McALLEN, Texas — Texas has filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration, seeking to prevent federal agents from removing razor wire that has caused injuries to migrants attempting to cross the U.S. border from Mexico at the Rio Grande.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Del Rio, Texas, accuses the Biden administration of undermining the state’s border security efforts, according to Attorney General Ken Paxton.
“Texas has the sovereign right to construct border barriers to prevent the entry of illegal aliens,” said Ken Paxton in a news release.
The concertina wire was deployed by state authorities in May before the end of Title 42, a temporary emergency health authority used to turn migrants back during the pandemic. The use of razor wire in high-traffic areas along the Rio Grande has raised concerns among migrant and environmental advocates.
Texas alleges that cutting through the wire has increased recently, especially when thousands of migrants crossed the river and entered the Eagle Pass area in September.
“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 its ability to effectively deter illegal entry,” stated the complaint.
The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.
The razor wire is part of Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s two-year effort to block migrants from crossing the state’s 1,200-mile border with Mexico.
