US court will reconsider forcing Texas to remove Rio Grande migrant barrier

FILE PHOTO: Workers assemble a string of buoys, to deter migrants from crossing the Rio Grande river, at the international border with Mexico in Eagle Pass, Texas, U.S. July 27, 2023. REUTERS/Adrees Latif/File Photo

(Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday said it would reconsider a recent decision requiring Texas to remove a 1,000-foot-long (305-meter) floating barrier it had placed in the Rio Grande river to deter migrants from illegally crossing the border with Mexico.

The decision by the full 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans sets aside a divided three-judge panel's December ruling, which had sided with the Biden administration and said that the state could not install the string of buoys without permission from the federal government.