The federal government had given Abbott until 2 p.m. on Monday to remove the barriers, which the Biden Administration says are illegal. However, Abbott stresse that Texas reserves the right under both the state and US constitutions to defend its border.
"President Biden's Dept. of Justice threatened to sue Texas over the marine barriers we deployed on the Rio Grande. Mr. President, Texas will see you in court," Abbott said via Twitter on Monday along with a letter from the governor's office addressed to Biden.
In the letter to Biden, Abbott also maintained that the floating barriers do not violate Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors act, which guards against the creation of any water obstruction that prevents navigability and is not approved by Congress or the US Army Corps of Engineers.
“I have asserted Texas’s sovereign interest in protecting [her] borders. I have done so in my role as the commander-in-chief of our State’s militia under Article IV, § 7 of the Texas Constitution," wrote Abbott, who blames the humanitarian crisis on the southern border on Biden.
About 1.8 million migrants have been encountered on the US southern border since October.