Border Crisis: Federal Judge Orders Texas to Remove Buoys From Rio Grande
The ruling is a preliminary injunction, which “is to preserve the relative of the parties until a trial on the merits can be held.”
Judge David Alan Ezra of the U.S. District Court Western District of Texas – Austin Division told Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to remove the floating buoys in the Rio Grande to stop migrants from crossing.
The ruling is a preliminary injunction, which “is to preserve the relative of the parties until a trial on the merits can be held.” A judge can award the preliminary injunction if the plaintiff shows:
(1) a substantial likelihood of success on the merits;
(2) a substantial threat of irreparable harm if the injunction does not issue;
(3) that the threatened injury outweighs any harm that will result if the injunction is granted; and
(4) that the grant of an injunction is in the public interest.
Ezra decided the DOJ met all four points.
Texas officials installed the buoys with anchors by Eagle Pass, where border agents have encountered about 270,000 migrants in this fiscal year.
That number is lower than the encounters last year.
The DOJ claimed Texas of placing “a barrier on the international boundary without permission.”
Officials accused Texas of violating the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act of 1899:
The United States alleges that Texas violated Section 10 of the RHA, 33 U.S.C § 403, by (1) erecting a structure in the Rio Grande River without authorization from the United States Army Corps of Engineers (the “Corps”), and (2) creating an obstruction to the navigable capacity of that waterway without affirmative Congressional authorization. (Id. ¶ 2.)
President Joe Biden invoked humanitarian and environmental concerns.
Ezra wrote that Texas and anyone helping the state with the buoys should stop installing the objects or anything else in the Rio Grande.
Texas has until September 15 to remove the buoys.
“Today’s court decision merely prolongs President Biden’s willful refusal to acknowledge that Texas is rightfully stepping up to do the job that he should have been doing all along. This ruling is incorrect and will be overturned on appeal,” Abbott said in a statement. “We will continue to utilize every strategy to secure the border, including deploying Texas National Guard soldiers and Department of Public Safety troopers and installing strategic barriers.
“Our battle to defend Texas’ sovereign authority to protect lives from the chaos caused by President Biden’s open border policies has only begun. Texas is prepared to take this fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.”
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Comments
The judge should be stripped of his citizenship and dumped on the far side of the Rio Grande.
This is completely insane. Treason. Plain and simple.
Maybe it is time to tell the Federal judge to F off?
Past time!
Oh that would be grand if a state of Texas had the balls to tell a federal judge to go eff themselves. Would love that it would happen. And what can the federal court realistically do. Nothing. They depend on the fact that the citizens will be good sheeple and quietly submit to any
command(s)order(s) they issue and don’t have any real enforcement mechanism to back them up.So at this point Abbott should just double down on construction and placement of the buoy barrier. They’ve got nothing to lose and everything to win by doing so.
As I mentioned further down, the Feds can simply order CBP to remove the buoys and there isn’t anything Texas can do about it.
Arrest any CBP personnel and jail them for removal of state property without proper authorization from the state of Texas. And then throw their sorry hinds end in jail. Lather, Rinse, and repeat as many times as necessary until the Biden regime gets it through their thick heads it just ain’t gonna happen.
Do that and federal troops will come and arrest Abbott for rebellion. Justly.
I would like to see Sen. Ted Cruz argue for the State of Texas in the appeals court. Being that A.G. Paxton is sidelined.
Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act of 1899? Looks like they’ve been busy little beavers in the law library.
Yeah, isn’t it just effing funny how the democrats can dig up a 100+ years old federal law (Rivers & Harbors Appropriation Act (1899)) in an attempt to force the removal of the Rio Grande buoy barrier with claims that it “interferes with the navigability of the river” and that they “didn’t seek or receive permission from the federal government” but they can’t seem to actually enforce the current federal immigration law on the books. That failure being the reason the Rio Grande buoy barrier was put in place. To control passage of illegal aliens across the southern border.
Funny in a sick, sad, and pathetic way.
I saw some discussion on this a few weeks ago when this first came up. Calling the Rio Bravo “navigable” is a pretty big stretch unless you’re talking about canoes and yachts, and even they can’t get past the dams.
