Federal Judge Orders Immigration Agents to Stop Removing Texas’ Concertina Wire on the Border

A federal judge on Monday ordered immigration agents to stop taking down or cutting through concertina wire placed on the Texas-Mexico border in Eagle Pass by state troopers and National Guard members in their efforts to deter migrants from crossing the border illegally.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the Biden administration last Tuesday, claiming that the Border Patrol illegally destroyed state property when its agents cut through concertina wire on the banks of the Rio Grande to “assist” migrants to “illegally cross” the border.

District Judge Alia Moses, a George W. Bush appointee, said she would grant Paxton’s request.

“The Court shall grant the temporary relief requested, with one important exception for any medical emergency that mostly likely results in serious bodily injury or death to a person, absent any boats or other life-saving apparatus available to avoid such medical emergencies prior to reaching the concertina wire barrier,” Moses wrote in her order.

Moses will hear arguments from lawyers from Paxton’s office and the Biden administration in the lawsuit on Nov. 7. The temporary restraining order will expire on Nov. 13 at 9:30 a.m. Moses will determine whether her restraining order will continue past Nov. 13 after the hearing.

Within the past three years, the Texas Military Department has spent $11 million to place 70,000 rolls of concertina wire in different parts of the Texas-Mexico border, most notably in Eagle Pass, where migrants have been seriously injured trying to get through the wire.

{snip}