A US federal appeals court ruled Thursday that Texas can leave the floating barrier in the Rio Grande after a district court ordered the state to remove it on Wednesday. Texas Governor Greg Abbott appealed the order along with an emergency motion to stay the district court’s order earlier on Thursday. A panel of judges from the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit unanimously agreed to grant Abbott’s motion to stay the district court order until the appeals court hears further arguments.

The floating barrier at issue is a 1,000-foot-long system of buoys tethered via chains to concrete blocks placed on the riverbed of the Rio Grande along the US-Mexico border. In Abbott’s emergency motion, he claimed that the barrier saves lives by directing people attempting to cross into the US to ports of entry and deterring water crossings.

Texas has been in a state of emergency since May 2021 when Abbott declared emergency in response to the “surge of individuals unlawfully crossing the Texas-Mexico border.” Abbott renewed the disaster declaration in July.

The floating barrier has been the center of controversy in both the US and Mexico. Shortly after Texas placed the floating barrier in the Rio Grande, US federal officials requested Abbott remove the barrier. After Texas rebuffed the federal government’s requests, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed suit against the state, citing a possible violation of the River and Harbors Act because the barrier obstructs the “navigable capacity” of international waters. Since then, officials recovered two bodies from near the floating barrier.

On Wednesday, a federal district court sided with the DOJ and ordered the removal of the floating barrier. But now, because of Thursday’s stay, the floating barrier can remain in the Rio Grande.