Read the decision. The Rio Grande was once navigable, and it might one day again be navigable, therefore it remains legally “navigable” until Congress explicitly declares otherwise.
Since we are talking navigable rivers and such, Texas needs to load river crossers on a barge and send them up the Intercoastal waterway to NYC.
Let’s see what the Fifth Circuit say about this.
It’s interesting that the judge sides with the fed that Texas doesn’t have permission but they never point out that it is the legal obligation of the Biden administration to uphold the laws of this country…. and Biden doesn’t get to write laws. We already have them and Biden needs to enforce them, as required under article II of the Constitution.
That was not the lawsuit that was brought before the judge. The judge ruled on what was before him.
Yeah. Like judges have NEVER inserted their own spin on cases before them. What bullshït.
It isn’t BS to remind everyone that the CT doesn’t stray away from the controversy before it in the search for some holistic solution by bringing in arguments and facts unrelated to that particular controversy. To do what you suggest is a legislative function. Have some lefty Judges made bizzaro world rulings in the past? Sure but they used the arguments before them as weird and unserious as they may have been.
IMO this is going to be overturned and the barriers will remain in place during litigation.
To say “some lefty judges have made bizzaro world rulings” tends to minimize the number of such judges and decisions, skipping over the damage that these people have done. It didn’t start with Roe and a decision based on penumbras and emanations of the Constitution, but that is likely the greatest example. And there have been far, far more Leftist judges who have legislated from the bench than conservative/libertarian judges have done.
Understated the # and impact of the bizzaro rulings for sure. That’s a fair point.
The fact remains that the CT rules on the case in front of it. They don’t do context or try and make ‘fixes’ or cures to legislation. (the disastrous ObamaCare Tax decision aside). Most of the bizzaro decisions are the result of imprecise statutory language. One decision is used as the stepping stone for the next but the first wouldn’t be possible if legislators did their jobs better and wrote/rewrote our statutes to tighten them up and mitigate mischief. Leave the vulnerabilities in them and lawfare is the result.
What’s interesting to note is that Biden as :President has a Constitutional obligation to first and foremost protect the borders of this country, which he has failed to do in the most miserable of ways, and there is no way to get around that. That being said, it is left up to the States on the borders to do what’s necessary to stem the tide of people crossing into this country illegally, if that’s happening, which in this case, that’s beyond question.
In this particular case, anyone that is crying about it, claiming it’s hurting the environment, which there is no clear proof of that, or that anything that this or any other State is doing to stem the tide of people crossing our borders illegally at this point is nothing less then pure Treason, full stop.
We will comply, your honor, just as soon as you order Biden to get his fat arse down here and secure the border. Until then, pound sand.
Abbott does not have the balls
Neither do you. It figures that a judge would rule against Texas and you’d stand up and cheer.
Clearly I’m
Not cheering
I live in Texas
We are talking
All hat,
No
Cattle Abbott
He’s trying to run our AG out of his job
Interesting this blog has not discussed the case , that I’m
Aware of, the trial is actually going on right now
Paxton fights and he’s a MAGA,
Warts and all,
Probably why, big President Trump supporter
Abbott is a talker Do nothing kind of guy
We don’t have school choice,
Our property taxes are ridiculously high,
We are overrun with illegal s and
Californians, basically the same
He makes a lot of threats and does nothing,
As example
Austin , where the Capital is,
Has defunded the police,
It’s an unsafe town amd
Abbott has threatened to
Step in
Crickets
He has no balls
I live in Fort Worth. Its a little better here due to the makeup of the local population. But a lot of people moving in from Ca to the north west side of the city.
Your post above nailed it. Not many of us are happy with Abbot right now!
Of course you’re cheering. You do it every time a judge rules against Texas.
I was going to ignore this garbage, but some of it has to be rebutted.
“”He’s trying to run our AG out of his job””
Abbott has no role in impeachment. This is entirely the work of somebody you’ve apparently never heard of – Dade Phelan (rhymes with “felon”).
“”Paxton fights and he’s a MAGA,
Warts and all,
Probably why, big President Trump supporter””
Just a few months ago you were throwing rocks at Paxton (and refused to spell his name correctly), blaming him for everything and anything you don’t like about Texas – which is a lot.
