Federal judge orders Texas to remove Gov. Greg Abbott's border buoys

In a scathing order accusing Gov. Greg Abbott of ignoring U.S. laws, a federal judge has ordered Texas to remove a floating barrier the governor ordered installed in the Rio Grande River to block migrants from crossing, the Dallas Morning News reports. U.S. District Judge David Ezra on Tuesday ordered Texas to remove its bright-orange buoys by Sept. 15 and prohibited state officials from replacing them with another obstacle, according to the Morning News. The order is a win for the Biden administration, which sued Abbott, arguing that federal law bans unapproved construction work in navigable rivers. “The Court has found that the United States is likely to succeed on the merits of its claim that Defendants have violated” the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899, Austin-based Ezra wrote, according to the Morning News.