Appeals court rules federal border agents can't cut through Texas' razor wire

A federal appeals court on Monday issued a stay prohibiting federal border agents from cutting razor wire deployed along the Texas-Mexico border as part of Gov. Greg Abbott's Operation Lone Star immigration crackdown, according to the Texas Tribune. The 5th Circuit of Appeals — recognized as the nation's most conservative federal appeals court — ruled that Border Patrol agents stationed along the Rio Grande can't cut through the state's concertina wire to provide medical aid to migrants in distress, the Tribune reports. The ruling by the New Orleans-based court puts a temporary hold on last week's verdict by Del Rio-based U.S. District Judge Alia Moses, who ruled in favor of the Biden Administration.