Federal Appeals Court Blocks Biden Admin From Removing Texas’ Razor Wire at Southern Border; Top House GOP Committee Renews Demand for Docs from DHS On Texas Border Wire Cutting

Federal appeals court blocks Biden admin from removing Texas’ razor wire at southern border:

A federal appeals court handed the state of Texas a win on Tuesday when it temporarily blocked the Biden administration from removing razor wire barriers placed at the border by Texas authorities.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the government is barred during the appeal from “damaging, destroying, or otherwise interfering with Texas’s [concertina wire] fence in the vicinity of Eagle Pass, Texas” unless it is for a medical emergency.

The state sued the Biden administration in October over its cutting or damaging of the more than 29 miles of concertina wire along the border in order to allow illegal immigrants to enter deeper into the U.S.

“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,” Texas said.

The state had installed the wire near key crossing areas where there have been massive surges of illegal immigration in recent years. The federal government has said 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.”

A DHS spokesperson told Fox in October that it does not comment on pending litigation, but “generally speaking, Border Patrol agents have a responsibility under federal law to take those who have crossed onto U.S. soil without authorization into custody for processing, as well as to act when there are conditions that put our workforce or migrants at risk.” —>READ MORE HERE

Top House GOP committee renews demand for docs from DHS on Texas border wire cutting:

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee are pushing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for documents and information related to moves by the administration to cut razor wire set up by the state of Texas to allow illegal immigrants deeper into the interior.

Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, as well as Immigration Subcommittee Chairman Tom McClintock, R-Calif., and Subcommittee on Responsiveness and Accountability to Oversight Chairman Ben Cline, R-Va., have written to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas following up on two requests for more information about the situation in Eagle Pass, Texas, in September.

On Sept. 20, a massive surge of mostly Venezuelan illegal immigrants surged into Eagle Pass, leading to the closing of two bridges as Customs and Border Protection (CBP) struggled to deal with the numbers they were seeing.

“While thousands of illegal aliens flooded into Eagle Pass, shutting down lawful commerce across the bridges, the Biden Administration’s DHS cut and removed Concertina wire and fencing installed as a deterrent by state and local governments, helping the aliens cross illegally,” the lawmakers say.

The cutting of the border wire, set up by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott as part of Operation Lone Star to deter illegal immigration, set off a furor among Republicans, with Texas suing the administration. That case is still ongoing.

A DHS spokesperson told Fox at the time that it does not comment on pending litigation, but “generally speaking, Border Patrol agents have a responsibility under federal law to take those who have crossed onto U.S. soil without authorization into custody for processing, as well as to act when there are conditions that put our workforce or migrants at risk.” —>READ MORE HERE

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