Texas must remove floating Rio Grande border barrier, federal appeals court rules

Texas must move a floating barrier on the Rio Grande that drew backlash from Mexico, a federal appeals court ruled Friday, dealing a blow to one of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's aggressive measures aimed at stopping migrants from entering the U.S. illegally.

The decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals requires Texas to stop any work on the roughly 1,000-foot barrier and move it to the riverbank. The order sided with a lower court decision in September that Abbott called "incorrect" and had predicted would be overturned.

Instead, the New Orleans-based court handed Texas its second legal defeat this week over its border operations. On Wednesday, a federal judge allowed U.S. Border Patrol agents to continue cutting razor wire the state installed along the riverbank, despite the protests of Texas officials.