Feds sue Texas over buoys in the Rio Grande
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department went to court Monday to force Texas to remove buoys from the Rio Grande after Gov. Greg Abbott bluntly rejected its demand to comply, citing the state’s right to defend its borders against an “invasion” of migrants.
“Texas will fully utilize its constitutional authority to deal with the crisis you have caused,” the threeterm governor wrote, addressing his response to President Joe Biden.
Mexican officials and migrant advocates bristle at “invasion” rhetoric, which they view as inflammatory and certain to stoke anti-immigrant sentiment.
Five hours after Abbott released his letter, the Justice Department asked a federal court to order removal of the floating barriers near Eagle Pass. The complaint also seeks an order barring Texas from further violating the Rivers and Harbors Act, which bans obstructions in a navigable waterway.
“Texas has flouted federal law by installing a barrier in the Rio Grande without obtaining the required federal authorization,” said associate U.S. Attorney General Vanita Gupta. “This floating barrier poses threats to navigation and public safety and presents humanitarian concerns. Additionally, the presence of the floating barrier has prompted diplomatic protests by Mexico and risks damaging U.S. foreign policy.”
The Justice Department set a Monday afternoon deadline last week for the state to promise it would remove the floating barriers. The governments of both the United States and Mexico deem the barriers illegal, by treaty and law.
Abbott’s letter, released three hours ahead of the deadline, blames Biden for any injuries that befall migrants trying to enter Texas without permission. He’d signaled his defiance on Friday by vowing to “See you in court, Mr. President.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-pierre said Monday there’s no doubt he’ll get his wish.
“The governor’s action is making it difficult to access the river, patrol the area… and arrest individuals who attempt to enter the country unlawfully,” she said. “The one person who is sowing chaos is Governor Abbott…. He’s not operating in good faith.”
Biden and Abbott have clashed repeatedly over border security. The White House has regularly bashed the governor for draconian tactics or even outright cruelty toward migrants. Abbott has taunted the president by sending busloads of migrants to the gates of Vice President Kamala Harris’ official residence.
When Biden visited El Paso in January, the governor hand-delivered a terse letter warning that Texas would step up efforts to secure the border if Biden didn’t stop shirking that responsibility.
“Neither of us wants to see another death in the Rio Grande River [sic],” Abbott wrote Monday, referring Biden. “Yet your open-border policies encourage migrants to risk their lives by crossing illegally through the water, instead of safely and legally at a port of entry. Nobody drowns on a bridge.”
RIGHT TO ‘ENGAGE IN WAR’
Immigration hardliners have urged leaders of Texas and other states to declare an “invasion” at the border.
That would purportedly trigger state authority under a provision in the U.S. Constitution that lets states “engage in War” if “invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.”
“All of this is happening because you have violated your constitutional obligation to defend the States against invasion through faithful execution of federal laws,” Abbott wrote Monday.
“This will test the Article I, Section 10, Clause 3 power of states to defend themselves when the federal government refuses to do so,” tweeted Ken Cuccinelli, a former Republican attorney general of Virginia, and an immigration hardliner.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has called the state’s tactics to deter migrants “inhumane.”
Democratic lawmakers have called Abbott’s measures “barbaric.” A memo obtained by The Dallas Morning News, from a Customs and Border Patrol official in the Eagle Pass sector, warned that the state’s barriers block visibility and impede federal agents from catching or helping migrants.
Last week, an email surfaced from state trooper raising alarm about forces deployed by Texas denying water to migrants, or even pushing migrants back into the river.
Migrants have drowned trying to evade the barriers. A woman suffering a miscarriage became entangled in razor wire, and other migrants have been badly injured, including children.
Despite Abbott’s efforts to frame the legal skirmish as a personal affront to Texas by Biden, the president himself has yet to publicly weigh in.
Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-san Antonio, blasted Biden for leaving the issue to underlings, calling it a “real failure.”
“The president should say something,” Castro told NPR on Monday. “I know the White House press secretary condemned it and the DOJ has now threatened legal action. But it’s important for the president of the United States to condemn it himself.”
Jean-pierre deflected questions at her Monday briefing about Biden’s lack of direct engagement, citing the Justice Department efforts and her own condemnations.
“He has been very, very clear about this, by taking actions, by being vocal many times on this,” she said. “He said we need to do this in the right way, we need to do this in a humane way.”
The barriers are part of Operation Lone Star, which Abbott launched two years ago to beef up border security when Biden took office, halted construction of the wall promoted by predecessor Donald Trump, and began to dismantle many of Trump’s harsh immigration policies.
The deployments of National Guard and state troopers have been costly to Texas taxpayers. The Legislature’s latest infusion for the upcoming two-year budget cycle pushed the tally to nearly $10 billion.
Mexico contends that Texas’ barriers are illegal under treaties from 1944 and 1970 that govern the shared waters of the U.S. and Mexico.
The federal government says they violate a federal law that covers navigable waterways, a designation that includes the Rio Grande, even though it’s not deep or wide enough for passenger or cargo boats.
Abbott disputed any such violation in his letter Monday. He’s boasted openly that Texas ignored requirements to seek permission from the State Department and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers before installing razor wire and floating barriers at or in the Rio Grande, on grounds that Texas has the right to defend its borders.
In his letter to Biden, Abbott cites “your record-breaking level of illegal immigration.”
In fact, illegal crossings are far below last summer’s record-setting peak, dropping 70% since the Biden administration ended Title 42 earlier this year. That’s the pandemic-era emergency public health measure invoked by the Trump administration to keep out asylum-seekers.
Democrats emphasize the progress as they denounce tactics they see as “barbaric.” Republicans point out that despite the drop, illegal crossings remain above Trumpand Obama-era levels.
The White House has long bristled at the idea that border enforcement is lax.
In a letter Friday pressing Biden to take action against Texas, nearly 90 Democrats in the U.S. House, including all 13 Texans, expressed “profound alarm” after the reports of drownings and injuries related to the razor wire and buoys.
“We urge you to assert your authority over federal immigration policy and foreign relations… to stop Governor Abbott’s dangerous and cruel actions,” the lawmakers wrote.