JUST IN: The US Department of Justice is suing the state of Texas over its use of floating barriers in the Rio Grande, which Gov. Greg Abbott has argued is intended to deter migrants from crossing into the state from Mexico
The Justice Department is seeking an injunction to bar Texas from building additional barriers in the river and asking a court to order the state to take the existing barriers down at its own expense. In the lawsuit, filed in the US District Court in the Western District of Texas, the department alleges that Texas and Abbott, a Republican, violated the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act by building a structure in US water without permission from United States Army Corps of Engineers.
The Justice Department told Texas on Thursday that it intended to file legal action against the placement of the floating barriers in the Rio Grande as part of the state’s operation along the Texas-Mexico border, according to sources familiar and a letter obtained by CNN. The Justice Department gave Texas a deadline of Monday at 2 p.m. ET to commit to the removal of the floating border barriers or face legal action, according to the letter sent to Abbott.
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