Appeals court allows Texas to keep floating Rio Grande barriers in place
Rachel Schilke
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Texas will be allowed to keep its floating buoy barriers in the Rio Grande after a U.S. appeals court granted a temporary stay on Thursday.
The appeals court’s ruling comes after a federal judge ordered the state of Texas to remove its floating barriers and refrain from building additional barriers to keep immigrants from crossing the border on Wednesday. It was not set to take effect until Sept. 15.
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Thursday’s order could prevent the Lone Star State from immediately having to begin moving the buoys to the river bank.
Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) announced on Wednesday his intent to appeal the decision, stating a he would take the legal battle to the Supreme Court if needed.
The buoys are one of several strategies that Abbott has used to prevent immigrants from arriving along the southern border, including placing coils of razor wire along the river.
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Floating barriers gained national attention in July after a state trooper reported that the state’s border security efforts led to horrible repercussions for immigrants. The complaint alleged that immigrants had been hurt, and even killed, as a direct result of the state’s increasingly hostile barbed wire and water buoy barriers at the border.
One of the allegations stated that Texas authorities were ordering troopers to push migrant children back into the river and deny water to migrants in extreme heat.