Texas officials celebrate as court allows floating river barrier to remain at the border

Top Texas officials are celebrating after a federal appeals court allowed for the state to keep floating buoys across a sector of its southern border to deter unlawful immigration.

"The Federal Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit just ruled that Texas can KEEP these buoys in the water securing our border," said Governor Greg Abbott in a publication on X.

"Biden tried to remove them. I fought to keep them in the water. That is exactly where they will stay. JUSTICE!!!," the governor added.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also celebrated the ruling, noting that the higher court said the lower had "abused its discretion when it ordered Texas to remove the buoys floating in the Rio Grande that prevent aliens from attempting a dangerous river crossing to enter America illegally."

"We hold that the district court clearly erred in finding that the United States will likely prove that the barrier is in a navigable stretch of the Rio Grande," said Judge Don R. Willett said in a passage of the ruling. "We cannot square the district court's findings and conclusions with over a century's worth of precedent."

"The buoys can remain in the river," Paxton said. "I will continue to defend Texas's right to protect its border from illegal immigration!"

A poll by the University of Texas from last year found that a slim majority of respondents supported the use of buoys and barbed wire. Concretely, 52% said they favored the measures, while 40% opposed it.

The dispute is one of many between the state and federal governments over immigration enforcement, as the former takes unilateral measures claiming the Biden administration is not doing enough to deter unlawful immigration. The case is ongoing and the decision could be reversed.

Last week, Abbott said state authorities are reinforcing the border along the El Paso-Ciudad Juárez sector with "triple-strand" razor wire.

The governor has linked the decision with President Joe Biden's decision to withdraw from the 2024 elections and endorse his vice president, Kamala Harris.

Abbott is among several Republicans seeking to convey the message that Harris did a poor job when tasked with reducing migration by addressing what the administration defined as the "root causes," namely poverty and insecurity in Central American countries.

Harris, on her end, has rejected the criticism and gone on offense. Her campaign released an ad on Wednesday taking on former President Donald Trump. "On the border, the choice is simple: Kamala Harris supports increasing the number of Border Patrol agents, Donald Trump blocked increasing the number; Kamala Harris supports investing in new technology to block fentanyl, Donald Trump blocked it," claims the ad, which goes on to list similar topics on the same line.

"Kamala Harris is fighting to fix our broken immigration system. Donald Trump is trying to stop her," the ad ends.