A federal judge in Texas has ruled that the state must remove its 1,000 foot long floating buoy barrier along the Rio Grande River following a complaint filed by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), claiming that installing the obstruction presented humanitarian concerns.

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who the suit names as a defendant, had the marine barriers placed in a stretch of river alongside Eagle Pass typically used by migrants to travel into the U.S.

The obstruction was launched as part of Operation Lone Star, a border security program enacted by Abbott in 2021. It is attached to a two-feet long anti-dive net made of stainless-steel mesh and separated by serrated saw blades. The body of one migrant was recently found attached to the structure.

Now, Abbott’s administration has approximately nine days to get the barrier out of the water. The governor immediately appealed the decision Wednesday.

“Our battle to defend Texas’ sovereign authority to protect lives from the chaos caused by President Biden’s open border policies has only begun. Texas is prepared to take this fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court,” Abbott said in a statement.

In an added effort to stop border crossings, the state also put up about two miles of border fencing which has left at least 133 migrants injured, according to the Houston Chronicle.

In July, Texas employees installed the water buoys without the consent of the federal government, which the DOJ argued is required because the state anchored them with concrete onto federal property. Additionally, the agency suggested that the barriers themselves are a violation of federal law.

“We must all recognize that there are laws and policies in place — both domestic and international — to ensure that safety and security of everything working, living and traveling along the river,” U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza of the Western District of Texas, where the suit was filed, said in a written statement.

“These laws cannot be ignored and my office will take and support the appropriate legal action to uphold them.”

A federal judge agreed. “Unfortunately for Texas, permission is exactly what federal law requires before installing obstructions in the nation’s navigable waters,” U.S. District Judge David Alan Ezra wrote in the ruling granting the DOJ’s preliminary injunction.

Abbott’s administration is currently prohibited from installing additional structures of any kind into the river pending a final decision on the matter. It’s unclear if Abbott intends to defy the most recent order following his office’s filing of an appeal.

The Immigrant Legal Resource Center, which works to improve immigration law and policy, applauded Ezra for his decision.

“The buoys are a symbol of the hate-filled and inhumane policies Gov. Abbott has embraced as he continues to wage war on immigrants seeking to make better lives for themselves,” said the organization’s Senior Texas Strategist Caroline Canizales in a press release.

“We hope this ruling leads to the complete dismantling of Operation Lone Star.”