Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is celebrating a win after an appeals court temporarily blocked the federal government from destroying the razor wire along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Biden administration was trying to stop the state from placing the razor wire to prevent people from coming into Texas from Mexico. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals said Tuesday that the administration can’t do that.
The court sided with Paxton, saying immigration authorities cannot destroy the fencing while the state appeals a judge’s ruling.
“I am very pleased the appellate court has forbidden federal agents sent by the Biden administration from destroying our concertina wire fences,” Paxton said in a news release.
It’s unclear what happens next, and the U.S. Department of Justice has not released a statement in response.
The wire fencing was installed along the border as part of Operation Lone Star.