Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton released the following statement after the Supreme Court of the United States (“SCOTUS”) issued an interlocutory order permitting the Biden Administration to resume destroying concertina wire barriers placed by Texas on its side of the Rio Grande riverbank.
“The Supreme Court’s temporary order allows Biden to continue his illegal effort to aid the foreign invasion of America,” Attorney General Paxton said. “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.”
In October 2023, Attorney General Paxton sued the Biden Administration for destroying concertina wire fencing that Texas had deployed to reduce the record-breaking influx of illegal immigration. Texas quickly secured an emergency restraining order from a federal judge that ordered federal agents to cease doing so. Although the federal judge found the Administration’s actions likely unlawful, she later declined to grant the State’s request for a temporary injunction pending trial. Attorney General Paxton successfully appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and quickly obtained an administrative stay and, subsequently, an injunction pending appeal to prevent the federal government from continuing its destruction of Texas property while the court considered the matter further. The Fifth Circuit’s order did not prohibit the removal of barriers if and when required to render emergency medical aid. Nonetheless, the Biden Administration asked SCOTUS to vacate the injunction in an emergency appeal. Today, over the dissent of four Justices, the Supreme Court vacated the injunction pending appeal.
Although the Supreme Court has permitted the continued destruction of Texas’s border security measures, this appeal remains ongoing, and the Office of the Attorney General will argue the case in front of the Fifth Circuit on February 7.