The Biden administration may be using a new tactic to keep Texas from securing the border. Just days after taking legal action against the floating border wall in the Rio Grande River, the federal government is now trying to declare that stretch of the Rio Grande a "critical habitat." The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed a rule to declare a Mexican mussel found in the Rio Grande "endangered." If the rule is approved, it could allow the government to force the removal of the buoy system recently installed to create a water barrier in the Rio Grande.
The Fish and Wildlife Service hasn't commented on the move in relation to the Texas barrier, but critics noticed the timing. "Filing this action four days after filing the lawsuit against the state of Texas over the floating border barriers, it seems extremely suspicious," says Bob Price, reporter with Breitbart Texas. "It takes awhile for a rule like that to take effect, but once it did, if their lawsuit against Texas failed, they could file another action under this."
The proposed endangered species ruling will now undergo a public comment period until September 25, but could be published shortly after that. Gov. Greg Abbott has vowed to defend the water barrier in court, arguing Texas has a legal and constitutional right to defend itself and its border. Price notes that illegal border crossings are surging again this month, while the federal government is busy fighting Texas. "The Biden administration is obfuscating with all of these legal actions, and literally trying to say hey, look over here and don't look at the issues on the border," he tells KTRH.
While the administration invokes the Endangered Species Act for mussels, it appears the only species they really want to protect are illegal border crossers. "They don't want to solve the problem, they don't want to stop the flow of migrants across the border," says Price. "This is not a failed border policy of the Biden administration, these were deliberate decisions."
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