The Biden administration has petitioned the Supreme Court to let Border Patrol agents clear razor wire on the US-Mexico border that was installed by Texas in a bid to prevent migrants from crossing into the state.
In a Tuesday filing, the administration argued that it has the jurisdiction under federal law to remove concertina wire Texas officials laid down near the Rio Grande.
“Federal law unambiguously grants Border Patrol agents the authority, without a warrant, to access private land within 25 miles of the international border,” the Justice Department wrote in its appeal to the Supreme Court.
The DOJ further argued that the razor wire, installed along a 30-mile stretch of land near Eagle Pass, Texas, hinders federal agents from accessing parts of the border.
“Like other law-enforcement officers, Border Patrol agents operating under difficult circumstances at the border must make context-dependent, sometimes split-second decisions about how to enforce federal immigration laws while maintaining public safety,” the filing states.
“But the injunction prohibits agents from passing through or moving physical obstacles erected by the State that prevent access to the very border they are charged with patrolling and the individuals they are charged with apprehending and inspecting.”
Last October, Texas sued the federal government, seeking to prevent border agents from cutting the razor wire.
In December, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit temporarily blocked agents from cutting it.
Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday vowed to continue building border barriers despite the possible Supreme Court battle.
“Biden begs SCOTUS to let him cut razor wire TX installed on border. See you in court,” the Texas governor said in a tweet.
“Americans & courts will reject Biden’s hostility to immigration laws. TX will continue to deploy National Guard to build border barriers & repel illegal immigrants,” he added.
The Lone Star State and the Biden administration have been at loggerheads over immigration enforcement amid record-levels of illegal border-crossings that Abbott says has overwhelmed towns along the US-Mexico border.
Last week, the Justice Department threatened to sue Texas if it enforced a new law that allows state authorities to arrest, jail, prosecute and deport migrants who enter the country illegally.
The DOJ also sued the state over its construction of a floating barrier in the Rio Grande, which courts have ordered Abbott to remove.
Texas has bused over 95,000 migrants to sanctuary cities, including New York and Chicago, as part of an effort to get President Biden to “reverse course on his open border policies,” according to Abbott.