Texas initiated legal action against the Biden administration on Tuesday, seeking to halt federal agents from dismantling the state's razor wire, which has caused injuries to migrants attempting to enter the United States from Mexico along the Rio Grande.
In the lawsuit filed in a federal court located in Del Rio, Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton alleges that the Biden administration is "undermining" the state's border security initiatives. "Texas has the sovereign right to construct border barriers to prevent the entry of illegal aliens," emphasized Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, in a news release issued on Tuesday.
The installation of concertina wire began in May as a measure to address the end of Title 42, a temporary emergency health authority utilized to return migrants during the pandemic. This sharp wire was placed in areas of heavy traffic along the Rio Grande near cities such as Brownsville and Eagle Pass, Texas.
Rapid concerns were raised by migrant and environmental advocates regarding the detrimental consequences of the razor wire, which were also brought to light internally by individuals tasked with its enforcement. In July, a state trooper and medic voiced their objections, characterizing border tactics as "inhumane" while submitting an internal complaint that documented cases of lacerations and injuries sustained by migrants.
The barrier is established a few yards or meters from the river or at its edge, causing migrants to wait in the water for hours at times while they await processing by the U.S. Border Patrol under immigration law. On occasion, federal agents have had to break through the wire to reach migrants entangled on either side.
Texas alleges that the practice of cutting the wire has intensified recently, particularly when thousands of migrants waded through the river into the Eagle Pass area in late September.
The complaint stated, "By cutting Texas's concertina wire, the federal government has not only illegally destroyed property owned by the State of Texas; it has also disrupted the State's border security efforts, leaving gaps in Texas's border barriers and damaging Texas's ability to effectively deter illegal entry into its territory."
The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.
This razor wire forms a part of Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott's two-year initiative to intensify measures aimed at preventing migrants from crossing the state's 1,200-mile border with Mexico.
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