Abbott won’t move Rio Grande floating barriers: ‘Texas will see you in court, Mr. President’

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Monday informed the Biden administration that he will not comply with the Justice Department’s (DOJ) request to remove the floating barriers in the Rio Grande River and was prepared to battle the administration in court.

Abbott’s refusal comes just before the DOJ’s deadline for Abbott to comply with the government’s request to remove the barriers. The DOJ threatened legal action against Texas if the barriers were not removed by Monday at 2 p.m.

“If you truly care about human life, you must begin enforcing federal immigration laws,” Abbott wrote in the letter Monday. “In the meantime, Texas will fully utilize its constitutional authority to deal with the crisis you have caused.” 

“Texas will see you in court, Mr. President,” Abbott added.

Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim and U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas Jaime Esparza in a letter had warned Abbott that the floating barriers posed “a risk to navigation, as well as public safety, in the Rio Grande River, and it presents humanitarian concerns.”

“The State of Texas’s actions violate federal law, raise humanitarian concerns, present serious risks to public safety and the environment, and may interfere with the federal government’s ability to carry out its official duties,” Kim and Esparza wrote last week in the letter obtained by The Hill.

The attorneys wrote that the marine barriers violated multiple provisions of the Rivers and Harbors Act, which “prohibits the creation of any obstruction to the navigable capacity of waters of the United States, and further prohibits building any structure in such waters without authorization from the United States Army Corps of Engineers.”

The buoys cover 1,000 feet in the middle of the Rio Grande, with anchors in the riverbed. It is part of Abbott’s multibillion-dollar Operation Lone Star to secure the border. 

Abbott’s defiance of the DOJ’s request represents the latest escalation in the rift between GOP-led states and the federal government led by Biden.

House Democrats have also been pushing the Biden administration to take action to stop Abbott’s border operation.

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Nearly 100 House Democrats penned a letter to Biden on Friday urging him “to assert your authority over federal immigration policy and foreign relations and investigate and pursue legal action, as appropriate, related to stop Governor Abbott’s dangerous and cruel actions.”

Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairwoman Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.) on Thursday criticized Abbott’s border policies, calling them “disturbing.”

“Governor Abbott’s shameless alleged actions are inexcusable, and there must be a full and transparent investigation into the possible crimes that he ordered to prevent further violence and mistreatment of children, asylum seekers, and migrants,” she wrote.

“Texas has the sovereign authority to defend our border, under the U.S. Constitution and the Texas Constitution,” Abbott wrote on Twitter Friday.

The Biden administration implemented new immigration policies after the Title 42 policy ended in May.

The administration has argued that its new rules encourage legal pathways and have resulted in a decrease of illegal crossings at the border. Some immigrant rights organizations have criticized Biden’s new rule, claiming it is a rehash of policies under the Trump administration and that it endangers migrants.