In the latest chapter in an expanding legal struggle over border security, a federal judge in Texas ordered federal Border Patrol agents on Monday to stop cutting concertina wire that had been placed by the state along the Rio Grande to deter migrants from crossing from Mexico.
The temporary restraining order, granted by Judge Alia Moses of the Western District of Texas, came as part of a lawsuit filed last week by the state attorney general, Ken Paxton, who has argued that the federal agents are illegally destroying Texas property and allowing migrants into the country.
The order barred agents for now from cutting or moving the wire barriers strung in and around Eagle Pass, which have caused injuries to a number of migrants in recent months. “Deterring unlawful activity, including illegal entry, is in the public interest,” Ms. Moses
