Texas responded Tuesday to the Biden administration’s appeal to the Supreme Court, saying Border Patrol should be barred from cutting through razor wire barriers that seek to block immigrants who enter the United States illegally through the southern border.
Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office argued the Supreme Court’s intervention is unnecessary at the moment because the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit has already expedited oral arguments over the dispute early next month. The state contends the federal government does not have the right to destroy Texas’s property and claims “eyewitness observers” reported Border Patrol agents “facilitat[ing] the surge of migrants” into Eagle Pass, Texas.
“As the district court documented in detail, video evidence shows federal agents ‘cutting multiple holes in the concertina wire for no apparent purpose other than to allow migrants easier entrance further inland,'” Texas Solicitor General Aaron Nielson wrote, asking the Supreme Court to reject the Biden administration’s petition for review.
Border Patrol alleges the barriers block them from carrying out arrests on immigrants who enter the country illegally and claims the wire only obstructs efforts to administer aid in emergency situations.
“By preventing Border Patrol agents from reaching noncitizens who have already entered the United States, Texas’s barriers in Eagle Pass impede agents’ ability to apprehend and inspect migrants under federal law,” U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar wrote.
The dispute surrounds miles of concertina wire and shipping containers that were spread across Texas’s border with Mexico in an effort to deter thousands of illegal border crossings. Texas has spent $9 billion on its border security program, called “Operation Lone Star.” Up to 5,000 migrants have crossed the border near Eagle Pass each day in recent weeks, causing strains on the 28,000-person town’s medical facilities.
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The 5th Circuit on Dec. 5 halted a lower court order that gave Border Patrol agents legal cover to continue cutting the wire fences that Texas installed along the border.
Last week, the Biden administration filed a petition to the Supreme Court asking the justices to lift the appeals court’s temporary injunction.
