(Washington)—Texas Gov. Greg Abbott must stand back and let U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents remove or cut the razor wire at the southern border after the Supreme Court overruled the Fifth Circuit’s order blocking them from doing so.
“At Abbott’s insistence, the razor wire installed along the Rio Grande at Eagle Pass was yet another hateful example of his anti-immigrant and anti-Texas agenda,” said Policy Attorney & Strategist Priscilla Olivarez with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center. “The highest court in the country has affirmed Border Patrol agents’ authority to remove the wire; there is no excuse for Abbott to stand in the way.”
“The razor wire is a symbol of the hate-filled and inhumane policies Abbott has embraced as he continues to endanger immigrants seeking to make better lives for themselves, as millions of other immigrants have done for hundreds of years in this country,” Olivarez said. “This stretch of the beautiful Rio Grande River has been turned into a militarized zone and has wreaked havoc in the peaceful community of Eagle Pass.”
We hope this ruling will be the first step to completely dismantling Operation Lone Star (OLS), Gov. Abbott’s unconstitutional and racist law enforcement operation targeting migrants for arrest, jail, and deportation,” Olivarez said. “Since OLS began in March 2021, Gov. Abbott has spent nearly $5.1 billion of state funds to criminalize and rapidly deport migrants, many of whom are seeking safety in the United States. OLS violates the Supreme Court’s ruling and the Constitution, promotes racial profiling, fuels the mass incarceration of people of color, and encourages white supremacy rhetoric that is harmful to ALL Texans.”
Since 2021, the ILRC has called on the Department of Justice to formally investigate OLS. The harms of OLS continue to increase against asylum seekers and Texans living in border communities. We continue to demand an end to OLS and to CBP collaboration in this illegal and inhumane scheme. The Biden administration must stop using its resources to aid OLS, and, ensure migrants are able to access their right to seek asylum.
###
The Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) is a national nonprofit that works with immigrants, community organizations, legal professionals, and policy makers to build a democratic society that values diversity and the rights of all people. Through community education programs, legal training & technical assistance, and policy development & advocacy, the ILRC works to protect and defend the fundamental rights of immigrant families and communities.