Court Overturns Order to Remove Texas’s Rio Grande Barrier

Ruling permits 1,000-foot floating barrier to temporarily remain in place until the trial is held.

People rest on an island while attempting to cross the Rio Grande river into the United States, at Eagle Pass, Texas, on July 18, 2023.Brandon Bell/Getty Images

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on July 30 overturned a lower court’s decision that had required Texas to relocate a 1,000-foot floating barrier in the Rio Grande that was installed to prevent illegal border crossings.

The Fifth Circuit found that the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas had abused its discretion when it ordered Texas to relocate the buoys from the river last summer.