Free Republic

A federal appeals court on Wednesday reversed an order requiring Texas to move a floating barrier on the Rio Grande that drew backlash from Mexico — the latest development in legal battles between the Biden administration and Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott over control of migration at the border. In December, a divided panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had sided with a federal district judge in Texas who said the buoys must be moved. On Wednesday, the court vacated the panel's 2-1 ruling after a majority of its 17 active judges voted to rehear the case....

This is a tragedy, and the state bears responsibility,” U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, said in a statement. AUSTIN — Three migrants, including two children, drowned in Eagle Pass on Friday night after Texas troopers and National Guard members would not “grant access” to the individuals while “in distress,” according to U.S. Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar of Laredo. The news of the drownings comes while the state is in a standoff with the federal government after Texas authorities took control of Shelby Park, a municipal park in Eagle Pass on the Texas-Mexico border, on Wednesday night — against the wishes...

The newest video shows the migrants crossing the border near Eagle Pass through multiple locations after getting past the Rio Grande. In the first part of the video, the migrants, lined up in droves next to a long, chain-link fence appearing ready to be processed. The second half of the clip sees several physically swimming their way across the Rio Grande before piling past a barbed wire fence and in some cases, making camp on the shores to dry their clothes. A border patrol agent told Fox News that 'the TCOs (Transnational Criminal Orgs) know what they’re doing.' Transnational Criminal...

Texas must remove a floating barrier it placed at the Rio Grande to deter immigrants from illegally crossing the United States-Mexico border, an appeals court ruled Friday. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled 2-1 to decline a request by Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) to reverse a lower court decision that had ordered it to remove the 1,000-foot-long string of buoys placed at the river in July near Eagle Pass, Texas. The decision can still be appealed, but it marks a victory for the Biden administration's efforts to remove the barriers, arguing they unlawfully block navigation and...

For Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, the operation was a small victory in the much larger battle against human traffickers.. In the fight against Mexican cartels, Texas law enforcement recently took control of a dangerous island used by human traffickers. The Epoch Times spoke to Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, who identified Fronton Island as possibly “the most violent part” of the Texas–Mexico border. Belonging to Texas, Fronton Island is an island in the Rio Grande River. According to the General Land Office, “Fronton Island has been a hot spot for drug and human trafficking and dangerous cartel activity in...

EAGLE PASS, Texas — Border Patrol agents apprehended approximately 7,000 migrants during the past three days, according to sources operating within U.S. Customs and Border Protection. This includes the approximately 3,000 migrants crossing on Wednesday morning. Breitbart Texas traveled to Piedras Negras, Coahuila, on Wednesday to observe migrants making their way from staging areas to the Mexican bank of the Rio Grande. The video shows the mostly Venezuelan migrants making their way through busy streets and into the brush before entering the water to cross to Eagle Pass, Texas.

A federal appeals court Thursday put on hold a judge's order from earlier this week requiring Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to remove a floating barrier from the middle of the Rio Grande. The 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals allowed Abbott, a Republican, to leave in place for now the 1,000-foot barrier the state installed to deter illegal migrant crossings. The order was issued by a three-judge panel of two Democratic appointees and a Republican appointee. Wednesday, U.S. District Judge David Ezra had ordered that the barrier moved out of the main waterway to the bank of the Rio Grande...

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s administration responded Wednesday to “flat-out wrong” claims from the Mexican government that faulted the river buoy barrier for the recent deaths of two migrants attempting to cross the border. The Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs was the first to inform the public of the deaths and linked them to a buoy barrier in the Rio Grande River that Texas installed in early July to deter illegal migrant crossings. Andrew Mahaleris, a spokesperson for Abbott, responded in a statement on Wednesday claiming that the barrier had nothing to do with the tragic deaths. “The Mexican government...

The Justice Department on Monday sued Texas Gov. Greg Abbott over a newly installed floating barrier on the Rio Grande that is the Republican’s latest aggressive tactic to try to stop migrants from crossing into the U.S. from Mexico. The lawsuit asks a federal judge in Austin to force Texas to remove a roughly 1,000-foot (305-meter) line of bright orange, wrecking ball-sized buoys that the Biden administration says raises humanitarian and environmental concerns. The suit claims that Texas unlawfully installed the barrier without permission between the border cities of Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras, Mexico. The buoys are the latest...

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre condemned Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for installing razor wire barriers in the Rio Grande to block migrants from crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. "Texas has been installing these buoys along with razor wire on the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass. Mexico is now requesting that Texas remove these barriers. They say the state is violating international treaties and that they raised this with the administration three weeks ago. Do you agree with Mexico that Texas is violating these international treaties?" a reporter asked. "This governor … has treated the situation that we're seeing at the...

