The Biden Government wins the round against Texas.
For now.
In a surprising decision, the United States Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the Democratic Administration in a dispute that has caused weeks of tension.
The judges' decision, divided in a 5-4 vote, allows Border Patrol agents to cut the barbed wire that Greg Abbott's Government placed in Eagle Pass County to stop the entry of migrants from Mexico.
None of the togados has publicly explained their decision.
The vote, however, broke the conservative majority that former President Donald Trump left on the Constitutional Court.
John Roberts, the president of the Supreme Court, along with Amy Coney Barrett, joined the progressive bloc made up of judges Ketanji Brown Jackson, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor to agree with the Biden Administration in an emergency motion.
Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas voted against.
This Monday's decision is not final.
A trial that aims to settle responsibilities in border surveillance between the federal government and that of Texas continues.
Last month, a federal appeals court ordered Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents to stop destroying the wire.
The Biden Administration elevated the case to the Supreme Court.
Biden had already obtained an important victory in the Court last year on the matter, when the Supreme Court allowed him to set priorities in deportations.
The Abbott Government, one of the most radical in its fight against irregular immigration, has placed 48 kilometers of barbed wire along the border with Mexico.
The epicenter of this battle against migrants is located in Eagle Pass County, which borders the Mexican city of Piedras Negras (Coahuila).
Crossings increased there because the last stretch of the journey became more dangerous for migrants in other border cities such as Juárez, in Chihuahua, or Reynosa, in Tamaulipas.
In addition to strengthening the surveillance of the National Guard, Abbott implemented other controversial measures to reduce the flow of people arriving in Texas.
Since April 2022, he has sent more than 100,000 immigrants on buses to Democratic cities, forcing receiving authorities to demand that the White House change its immigration policy.
He also placed buoys on the Rio Grande, the natural boundary between the United States and Mexico.
Tension between Texas and the Biden Government had increased in recent days.
On the night of Friday, January 12, Mexican authorities informed the Border Patrol that two migrants were close to drowning on the US side of the border.
That same day, a few minutes earlier and at the same point, a mother and her two children died in the river while trying to reach the United States.
After being notified by members of the National Immigration Institute, members of the Border Patrol attempted to enter Shelby Park, an area of the border that has been guarded since January 11 by state agents.
They denied them entry, arguing that superiors had given strict orders to prevent this federal force from entering, even in “emergency situations.”
The Federal Government maintains in the lawsuit that the kilometers of concertina hinder the operations of the federal authorities, who according to the Constitution are the only ones capable of regulating and monitoring the borders of the United States.
The Supreme Court's decision this Monday seems to align with these principles, although there is still much of a dispute between Biden and Abbott, who claims that his Lone Star operation has helped arrest almost half a million people.
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