“”We don’t have school choice,””
That’s a lie. If it weren’t a lie, there would be no Christian or other non-governmental schools.
“”Our property taxes are ridiculously high,””
Yet you demand that we do ever more at the border, which costs money that has to be raised through taxes and fees. Besides we don’t have a state income tax. Mostly, increased tax rates for seniors, which likely includes you, go to schools, driven by the influx of out-of-staters. EXCEPT FOR THAT, MOST of your property taxes are frozen if you’re over 65.
“”Austin , where the Capital is,
Has defunded the police””
Which is a function of CITY government. You get what you vote for.
I do have to add this: Abbott is signing far too much of the Democrat/Phelan backed garbage that is coming out of the Lege, much of it backed by the construction industry, that is taking power away from local authorities WRT zoning and expansion.
So you’re saying you wish you had our governor, Ron DeSantis?
The correct action is leave the barriers in place, because they protect the lives of Texas citizens. To remove them is to facilitate the crime of illegal border crossing, which should the judge’s order null and void.
If illegal border crossers wish to commit their crimes at these barriers, that is their choice and is no concern of the state of Texas
They just Wade around them, pretty useless
I have seen elsewhere that when Texas became a state it reserved a right to go back to independence.
It’d be fun to watch the fireworks if true.
Any state can secede, if it chooses.
It is about time that many should.
That was pretty much settled in 1860.
Agreed. A national ‘divorce’ as the result of negotiations? Maybe but civil war is to be avoided. That would absolutely be the result of a State telling the Federal govt to pound sand and/or we gonna go off on our own and not be part of the USA anymore.
You can see all sorts of bullshit “elsewhere”, but it remains bullshit. Not only did Texas not make any such reservation, it couldn’t have made one even if it wanted to. No state has the power to make any “reservations” on its statehood.
“David Alan Ezra (born 1947) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii. Since January 2013, Ezra has been designated by the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court to serve on the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, San Antonio Division to help ease the heavy workload for the federal judges in Texas.”
“On November 18, 1987, Ezra was nominated by President Ronald Reagan to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii …”
“Judge David Alan Ezra of the U.S. District Court Western District of Texas – Austin Division told Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to remove the floating buoys in the Rio Grande to stop migrants from crossing.”
Just a note that this sentence makes no sense at all.
“PLACED to stop migrants from crossing” would make sense.
True, because the purpose of the barrier was to funnel them to the CBP checkpoint.
These judges need a lesson in the tenth amendment
Texas can start the process of looking into removing the buoys … it should only take between 10 and 30 months to formulate a plan for the correct removal, after which the environmental impact report of the removal (after all, so many critters in the river have now grown accustomed to the buoys and have built homes in them) should only take between 2 and 7 years, after which they can open bids for companies to carry out the removal …
That is brilliant! Lawfare… perhaps there is a rare fresh water clam that now clings precariously to the bottoms of these floats?
Time for 100’s of new buses. Start sending them to Rehoboth beach, Delaware, DC, and every other Liberal city and town in America. They want them…give them to them good and hard. Let them deal with their crisis.
Send them home…
So they can cross the border again. We’ve tried that for years. Doesn’t work. The only things that DO work, the government won’t do – cancel all access to welfare plans and government services. You do away with the bait, they stop acting like ants.
They’re not coming here for welfare.
That’s not the bait.
The bait is the American Dream.
And the left is doing it’s best to destroy it.
However, until the American Dream is destroyed for all to see, there are probably at least a billion people who want to come here. 7 million so far is nothing. Under the current Biden policy, we are barely even started.
They were coming here before LBJ got his welfare reform passed. They came, worked the farms and ranches, and then went back to Mexico. They didn’t start staying and spreading throughout the country until afterwards. Look at what’s happening with the ones we’re sending across the country. They’re just being warehoused at our expense. Sure, a lot of them get jobs – especially here, where they make up a large share of the construction industry, among others, but that’s not why they head for LA or NYC.
BTW, quite a few of the illegals crossing through Arizona are Chinese. They aren’t after “the American dream”.
