Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton vowed to continue fighting after the Supreme Court on Monday allowed Border Patrol to continue cutting razor wire Texas had installed to deter illegal border crossers.
“The Supreme Court’s temporary order allows Biden to continue his illegal effort to aid the foreign invasion of America,” Attorney General Paxton said in a statement. “The destruction of Texas’s border barriers will not help enforce the law or keep American citizens safe. This fight is not over, and I look forward to defending our state’s sovereignty.”
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the liberal justices on the bench in the 5-4 decision.
Paxton had sued the administration in October over its damaging of the wire, accusing the administration of disrupting state efforts to secure the border and damaging the ability to deter illegal entry.
The Biden administration has argued 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.” The administration has also argued that federal immigration law supersedes Texas’ own efforts to control the border.
A Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals panel had granted a request for a preliminary injunction. The DOJ had asked the Supreme Court for temporary relief so that it could remove razor fence at the federal government’s discretion.
“The court of appeals’ contrary ruling inverts the Supremacy Clause by requiring federal law to yield to Texas law,” its application to the Court argued. “If accepted, the court’s rationale would leave the United States at the mercy of States that could seek to force the federal government to conform the implementation of federal immigration law to varying state-law regimes.” (Fox News)
The release from Paxton’s office emphasized the order is temporary since the appeal is ongoing. The Attorney General will argue the case on Feb. 7 before the Fifth Circuit. This is not the only conflict between Texas and the Biden administration over immigration. The federal government is also suing the state over a recently signed law making illegal border crossing a state crime.
