Texas Persistently Installs Razor Wire for Immigrant Deterrence, Ignoring Supreme Court Decision

(LibertySons.org) – If you want to keep people out of somewhere, stringing razor wire along the perimeter is always a good start. When it comes to Texas, though, the US Supreme Court disagrees –- at least, if that wire is strung along our border with Mexico. On January 22, the court ruled that the Biden administration could remove the razor wire that Texas authorities deploy to keep illegal immigrants out of the state. Despite that decision, though, Texas is definitely rolling out more wire.

Supreme Court Bans Border Razor Wire

Texas has been on the frontline of the illegal immigration crisis for years, and since President Biden took office in 2021, state authorities have become increasingly frustrated at the administration’s failure to take action. Unfortunately, whenever Texas has tried to do anything about the problem itself, the White House’s inaction has flipped over into active obstruction. The latest standoff between state and federal government is over razor wire barriers.

In January 2023, Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) ordered the state’s Army National Guard to set up razor wire along sections of the Texas-Mexico border that were seeing high numbers of illegal crossings. This quickly led to a conflict with the Biden administration, which claimed the wire was preventing Border Patrol agents from helping migrants, including some who got into trouble crossing rivers. Federal agents started cutting the wire. Texas filed a lawsuit, and late last year, the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an injunction banning Border Patrol from cutting or removing wire barriers.

On January 22, the Supreme Court ruled on the administration’s appeal against that injunction. Two conservative justices, Chief Justice John Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett, sided with the three liberals and put the lower court’s injunction on hold; Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh opposed that decision.

Texas Defies Ruling

The Supreme Court’s decision didn’t go down well in Texas. Representative Chip Roy (R-TX) called on state officials to ignore it; other conservatives also rallied behind the state, with Representative Clay Higgins (R-LA) saying, “Texas should stand their ground.” Governor Abbott seems determined to do that. Despite being under wider legal pressure over his border security efforts –- the Department of Justice is currently suing Texas over a new state law that criminalizes illegal border crossing –- he says he’ll keep using the National Guard to guard the border. Following the Supreme Court ruling, he posted a video he’s used before. It shows National Guardsmen stringing razor wire along the Mexican border.

~Here’s to Our Liberty!

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