The composition of those crossing the border illegally is different today than ten years ago much less the ’60s or ’70s. Then it was overwhelmingly Mexicans today it isn’t. Instead it is mostly folks from Central America with good number of Asians and Africans. Every so often there’s a burst of Haitians or other Caribbean Nations represented.
Lets also not overlook the impact of Visa over stays. Whether tourist visa, student visa or one of the many flavors of work visa these account for a huge % of the illegal population in the US. Bringing the incentives into alignment to force employers, schools at minimum who requested the visa be granted to have oversight, accountability of these folks should not be very hard or controversial.
So the DOJ standing is to make illegals enter the country.
Here, apparently the law(s) being used, or ignored, by the administration and numerous states and localities, that support the travesty that permits the ‘invasion’ of migrants and creates the immense problems being imposed upon the country and citizens elsewhere and everywhere, supersede other law(s) of minimal or inconsequential application under the circumstances that might otherwise ameliorate or prevent those problems.
Otherwise said as “the law(s) I choose to enforce, or ignore, for my purposes are more important than the law(s) you choose to enforce, or ignore, for your purposes.” Variously, “my law is more important than your law.”
This little game of dueling legalisms being played by an “elite” little clique of snobby, snotty posturing lawyers, politicians, bureaucrats, and their henchmen without consideration for and prioritizing the welfare of American citizens above others is dangerous. It assumes an unlimited patience on the part of American citizens to bear the cost and tolerate the consequences of the game and is in danger of exhausting their patience. There is a danger in overestimating this patience; the risk is that these “elites” and their games are pushing ordinary citizens toward vigilantism in preservation of their own personal wellbeing and welfare. We may be approaching the breaking point in almost every aspect of our lives.
People here are missing the obvious. Start bussing illegals into the district that is the judges home.
If he lives in Austin, he probably wouldn’t notice much of a difference. It’s already a sewer.
District hell. To the judge’s house, and tell them ‘this beautiful home is now yours, and don’t let anyone stop you from taking it.’ Since he loves criminal invaders so much, why deprive him of all that wonderful diversity!
The problem is the open border, bussing doesn’t fix that. Bussing is working to the extent that it draws attention to the problems created by open, non-existent, borders, but it doesn’t fix them. The only way to stop continued GROWTH of the problem is to close the border, something no Democrat anywhere has called for or is calling for now.
The bigger long-term problem is the millions of unnamed, anonymous migrants who are already here. What Democrats and progressives are doing is what they always do – demand that someone else pay for and fix the problem they’ve created. They NEVER accept responsibility for the problems they create. They want someone to send them money. They forcibly confiscate (okay, rent) hotels; they confiscate public spaces and facilities; demand that others provide shelter, food, clothing, sanitation, and health care.
The country is going to be wrestling with this problem for generations; Democrats and those who created the problem will not be a part of the solution, they will demand that you and I pay for and fix it.
Though the sudden interest in border security or at least in the lack of border security leading to the sudden presence of large numbers of illegal aliens in blue enclaves /’sanctuary cities’ by their inhabitants may lead some of those folks adjusting their voting habits. Heck if ten % of the residents stay home that makes a big difference in election results. If that 10% actually cross over then that’s an even bigger swing in the election.
So, in the meantime Gov. Abbott will have to get more busses and step up transporting the excess to the sanctuary cities.
He should be using the busses to transport them back over the border. Say, down to the Yucatán Peninsula.
1,000,000,000^^^
All 30 million or so of them? Good idea, except that we have to pay for it with our taxes. We can’t run a deficit like the Feds.
‘The judge has issued his ruling. Let him now enforce it.’
Appeal the ruling. Leave the buoys in place. Go to the Supreme Court if necessary. And if ruled against there, leave the buoys in place. “Okay, try and enforce your decision.”
Of course, although with this ruling, the Biden Administration can just order CBP to remove the buoys themselves. Why do people here not realize that they’re working against us?
And then the state of Texas should arrest those CBP personnel that have removed the buoy barrier and cite the lack of state authorization to remove state owned property by the CBP as the reason for their arrest. And then return the buoy barrier to its position in the Rio Grande river.
