SCOTUS Allows Agents to Cut Razor Wire at Texas-Mexico Border
Facts
- In a 5-4 vote, the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) on Monday allowed federal agents to remove razor wire installed by Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott on the US-Mexico border. Texas had installed the wire to prevent illegal migration across the border.1
- The Biden administration's attorneys had alleged that Texas' border policy interfered with Border Patrol agents' ability to perform their duties to enforce federal immigration laws.2
- However, Abbott termed Texas' razor wire 'an effective deterrent' to illegal migration and said that he would 'continue to defend Texas' constitutional authority to secure the border.'3
- Monday's order overturned a 5th Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling blocking the removal of concertina wire the Texas Military Department installed along the Rio Grande over the past three years.4
- While the top court granted Pres. Biden's emergency plea, the ruling is temporary as the Texas-Biden administration battle continues over Abbott's Operation Lone Star — an effort to crack down on border crossings.5
- Texas has laid around 46 kilometers (30 miles) of razor fence. This is in addition to buoys along the Rio Grande River, which Mexican officials claim violates international law.6
Sources: 1NBC, 2CNN, 3ABC News, 4POLITICO, 5Forbes and 6BBC News.
Narratives
- Republican narrative, as provided by FOX News. The razor wire is a simple and effective deterrent to an untenable wave of illegal immigration — a phenomenon actively aided and abetted by the ineffective left-leaning policies of the Biden White House. What SCOTUS has now done with Monday's ruling is to make way for a worsening of one of the worst crises the country has ever faced.
- Democratic narrative, as provided by Independent. Operation Lone Star is inhumane. It's maiming, killing, and dehumanizing entire families of desperate people looking to the US for a better life. Explosive revelations have shown the migrants are being denied even water by Texas officials amid soaring temperatures. Thanks to SCOTUS, the brutal and punishing barbed wire can now be removed, and the Biden admin. can pursue more humanitarian and effective border control operations.