Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s buoy barrier along the Rio Grande River, described as “barbaric” by critics, will remain for at least another week, the Express-News reports.
During a hearing in Austin this week, Federal Judge David Alan Ezra gave attorneys representing Texas and the U.S. Justice Department until the end of the day Friday to submit written arguments for and against Abbott’s buoy barrier near Eagle Pass, according to the daily.
The hearing stems from a Justice Department lawsuit filed earlier this month. The federal government argues the buoys — installed as part of Abbott’s $4.4 billion Operation Lone Star border crackdown — violate the River and Harbor Act by obstructing a previously navigable waterway.
Justice Department attorneys also argued that Abbott and the state didn’t obtain necessary permission from the Army Corps of Engineers before deploying the buoys in early July.
Abbott’s buoys have been at the center of controversy since the state installed them two months ago. Weeks after later, authorities discovered the bodies of two migrants, one of which was entangled in the barrier. Even so, Abbott has denied that the buoys were responsible for the man’s death.
“This operation isn’t about border security,” U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, told reporters in Eagle Pass earlier this month. “It’s a political stunt designed to distract from the Abbott administration’s failure to make progress on other issues that Texans care about, like health care, education and economic development.”
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This article appears in Aug 23 – Sep 5, 2023.
