Texas has informed President Joe Biden that it will not comply with a Justice Department request to remove floating marine barriers that it deployed on the Rio Grande as part of a larger attempt to grapple with illegal immigration, Governor Greg Abbott said on Monday.
The federal government had given Abbott until 2 p.m. on Monday to remove the barriers, which the Biden Administration says are illegal. However, Abbott stresse that Texas reserves the right under both the state and US constitutions to defend its border.
In the letter to Biden, Abbott also maintained that the floating barriers do not violate Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors act, which guards against the creation of any water obstruction that prevents navigability and is not approved by Congress or the US Army Corps of Engineers.
