The Latest Breaking News from the Rio Grande

The Justice Department on Monday sued Texas Gov. Greg Abbott over a newly installed floating barrier on the Rio Grande that is the Republican's latest aggressive tactic to try to stop migrants from crossing into the US from Mexico.

Texas has faced criticism after installing a string of large buoys to block irregular crossings along the Rio Grande.

The U.S. Department of Justice made good on its warning last week that it would sue Texas unless the state agreed to remove the barrier in the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass.

The U.S. Department of Justice had given Texas a deadline of Monday afternoon to agree on removing the stretch of buoys on the Rio Grande or face legal action.

Move is latest in growing political spat between Greg Abbott and Biden administration over immigration

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has escalated measures to keep migrants from entering the U.S. The Republican is pushing legal boundaries along the border with Mexico to install razor wire, deploy massive buoys on the Rio Grande and bulldoze border islands in the river

Activists, state troopers, and diplomats have all challenged border plan

The Justice Department has told Texas that a floating barrier of wrecking ball-sized buoys the state put on the Rio Grande violates federal law and raises humanitarian concerns for migrants crossing from Mexico

Texas governor has funnelled $12bn into a military-style border buildup with floating walls and razor wire. Josh Marcus speaks with a local business owner and lifelong riverman who’s suing the state to stop it

AUSTIN, Texas – Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador blasted the treatment of migrants following reporting earlier this week that officials received orders to push those crossing at the Texas border back into the Rio Grande and also were told not to give them water.

Troopers at the Texas border were ordered to push children back into the Rio Grande and failed to provide water to asylum seekers in extreme heat conditions, according to an an email sent by a Department of Public Safety trooper, and first reported by the Houston Chronicle.