To avoid any discriminatory impact, gulls should also be removed.
the string of bouys is only 2/3 mile long. Its not a real impediment
The stated intention was for the obstruction to cause illegal aliens to be funneled to the proper port of entry or location where the USBP officers can apprehend the illegals. The idea was diversion, not do the impossible (while the administration continuously invites the illegals to invade) and stop the invasion.
Exactly
I hope Abbott takes a page from the Biden Crime book and ignores the judges order.
Time to crack out a new version of the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions. We can call it the Texas Resolution. The thoroughly corrupt federal government is totally derelict in its duty to defend our border and uses whatever specious methods it can to thwart states’ efforts to step in and defend their citizens. This case proposes Texas can’t defend its citizens without first obtaining “permission” from some agency of the central tyranny. No! States have an obligation to step in to defend life, liberty, and property—especially where the federal government fails or is derelict. Whatever power the central government has is delegated. The “supremacy” of federal law assumes the central government is faithfully enforcing our laws and acting in good faith—which hasn’t been the case with immigration for decades. Texas needs to oppose the central government’s unconstitutional efforts to effectively destroy any serious border enforcement. In this case, defending the Constitution means telling the federal judge to pound sand. Texas is acting properly within federalism no matter what some sophist in robes might declare, and no matter what leftist DC overlords dictate.
The northern half of the Rio Grande is TEXAS waters. The DOJ is overstepping its bounds. Its as if they WANT illegal immigrants to come in so they can illegally vote – for Democrats.
starride in reply to gonzotx. | September 7, 2023 at 9:29 am
I live in Fort Worth. Its a little better here due to the makeup of the local population. But a lot of people moving in from Ca to the north west side of the city.
Your post above nailed it. Not many of us are happy with Abbot right now!
Thank you , you are of sound mind
One action that Abboitt has taken that is working is busing these illegakls to the sanctuary cities and dumping them off. That needs to be increased 10X in the coming months. Chicago, LA, Philly and NYC are screaming about it. Keep it up.
I agree, but once again, this comes out of the taxpayers’ pockets. We can’t run deficits.
He’s going the wrong way
Oh, so NOW following federal immigration law is important? Funny how it’s not important for the illegals crossing the border or for the cities and states openly defying the law–ironically in one of the few areas where fedgov has legit jurisdiction.
Seems it’s time to take a page from the liberal playbook. They cherry-pick the laws Texas should too.
It’s a thought. If we all ignore enough laws, there won’t be any laws at all, and then you’ve got Austin. Most people who aren’t rabid leftists or Abbott haters don’t really like Austin.
Abbott must ignore this diktat. His first duty is to protect the citizens of Texas from enemy invasion, which the unlawful actions of Biden/Mayorkas have promulgated! By issuance of his order, the federal judge is aiding and abetting the enemy.
He hasn’t don’t it so far
He’s not going to
He’s a coward, he reminds me of pence
Remove the existing barrier and place another in it’s place. Then give the double-barreled middle finger to the communist judge.
Really? How is this injunction in the public interest? What public?
“(4) that the grant of an injunction is in the public interest.”
This appears to be the latest development on this case.
From the same source:
“”The news comes amidst reports that the Biden administration intends to implement a “remain-in-Texas” policy to keep unauthorized migrants from entering the United States beyond the Lone Star State and going to Democrat-run cities.””
They’re getting desperate.
1 txvet2 in reply to
So many things wrong with what you wrote
If you think Abbott has nothing to do with what is happening with Paxton, you know nothing of Texas politics
The city council of Austin of course funds or defunds the police, but because it’s the CAPITAL of Texas, the Governor has the right to take control of the situation with the police. He threatened to install Marshall’s if Austin did not rectify the situation, they did not and he did not act and Austin is an unsafe city, very unsafe
SOS
I never dissed Paxton, you are confused, I have always supported him.. Always
“”I never dissed Paxton, you are confused, I have always supported him.. Always””
Well, at least you’re proud of your lies. You dissed him repeatedly this spring, along with repeatedly, deliberately misspelling his name. I’ve already rebutted your other lies.