San Antonio – It’s been about three months since Gov. Greg Abbott had the multimillion-dollar buoys put in the Rio Grande River, and now a federal judge has issued an order to have them moved.
On July 24, the United States filed a lawsuit against Texas for placing the buoys along the Rio Grande without authorization from the federal government and the Army Corps of Engineers.
“If the state is going to place anything along those international waters or in an international border, they have to have a specific, explicit consent and permission from the federal government, and Governor Abbott did not do that,” said Lydia Guzman, national immigration chair for the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC).
On Wednesday, a federal judge ruled the state must reposition the buoys from the middle of the waterway to the bank of the Rio Grande on the Texas side of the river. It’s a decision LULAC, the oldest and largest Latino civil rights organization, applauds.
“This is nothing more than political posturing, and now that he’s been told to remove them, it just shows that he has no regard for the federal government for the rule of law -- simply put,” said Guzman.
In a statement in response to federal Judge David A. Ezra, Gov. Abbott says Texas will appeal and is prepared to take the fight up to the Supreme Court.
Abbott said the ruling is incorrect, and the state will use every strategy to secure the border. That includes deploying the Texas National Guard and DPS and installing strategic barriers.
The judge ordered Texas to have the buoys out of the river by Sept. 15.
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