The Biden administration asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to allow border patrol agents in Texas to remove the razor wire on southern border — a topic that has been at the center of a legal battle for months.
The Justice Department filed an emergency appeal, asking the high court to pause last month’s appellate court ruling that forced the federal government to stop removing the razor wire. The federal government claimed Texas does not have the legal standing to install the wire, because it is “requiring federal law to yield to Texas law.”
Overall, the administration argued immigration policies and enforcement fall underneath the jurisdiction of the federal government instead of the states.
Besides not having the legal authority, Biden officials argued that keeping the razor wire could have “serious on-the-ground consequences” for border patrol agents, as well as migrants coming into the United States.
“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,” officials argued in the motion.
“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,” the motion reads.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) ordered the installation of terrestrial and floating razor wire barriers as part of the state’s Operation Lone Star in September. Since then, it has been at odds with the Biden administration, which has maintained that Texas does not have the authority to install such obstacles.
The razor wire is only part of Abbott’s larger immigration platform that could face battles in court; last month, Abbott signed a bill that allowed any Texas law enforcement officer to arrest migrants that enter the U.S. illegally and gave local judges the power to order migrants be removed from the country.
The Biden administration has already threatened to sue Texas if it enforces the new law.
The Supreme Court gave the Lone Star State until Jan. 9 at 5 p.m. EST to respond to the administration’s motion.