Appeals Court: Floating Border Barrier Can Stay

AUSTIN – A federal appeals court granted Texas' request to leave its floating barrier in the Rio Grande Thursday evening.

Federal District Judge David A. Ezra ruled on Wednesday that Texas must remove the floating border barrier, installed to deter migrants from crossing the Rio Grande, siding with the federal government after it sued the state for placing the barrier in an international waterway.

Nearly three months after Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the deployment of the 1,000-foot line of buoys and mesh in the Rio Grande, an Austin federal judge ordered the state to remove the barrier and stop building further obstructions in the river. One day later, a higher court sided with Texas.