Texas Gov. Greg Abbott defies Biden administration threat to sue over floating border barriers

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday defended the legality of floating barriers that state officials recently set up along the U.S.-Mexico border to repel migrant crossings, defying a Biden administration threat to sue the state over the river buoys.

Last week, top Justice Department lawyers informed Abbott and other Texas officials that the administration would file a lawsuit against the state unless it removed the barriers it deployed in the middle of the Rio Grande. The Biden administration argued the river barriers violate a federal navigable waters law, pose humanitarian challenges and impede federal law enforcement from apprehending migrants.

But in a letter to President Biden and other top administration officials on Monday, Abbott, a Republican, appeared to welcome a legal battle, arguing that Texas was using its "constitutional authority" to combat unauthorized border crossings.