FIRST ON FOX: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Monday promised that “the fight is not over” after the Supreme Court granted an emergency appeal by the Biden administration to allow Border Patrol agents to resume cutting razor wire set up by Texas at the southern border.
“The Supreme Court’s temporary order allows Biden to continue his illegal effort to aid the foreign invasion of America,” Paxton said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“The destruction of Texas’s border barriers will not help enforce the law or keep American citizens safe,” he said. “This fight is not over, and I look forward to defending our state’s sovereignty.”
SUPREME COURT SIDES WITH BIDEN IN TEXAS BORDER WIRE CASE; BORDER PATROL UNION BLASTS THE DECISION
The court ruled in a 5-4 decision to allow the federal government to resume the removal of the fence installed by Texas along the southern border near Eagle Pass while litigation continues.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the three liberal justices in a 5-4 vote to allow the practice to resume. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh would have denied the application to vacate injunction, the court said.
Paxton had sued the administration in October over its damaging of the wire, accusing the administration of disrupting state efforts to secure the border and damaging the ability to deter illegal entry.
The Biden administration has argued that once migrants are on U.S. soil, Border Patrol agents must apprehend them, and has claimed the wire “inhibits Border Patrol’s ability to patrol the border.” The administration has also argued that federal immigration law supersedes Texas’ own efforts to control the border.
A Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals panel had granted a request for a preliminary injunction. The DOJ had asked the Supreme Court for temporary relief so that it could remove razor fence at the federal government’s discretion.
“The court of appeals’ contrary ruling inverts the Supremacy Clause by requiring federal law to yield to Texas law,” its application to the Court argued. “If accepted, the court’s rationale would leave the United States at the mercy of States that could seek to force the federal government to conform the implementation of federal immigration law to varying state-law regimes.”
The Department of Homeland Security said on Monday that it welcomed the Supreme Court order.
“Enforcement of immigration law is a federal responsibility,” a spokesperson said. “Rather than helping to reduce irregular migration, the State of Texas has only made it harder for frontline personnel to do their jobs and to apply consequences under the law. We can enforce our laws and administer them safely, humanely, and in an orderly way.”
DOJ RENEWS SCOTUS PUSH TO ACT AFTER TEXAS SEIZES BORDER AREAS, BLOCKS BORDER PATROL FROM ENTERING
Brandon Judd, President of the National Border Patrol Council, said the ruling would “undoubtedly encourage more illegal immigration.”
“Unfortunately, this means Border Patrol agents are going to be tied up dealing with give ups rather than going after the criminal elements that constantly cross our borders illegally,” Judd said in a statement to Fox News. “The administration no doubt will say this is a win for border security, but if they sought rank and file input, they would be told this will do the exact opposite. Agents support what Texas was trying to accomplish in the absence of true border security policies from this administration.”
WHITE HOUSE STANDS BY STATEMENTS REGARDING MIGRANT DROWNINGS AS TEXAS SLAMS ‘VILE’ NARRATIVE
The battle is one of a number between the federal government and the Lone Star state over the situation at the southern border. The DOJ has also sued the state over the deploying of buoys in the Rio Grande to stop illegal crossings.
Meanwhile, the federal government has also sued over a recently-signed anti-illegal immigration law which allows state and local law enforcement in Texas to arrest illegal immigrants.
Tensions were heightened this month when Texas seized the Shelby Park area of Eagle Pass, and blocked Border Patrol from entering. That move too has brought a threat of litigation from the administration.
Fox News’ Bradford Betz, Bill Mears and Bill Melugin contributed to this report.
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