The Biden administration suffered a major defeat on the Southern Border Monday after a judge sided with Texas, issuing a temporary restraining order. The move stops federal authorities from continuing to take down or degrade state-erected barriers such as barbwire. 

Just six days prior, Texas AG Ken Paxton, who is back on the job after an impeachment attempt failed to take him out, sued to stop the administration from cutting and removing razor wire put out to prevent illegal immigrants from crossing the Rio Grande River.

Texas alleges the practice of cutting through the wire increased recently when thousands of migrants waded through the river and into the area of Eagle Pass in late September.

“By cutting Texas’s concertina wire, the federal government has not only illegally destroyed property owned by the State of Texas; it has also disrupted the State’s border security efforts, leaving gaps in Texas’s border barriers and damaging Texas’s ability to effectively deter illegal entry into its territory,” the complaint stated.

In September, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared an emergency, allowing the mobilization of the National Guard and other entities to help secure the border. That has manifested in miles of wire fencing being put up as well as buoys being placed in the river to act as barriers. 

The Biden administration, citing humanitarian concerns, had taken to breaking down those barriers, either by cutting them or removing them with heavy machinery. Any further action to that effect will violate the new restraining order, which essentially treats the barriers as state property.

Texas v. DHS by Susie Moore on Scribd

It is disconcerting that it took a judge to stop this. Why would the federal government want to remove barriers to entry during the largest illegal immigration crisis in the nation's history unless the goal was to expand and facilitate that crisis? What is happening at the Southern Border is a humanitarian catastrophe driven by weak enforcement and political rhetoric that has represented an open door for those wanting to make the journey. 

This isn't about having a lack of empathy. It's about living in the real world. Encouraging economic migrants to make an often deadly journey to illegally cross into the United States is not humane. It is feeding a cycle of death and abuse while enriching and empowering the drug cartels. It has to stop, and if the federal government won't take action, then states must be allowed to. Hopefully, this emergency order is just the first step in a final decision that establishes a state's sovereignty in protecting its own territory. 

Returning to Paxton, the fact that he immediately went on the offensive after the failed impeachment attempt against him should be great news for Texans. Now more than ever, the state is ground zero for the illegal immigration crisis, and it's going to take resolve and courage to do what it takes to curtail it.