Greg Abbott Vows ‘This Is Not Over’ After Supreme Court Border Loss

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said “this is not over” after a divided Supreme Court handed the Biden administration a victory on Monday by allowing federal agents to remove razor wire that Texas installed along a stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border.

The installation of the razor wire near the border city of Eagle Pass was among several aggressive measures the Republican governor has taken in a bid to stop migrants from entering the U.S. illegally.

The high court’s 5-4 vote, which saw Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett of the court’s conservative wing side join the court’s three liberal justices to side with the Biden administration, means Border Patrol agents can for now cut the wire that had been placed along the banks of the Rio Grande while a lawsuit about the wire continues.

The Biden administration argued the wire prevents Border Patrol agents from reaching migrants as they cross the river and that federal immigration law trumps Texas’s efforts to stop the flow of migrants.

The order came after a federal appeals court last month forced federal agents to stop cutting the wire.

After the ruling, Abbott took to social media to say that he would continue fighting to secure the border.

“This is not over,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday evening.

“Texas’ razor wire is an effective deterrent to the illegal crossings Biden encourages. I will continue to defend Texas’ constitutional authority to secure the border and prevent the Biden Admin from destroying our property.”

A spokesman for Abbott told Newsweek on Monday that the the absence of razor wire and other deterrents “encourages migrants to make unsafe and illegal crossings” and makes the job of Texas border personnel more difficult.

“This case is ongoing, and Governor Abbott will continue fighting to defend Texas’ property and its constitutional authority to secure the border,” the spokesman said.

The White House welcomed the high court’s vote. “Texas’ political stunts, like placing razor wire near the border, simply make it harder and more dangerous for frontline personnel to do their jobs,” White House spokesperson Angelo Fernández Hernández said, according to The Associated Press.

Newsweek has contacted the White House for further comment via email.

Republicans took to social media to blast the decision.

“The Supreme Court’s temporary order allows Biden to continue his illegal effort to aid the foreign invasion of America,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton wrote on X. “The destruction of Texas’s border barriers will not help enforce the law or keep American citizens safe. This fight is not over, and I look forward to defending our state’s sovereignty.”

Rep. Lauren Boebert, of Colorado, wrote that the court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, had “sided with the Open Borders cultists” in a “historically terrible decision.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene called the decision “outrageous.”

“The Constitution says the role of the federal government is to defend the states from invasion, but [Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro] Mayorkas and his boss Joe Biden refuse to uphold the law and protect our country,” Greene wrote. “Now the Supreme Court says Texas cannot even defend itself!”

Others applauded the ruling.

“We appreciate this ruling—and recognize this is just one piece of Gov. Abbott’s complete disregard for human life,” the ACLU of Texas wrote on X. “Cruelty to migrants is not a policy solution.”