A judge has ordered Texas officials to remove floating buoys from a section of the US-Mexico border that were put in place to repel migrants.
Senior US District Court Judge David Ezra released a preliminary injunction on Wednesday directing state officials to remove the floating border barriers from the Rio Grande by 15 September, at the state’s expense.
The ruling is an early victory for the Biden administration, after it sued Texas in July arguing that officials had failed to secure the necessary permits to instal the barriers.
Judge Ezra also banned state officials from putting in buoys in the middle of the Rio Grande river.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered the installion of the 1,000 foot floating barriers in July to deter migrants, despite warnings they posed a grave danger.
The Justice Department then sued the state, arguing they flout federal law, pose a public safety threat and risk damaging US-Mexican relations.
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