Court Blocks Biden’s Plan to Remove Texas Border Razor Wire

In a Dec 19 ruling, an appeals court temporarily blocked a Biden administration initiative to dismantle razor wire fencing along the Texas-Mexico border. Texas had installed the fencing to deter illegal border crossings. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in New Orleans, disagreed with a lower court judge’s ruling that the U.S. government was immune from a lawsuit filed by Texas. The appeals court found that the federal policy of removing the fencing was potentially in violation of the law. It issued an order requesting U.S. immigration authorities to refrain from removing the fencing while Texas pursues an appeal of the judge’s ruling. The lower court judge previously declined to stop the destruction of the fencing while the state’s lawsuit was ongoing....