The Biden administration says Border Patrol should be able to cut razor wire Credit: Photo by Getty Images

The Biden administration is once again confronting Gov. Greg Abbott’s attempts to stop immigration from Mexico.

It filed an emergency appeal on Tuesday with the U.S. Supreme Court asking that Border Patrol agents be allowed to cut the razor wire Texas has strung along 29 miles of the Rio Grande river near Eagle Pass.

The request came after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in December that the feds must keep their hands off the wire. In the request for a quick decision from SCOTUS, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar wrote that the Fifth Circuit’s decision “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.”

Biden spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre has repeatedly criticized Abbott for his efforts to grandstand on immigration, including his recent busing of migrants out of state. “It is shameful that a Republican governor, Abbott in Texas, is using migrants as a political stunt. That’s what he’s been doing for the past few years,” Jean-Pierre said.

Just a week ago, the Biden administration threatened to sue if Texas implements SB 4, a new anti-immigration law which, if allowed to go into effect, will give local sheriffs, city police, and state troopers the power to arrest and jail people they suspect of having entered Texas without federal authorization – powers that have previously been understood to be reserved for the federal government by the U.S. Constitution. Wednesday, the DOJ filed suit.

This article appears in December 29 • 2023.

A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.

SUPPORT US

Brant Bingamon arrived in Austin in 1981 to attend UT and immediately became fascinated by the city's music scene. He's spent his adult life playing in bands and began writing for the Chronicle in 2019, covering criminal justice, the death penalty, and public school issues. He has two children, Noah and Eryl, and lives with his partner Adrienne on the Eastside.