DOJ sues Texas over floating Rio Grande border barrier

The Department of Justice slapped Texas with a lawsuit Monday over the floating border barrier that the state erected on the Rio Grande — ratcheting up the White House’s war with Gov. Greg Abbott.

Federal prosecutors said Abbott must remove the 1,000-foot-long barrier of buoys that was strung across the river earlier this month to thwart illegal immigrants, saying it was constructed without federal authorization, according to a civil complaint filed in Austin federal court.

“We allege that Texas has flouted federal law by installing a barrier in the Rio Grande without obtaining the required federal authorization,” Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said in a statement. “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.”

Todd Kim, assistant attorney general of the department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, which filed the complaint, added, “The Rivers and Harbors Act is clear in prohibiting the placement of any unauthorized barriers or obstructions in the Rio Grande and other navigable waters of the United States.

“We intend to seek the appropriate legal remedies, including the removal of such obstructions in the Rio Grande,” Kim said.

The lawsuit also states Abbott did not request authority from the Army Corps of Engineers before beginning construction, violating the Rivers and Harbors Act.

Texas authorities began stringing the buoys along the Rio Grande two miles south of the Camino Real International Bridge in Eagle Pass, Texas, on July 7, according to the complaint in US District Court for the Western District of Texas.

The 4-foot-wide spherical buoys spin when they are grabbed, making them difficult to climb over midwater, and the structure can be moved to other sections of the river when necessary. It cost the state $1 million to design.

The Rio Grande is roughly 328 feet wide and also home to alligators.

“We don’t want anybody to get hurt,” Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McGraw said of the barrier’s purpose. “In fact, we want to prevent people from getting hurt, prevent people from drowning.”

Abbott anticipated the lawsuit in a letter he sent to President Biden earlier Monday, when he warned that the state believes it had the constitutional authority to build the barriers “because the President refuses to enforce federal immigration laws.

“If you truly care about human life, you must begin enforcing federal immigration laws,” Abbott said. “By doing so, you can help me stop migrants from wagering their lives in the waters of the Rio Grande River.

“You can also help me save Texans, and indeed all Americans, from deadly drugs like fentanyl, cartel violence, and the horrors of human trafficking,” he added.

Abbot noted he hand-delivered a letter to Biden in January and sent another in November highlighting how the commander-in-chief was flouting immigration laws during the surge of migrant crossings.

Through his “Operation Lone Star,” the Texas governor has placed some large sprials of barbed wire on the US-Mexico border.

“We aren’t asking for permission,” Abbott said earlier this year of his efforts to secure the border.

US Customs and Border Protection agents have encountered more than 1.7 million migrants crossing the southern border in fiscal year 2023 alone, data show.

At least 748 migrants died trying to cross illegally into the US in 2022, according to the Department of Homeland Security.