A battle over buoys in the Rio Grande moved from the border to a courthouse Tuesday. The U.S. Department of Justice is challenging Texas Governor Greg Abbott's authorization to put the large red buoys in the river to deter illegal migrant crossings.
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00:00 All right, stopping our news in this half hour, a battle over buoys in the Rio Grande
00:05 moved from the border to a courthouse on Tuesday.
00:07 Yeah, the U.S. Department of Justice is challenging Texas Governor Greg Abbott's authorization
00:12 to put the large red buoys in the river to deter illegal migrant crossings.
00:17 Emily Schmidt takes a closer look.
00:20 In some disagreements, compromise comes in the middle.
00:23 But along the southern border, where Texas installed these buoys meant to deter migrants,
00:28 middle ground may prove hard to find.
00:31 There were allegations, which I don't know if they were true or not, but allegations
00:35 that the buoys had drifted toward the Mexico side.
00:39 The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Texas and its Republican governor
00:44 calling for the removal of the floating wall, arguing it was placed without federal authorization
00:50 and later saying a survey found about 787 of the 995 feet of buoys were in Mexico.
00:57 Monday, as Abbott led Republican governors to the border, he said the buoys have now
01:01 been repositioned.
01:03 Texas went back and moved the buoys into a location where it is clear that they are on
01:10 the United States side, not on the Mexico side.
01:12 The buoys split opinions as sharply as they divide the water.
01:16 The buoys are a deterrent.
01:18 They don't cause a bandaid.
01:19 And if they do, I say, what the heck, stay on your side of the river.
01:23 A thousand feet of buoys, while it may not seem like a lot to those of you out there
01:28 in the public listening, the fact is it pushes people into the deep water.
01:35 In a federal court injunction hearing Tuesday, U.S. District Judge David Ezra asked for written
01:40 closing arguments by the end of the week so he can rule on whether to order Texas to remove
01:46 the buoys.
01:47 He said he would make a decision as quickly as he can.
01:50 I'm Emily Schmitt reporting.