Biden admin's feud with Texas over razor wire fencing along southern border reaches Supreme Court

The Biden administration is requesting that the Supreme Court allow United States Customs and Border Protection agents to cut and remove razor wire fencing placed along the southern border by Texas, according to Tuesday court filings, the New York Post reported.

Just weeks ago, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Texas, ruling to block the federal government from destroying the state's fencing. The court's December decision reversed a lower court's previous order, allowing the administration to remove the barrier.

The legal feud over the razor wire fencing began in October when Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against Biden's Department of Homeland Security, CBP, and Border Patrol, Blaze News previously reported.

Paxton accused the Biden administration of failing to protect the southern border and "undermining Texas's efforts to stem the flow of illegal immigration." He called Texas' installation of concertina-wire barriers an attempt to "fill the breach created by the federal government's indolence."

On Tuesday, the Biden administration took the dispute to the Supreme Court, hoping to overturn the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals' decision to block federal officials from tampering with the fencing.

The Department of Justice's petition to the Supreme Court stated, "Federal law unambiguously grants Border Patrol agents the authority, without a warrant, to access private land within 25 miles of the international border."

"Like other law-enforcement officers, Border Patrol agents operating under difficult circumstances at the border must make context-dependent, sometimes split-second decisions about how to enforce federal immigration laws while maintaining public safety," the filing continued. "But the injunction prohibits agents from passing through or moving physical obstacles erected by the State that prevent access to the very border they are charged with patrolling and the individuals they are charged with apprehending and inspecting."

Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott responded to the DOJ's petition on X Tuesday, stating, "See you in court."

"Americans & courts will reject Biden's hostility to immigration laws," Abbott continued. "TX will continue to deploy National Guard to build border barriers & repel illegal immigrants."

In a separate post on Wednesday, Abbott declared that Texas will continue to put up the razor wire fencing despite the administration's efforts to tear it down.

The Biden administration has also recently threatened to sue Texas for signing Senate Bill 4 into law, which would allow local authorities to arrest, prosecute, and deport migrants who illegally enter the country, Blaze News previously reported.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton told Abbott that the legislation "is preempted and violates the United States Constitution."

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