Texas border: DOJ sues Abbott over installation of floating border wall

AUSTIN, Texas - The Department of Justice is suing Governor Abbott for the installation of the border buoys going into parts of the Rio Grande. 

Ed Espinosa, Democratic analyst, and Matt Mackowiak, chair of the Travis County Republican Party, joined FOX 7 Austin's Mike Warren to discuss.

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MIKE WARREN: Matt Mackoiwak, what do you make of this lawsuit?

MATT MACKOWIAK: Yeah. It's just it's kind of astounding to see the administration take the position that while they refuse to do almost anything of substance to deter, repel illegal immigrants from crossing the border at great risk to themselves and to those border communities, that they would sue a state that is trying to protect its citizens. You know, this is a crisis. It's an emergency. There's an emergency declaration that the governor has put in place. It is true that the borders are federal property, federal, federal land. But this is going to be a fascinating case to watch because it's pretty clear that the administration really doesn't want to do almost anything. They welcomed illegal immigrants the first hundred days, saying they wouldn't do anything if they came in. They ended remain in Mexico. They restarted catch and release. The list goes on and on and on. And so this is the Texas governor standing up for Texas sovereignty and Texas safety. 

MIKE WARREN: Espinoza, what do you make of this lawsuit and this step by the federal government?

ED ESPINOZA: Well, I think the important thing is to look at what the lawsuit is, right? The lawsuit has to do with the boys and the razor wire that has caused, by the way, harm to people who are at the border. Also, these devices are 1000 feet from a border that is more than a thousand miles. They really aren't very effective at deterring, especially when there are so many troops down at the border already. Why is it being done as anything other than a publicity stunt by Governor Abbott? It's also extremely inhumane and that is why the Biden administration, the DOJ, is suing the state here. It's not over the border security. It's over these inhumane devices that have caused bodily harm. 

MIKE WARREN: Okay. Matt Mackowiak, how does this lawsuit play out? What's going to happen?

MATT MACKOWIAK: Yeah. So it's been filed in the western district of Texas at the federal level. I presume the losing side would appeal to the Fifth Circuit, and then it could get appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, as the governor said just in the last 24 hours. So it's going to get argued. I think to me, it's a question it's a question of a couple of different things. Is the border entirely the domain of the federal government? And what happens if the federal government's refusal to protect the border is then acted upon by a state and do it as a state, have a responsibility to protect its citizens? No one has a right. No foreign citizen has a right to be safe while they're illegally crossing the border. Right. Right. We obviously want to be compassionate here. But but but we want to deter illegal immigration from occurring.

MIKE WARREN: Okay. Ed Espinosa, really quickly, how do you think this plays out? How does it get resolved? 

ED ESPINOZA: Illegal border crossings have plummeted by 70% since May. Biden's policies are working. Now, is there more we can do at the border? Of course, we should always look at something we can do for border security. We should also look what we should do for humanitarian purposes. And these devices that are down there right now are nothing more than a, you know, a publicity stunt that are causing bodily harm to people who are crossing the border. The governor has done it for publicity purposes, and that's why we're here now.