(NewsNation) — A federal judge Monday issued a temporary order that prevents President Joe Biden’s administration and Border Patrol agents from removing the razor wire Texas state officials installed to stop the entry of migrants across the southern border.
Chief U.S. District Court Judge Alia Moses has issued a ruling prohibiting federal officials from dismantling, removing, scrapping or encumbering the concertina wire that Texas state authorities installed near the border town of Eagle Pass.
Moses stated that the wire could only be removed to provide or obtain emergency medical aid.
The court ruling in favor of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is an early legal victory in the state’s ongoing lawsuit against the Biden administration.
GOP-led states have filed lawsuits against the Biden administration to challenge most of its major immigration policies.
Last week, Texas filed the lawsuit claiming Border Patrol agents were cutting its razor wire to allow migrants to enter the United States.
Following the court’s ruling, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton stated that federal agents were seen three days later “escalating their efforts to destroy Texas’s border barriers, using heavy machinery such as forklifts to uproot large sections of fencing to facilitate mass entry.”
Moses granted the temporary restraining order until Nov. 13, with a hearing scheduled for Nov. 7.
Administration officials have stated Border Patrol agents occasionally cut Texas’ razor wire to offer medical assistance to migrants in distress and to process migrants who have already set foot on U.S. soil.
When migrants arrive in the United States, federal immigration agents must process them to determine if they should be deported, released, detained, or transferred to another agency. In Texas’ case, this occurs in the middle of the Rio Grande.