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00:00 More than a metre in diameter and anchored to the bottom of the Rio Grande,
00:04 this string of buoys between Mexico and Texas is at the centre of a political tug of war.
00:10 After installation began weeks ago, the White House asked Governor Greg Abbott to remove the floating barrier,
00:17 saying it was illegal and undermined border protection.
00:20 But after Abbott refused, the Biden administration sued the state on Monday.
00:25 "Governor Abbott is making it harder for the men and women of the Border Patrol by what he's doing.
00:31 He's making it harder for the people who are supposed to work to protect our border.
00:37 He's literally operating in bad faith."
00:39 As well as presenting humanitarian concerns,
00:43 the Justice Department says the barrier poses a risk to navigation.
00:47 But Abbott is remaining defiant, refusing to dismantle the buoys.
00:52 He instead accused Joe Biden of failing to deter migrants from making the journey to the US.
00:57 "If President Biden truly cared about human life, he would enforce federal immigration laws.
01:04 In the meantime, Texas will fully utilize its sovereign authority to respond to the border
01:09 crisis Biden created. Operation Lone Star will continue to hold the line."
01:13 The buoys and razor wire barriers along the shore are the latest escalation in Abbott's
01:20 Lone Star initiative to keep migrants away. According to reports,
01:24 some trying to cross have required rescue after being trapped in the wire.
01:28 The number of people caught crossing the US-Mexico border illegally has dropped since Joe Biden
01:34 implemented a new asylum policy in May. Even so, about 100,000 were apprehended in June.