2024-01-22 21:38:01
WASHINGTON (AP) — A divided U.S. Supreme Court on Monday allowed Border Patrol agents to cut barbed wire that the state of Texas installed on the U.S. border with Mexico, while a lawsuit over the fence is resolved. .
The justices, in a vote of 5 in favor and 4 against, granted an emergency appeal from the federal government, which has been embroiled with Texas in a dispute over the country’s southern border and had opposed an appeal ruling in favor of the state.
The barbed wire along 30 miles (48 kilometers) of the Rio Grande River near the border town of Eagle Pass is part of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s broader fight with the federal government. for the measures around migration.
Abbott has also authorized installing floating barriers on the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass and allowed state agents to arrest and jail thousands of migrants on trespassing charges. The government also challenged those actions in federal court.
Last month, a federal appeals court forced federal agents to stop cutting the barbed wire. Large numbers of migrants have crossed through Eagle Pass in recent months.
In documents submitted to the court, the federal government said that the barbed wire prevents Border Patrol agents from reaching the migrants as they cross the river and that, in any case, federal immigration law prevails over the own efforts of Texas to reduce the arrival of migrants to the country.
Texas officials have alleged that federal agents cut wire to help groups cross the river illegally and then detain them for prosecution.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor sided with the federal government. Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas voted in favor of Texas.
None provided any explanation for their vote.
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