Federal Appeals Court Grants Order to Block Cutting Razor Wire at Southern Border

As seen from an aerial view a U.S. Border Patrol agent watches as illegal immigrants walk into the United States after crossing the Rio Grande from Mexico, in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Sept. 30, 2023. John Moore/Getty Images

On Monday, a federal appeals court issued an order blocking the Border Patrol agents from cutting concertina wire along the Texas-Mexico border.

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals granted the temporary administrative stay just days after a lower court denied the state’s request for a preliminary injunction to prevent federal agents from destroying the border barrier and assisting immigrants crossing into the country illegally. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton appealed the federal judge’s decision on Nov. 30.

“I am pleased the court recognized the extent of the federal government’s blatant and disturbing efforts to subvert law and order at our State’s border with Mexico,” said Mr. Paxton in a statement on Monday. “This is an important step in supporting Texas’s right to protect our citizens from Biden’s doctrine of open borders at any cost.”

Last week, U.S. District Judge Alia Moses of Del Rio, Texas, ruled that the state had failed to provide sufficient evidence to support the request for a preliminary injunction. Judge Moses was appointed by former President George W. Bush in 2002.

Despite her decision to deny the injunction, she chastised President Joe Biden’s border policies allowing agents to destroy the razor wire Texas has placed along the Rio Grande River to deter illegal crossings.

“The immigration system at the heart of it all, dysfunctional and flawed as it is, would work if properly implemented. Instead, the status quo is a harmful mixture of political rancor, ego, and economic and geopolitical realities that serves no one,” Judge Moses said in her 34-page decision.

“So destructive in its nature that the nation cannot help but be transfixed by, but simultaneously unable to correct, the present condition. What follows here is but another chapter in this unfolding tragedy. The law may be on the side of the Defendants and compel a resolution in their favor today, but it does not excuse their culpable and duplicitous conduct.”

Initially, Judge Moses had granted an emergency temporary restraining order blocking the agents’ actions in assisting immigrants attempting to enter the U.S. illegally.

In October, Mr. Paxton filed a 30-page lawsuit accusing the federal government of destroying state-owned property and “undermining Texas’s efforts to stem the flow of illegal immigration.”

“The crisis at the border is well known,” the lawsuit reads. “The Biden Administration’s abdication of its duty to secure the border has allowed millions of aliens to illegally cross into Texas and the United States in record numbers.”

Customs and Border Protection data showed an all-time monthly high of 260,000 illegal crossings at the southern border in September.

More than 2.475 million immigrants crossed the southern border illegally during fiscal year 2023, which ended Sept. 30.

Earlier this year, a video circulated online showed border agents cutting the concertina wire and assisting large groups of immigrants crossing from Mexico into Texas.

“Texas has the sovereign right to construct border barriers to prevent the entry of illegal aliens,” Mr. Paxton said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “Americans across the country were horrified to watch Biden’s open-border policy in action: agents were physically cutting wires and assisting the aliens’ entry into our state.

“This is illegal. It puts our country and our citizens at risk; the courts must put a stop to it, or Biden’s free-for-all will make this crushing immigration crisis even worse,” he continued.

Meanwhile, Gov. Gregg Abbott has ordered Texas National Guard soldiers to continue shoring up barriers along the southern border.

“Texas National Guard soldiers continue to install and reinforce razor wire barriers along the Texas-Mexico border,” he wrote on the social media platform X. “While Biden’s dereliction of duty at the border continues, Texas holds the line.”

The Biden administration has until Friday, Dec. 8, to respond to the appeals court’s decision granting a stay.