued by a judge on a Texas law that would allow state officers to arrest, prosecute, and detain individuals in the country unlawfully.

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The 5th Circuit churns out of New Orleans and is one of the nine federal appeals courts that are widely regarded as the most conservative.

Similarly, the Biden administration has sued Iowa and Oklahoma for such laws, which they state hinder federal execution of U.S. immigration laws, as reported by Reuters.