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The State of Texas filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other federal agencies for their alleged involvement in removing concertina wire along the Texas-Mexico border, which was set up to address the immigration crisis. The state contends that these actions undermine its security efforts and seeks injunctive measures to prevent further destruction of the wire.
The defendants named in the lawsuit include the DHS, represented by Alejandro Mayorkas, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), led by Troy A. Miller, U.S. Border Patrol (USBP), headed by Jason Owens, and Juan Bernal, Acting Chief Patrol Agent, Del Rio Sector, USBP. The lawsuit alleges that these federal agencies and their agents have ordered or participated in the destruction and seizure of concertina wire which was installed along the state's southern border with the consent of landowners to combat illegal migration. The state is pursuing injunctive measures to order the halt of ongoing removal and destruction of the wire and a declaration that the defendants' actions are unlawful.
The lawsuit highlights several key points: the federal government's failure to secure the border has resulted in an unprecedented immigration crisis, with millions of aliens illegally crossing into Texas and the United States; the crisis includes not only illegal immigration but also drug smuggling, human trafficking, infiltration by suspected terrorists, and other criminal activities; Texas has launched Operation Lone Star to address these security gaps caused by the federal government's inaction; among these initiatives, Texas has deployed concertina wire fencing with landowner permission to deter illegal crossings; Eagle Pass, Texas, has recently witnessed a surge in illegal crossings, overwhelming the local authorities; in response to this surge, federal agents have begun cutting and damaging Texas's concertina wire barriers, making it easier for aliens to cross the border; this policy and practice of destroying Texas's concertina wire is seen as unlawful and undermines Texas's border security efforts.
According to the suit, in 2021, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared a border security disaster and launched Operation Lone Star to mitigate the effects of the southern border crisis. As part of the Operation Lone Star initiative, the Governor has: detailed law enforcement officers to plug border staffing gaps; heightened vehicle inspections by the Department of Public Safety (“DPS”); bused aliens who wished to relocate to sanctuary cities in other States; constructed miles of border wall after the U.S. ceased construction; invoked the Texas Disaster Act to enhance penalties for criminal trespass on private land; designated transnational criminal cartels smuggling drugs, people, and weapons into Texas as foreign terrorist organizations; deployed floating marine barriers to deter illegal crossings in hotspots along the Rio Grande; and invoked the Invasion Clauses of the U.S. Constitution.
In addition to those initiatives, Abbott also instructed the Texas Military Department to deploy concertina wire to deter illegal aliens from making the journey across the border into Texas.