Mexican officials lodged a complaint with the United States government over the floating barriers Texas installed in the Rio Grande River to deter migrants from crossing into the state illegally. If the orange buoys impede the flow of the river, they could be in violation of 1944 and 1970 treaties between Mexico and the US that govern the boundaries and water that separate the two nations, Mexico’s Foreign Relations Secretary Alicia Bárcena wrote in a diplomatic note. “We are sending a mission, a territorial inspection to see where the buoys are located … to carry out this topographical survey to...

Spending time outside in nature has its perks, and wildlife encounters can certainly be one of them. Some visitors in the Rio Grande Valley State Park had a different kind of encounter, though, when their trail camera caught something on film that they couldn't identify. They sent the tape to the Texas Parks and Wildlife team, who then released it to the public in a popular Facebook post. As you can imagine, the mystery creature has everyone talking. Guesses are pouring in front left and right as to what animal it is, though some of our favorite guesses are more...

Environmentalists on Wednesday accused the U.S. government of not doing enough to ensure the survival of the Rio Grande silvery minnow as drought tightens its grip on one of the longest rivers in the West. In a lawsuit filed in federal court, the group WildEarth Guardians asked a judge to force the Bureau of Reclamation and the Fish and Wildlife Service to reassess the effects of water management activities on the endangered fish. They also want federal officials to develop enforceable measures to keep dams and diversions along the river’s stretch through New Mexico’s most populated region from jeopardizing the...

Whether Title 42 ends or not, migrants say they are tired of waiting and surged across the Rio Grande into the Eagle Pass, Texas, area of operations. As many as 3,600 crossed so far this weekend — eclipsing last weekend’s total of just over 2,800 migrant apprehensions in the Del Rio Sector — according to a source operating within U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Border Patrol officials called in all available agents in Eagle Pass on Sunday as increasing numbers of migrants crossed the border illegally from Mexico into Texas. Sunday evening, a large group of more than 250 migrants...

Mexican authorities found the body of an Angolan migrant child who went missing on May 2 during an illegal border crossing near the Del Rio International Bridge. The young boy disappeared after being swept away along with his brother. The parents survived the crossing. Del Rio Station Border Patrol agents encountered an Angolan couple who illegally crossed the border from Mexico into Texas. The husband and wife informed the agents that their two boys, ages seven and nine, were swept away in the strong currents of the Rio Grande, according to information obtained from Del Rio Sector Border Patrol officials.

A Texas National Guard soldier has drowned while trying to rescue migrants in a river at the state’s border with Mexico, multiple sources told Fox News on Friday. The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) confirmed the incident in Eagle Pass and said that a body has been recovered. This is a breaking news story; check back for updates

Governor Greg Abbott ordered the Texas Military Department to expand migrant turnback operations along the Rio Grande. The order comes in response the President Joe Biden’s decision to end the Title 42 coronavirus protection protocol and the predicted surge of up to 18,000 migrants per day attempting to cross from Mexico. During a press conference in Weslaco, Texas, on Wednesday, Governor Abbott ordered the Texas Military Department to expand migrant turnback operations previously announced. In an exclusive interview with the Texas governor in March, Abbott announced the program to begin turning migrants back who are attempting to illegally cross the...

The federal government donated millions of dollars' worth of border wall material to Texas as the state continues the construction project defunded by the Biden administration. More than 1,700 steel panels now designated as surplus property of the federal government were shipped from California to Texas last week to be used in Gov. Greg Abbott's state-funded barrier on the Mexican border. The Texas Facilities Commission applied in November for the 32-foot steel bollard panels through the General Services Administration, which oversees the distribution of property no longer needed by the federal government, TFC spokeswoman Francoise Luca told the Washington Examiner....

TEXAS—Joe Biden has come under scrutiny for the border crisis, but he's risen to the occasion. Biden arrived at the Mexican border at long last today to address the massive influx of refugees and migrant caravans coming up from various South American countries and Caribbean islands like Haiti. But rather than backing up the Border Patrol or calling for greater border security, Biden simply raised his hands to the heavens. "Rio Grande... part!" he shouted in a loud voice. The waters of the Rio Grande then parted as his father below responded to his prayer, and millions of immigrants came...

TThe Biden administration plans on “massive movements” of Haitian migrants in a small Texas border city on flights to Haiti starting Sunday, an official said Friday, representing a swift and dramatic response to thousands who suddenly assembled under and around a bridge. Details are yet to be finalized but will likely involve five to eight flights a day, according to the official with direct knowledge of the plans who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. San Antonio, the nearest major city, may be among the departure cities. U.S....