Texas must move floating border barriers in Rio Grande, U.S. judge says

A federal judge on Wednesday ordered Texas to reposition floating barriers the state placed in the middle of the Rio Grande, rebuking one of the more contentious elements of Gov. Greg Abbott’s effort to deter illegal border crossings.

The preliminary injunction granted by Judge David A. Ezra sided with the U.S. Justice Department, which filed a lawsuit in July arguing Texas had no authority to install a 1,000-foot-long segment of the spiked orange buoys in the river, an international waterway where the federal government has jurisdiction.