BREAKING: Appeals court rules Texas can continue placing razor wire along southern border

The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled on Wednesday that Texas is allowed to place concertina wire along the Texas-Mexico border.

The three-judge panel wrote in its ruling, "We now rule that Texas is entitled to a preliminary injunction. Specifically, the United States clearly waived sovereign immunity as to Texas’s state law claims under § 702 of the Administrative Procedure Act ('APA'). That conclusion is supported by a flood of uncontradicted circuit precedent to which the United States has no answer."

"We also reject the United States’ alternate arguments. The injunction is not barred by intergovernmental immunity because Texas is seeking, not to 'regulate' Border Patrol, but only to safeguard its own property. Nor, for similar reasons, is the injunction barred by the Immigration and Nationality Act."

The ruling added, "Most importantly, the United States does not even contest that Texas has shown it will likely succeed on its state law trespass claims."

Texas Governor Greg Abbott celebrated the ruling, writing, "the federal court of appeals just ruled that Texas has the right to build the razor wire border wall that we have constructed to deny illegal entry into our state and that Biden was wrong to cut our razor wire."

"We continue adding more razor wire border barrier."

Beginning around September 2023, Border Patrol agents began cutting wire set by Texas to deter illegal crossings in the Eagle Pass area, with "at least fourteen incidents of wire cutting" being found by the district court. After "repeated instances," Texas sued the Department of Homeland Security and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, US Customs and Border Protection, and other officials in federal court. While the district court issued a temporary restraining order and extended it twice, the court ultimately denied a preliminary motion.

On December 19, 2023, Texas was granted an injunction pending appeal, barring Border Patrol from "damaging, destroying, or otherwise interfering with Texas’s c-wire fence in the vicinity of Eagle Pass, Texas" except "if necessary to address any medical emergency as specified in the TRO."

The defendants moved to expedite the appeal, which was granted on December 28, 2023, and filed an emergency application with the Supreme Court to "vacate the injunction pending appeal." The Supreme Court ultimately vacated the injunction.

"Defendants are ENJOINED from damaging, destroying, or otherwise interfering with Texas’s c-wire fence in the vicinity of Eagle Pass, Texas, as indicated in Texas’s complaint, in instances where Defendants have the necessary access to both sides of Texas’s c-wire for immigration law enforcement purposes. That necessary access must include the land side of the c-wire fence along the international border within Shelby Park."