Federal agents can resume a practice of cutting wire barrier placed near the U.S. border with Mexico by Texas National Guard troops after a judge on Wednesday ruled against a request from the state of Texas to stop them from doing so.
A temporary hold on cutting the barriers had been in place since October as part of an ongoing lawsuit that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed against the Department of Homeland Security that alleges cutting the barriers is damaging the state’s property. The temporary hold only protected barriers installed in the west Texas city of Eagle Pass, which has seen a steep increase in border crossings this year.
The fight between state and federal authorities at the border comes as record levels of migrants cross into the United States. Customs and Border Protection said it detained nearly 2.5 million people at the southwest border during fiscal 2023, which ended Sept. 30.