The federal government has hit back at a legal filing from the team of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott arguing their "motion to strike motion to dismiss" should be denied as "procedurally improper."

It comes amid an ongoing legal dispute over the state of Texas deploying floating buoys, interspaced by circular saw-like sheets of metal, in the Rio Grande in a bid to stop illegal migrants from crossing.

The federal government in July 2023 filed a lawsuit claiming these buoys violate the Rivers and Harbors Appropriations Act of 1899 by blocking a navigable waterway and should thus be removed. This is contested by the state of Texas, which argues the Rio Grande isn't navigable at the point where the buoys were installed, thus making the 1899 act irrelevant.

Texas filed a counterclaim seeking to get the initial lawsuit dismissed, arguing the original court filings didn't contain the necessary "waiver of sovereign immunity" needed to establish the lawsuit's authority. Lawyers representing the U.S. government filed a counterclaim to this, to which Texas responded with a "Motion to Strike Motion to Dismiss."

However, the federal government argued this motion is invalid as it was submitted outside the allowed time frame, and thus must be rejected by the court.

In a court filling published on July 1 the federal government's legal team claimed Texas "invoked no rule or authority for moving to 'strike' a 'motion,' and there is none."

They continued: "The Court should deny Texas's motion as procedurally improper, and discourage similar filings in the future by making clear that any party opposing a motion should follow the same rules all other practitioners in this federal Court respectfully follow, by filing a response in opposition."

The federal lawyers also claimed Texas was attempting to have "a second bite at the apple" in seeking to get the case dismissed by submitting a so-called "motion to strike motion" followed by a separate "opposition."

Newsweek has contacted attorneys for the federal government and the state of Texas for comment by email.

Speaking to Newsweek an attorney for the Department of Justice declined to comment beyond their court filings.

On June 25 Magistrate Judge Dustin Howell granted a motion from Abbott's legal team to exclude Adrian Cortez—who works for the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC)—from offering further testimony in the case.

In a court filing the attorneys for Texas said the federal government "cannot meet its burden of showing by a preponderance of the evidence that Mr. Cortez has relevant and reliable opinions about the decision factors and procedures for water releases from Amistad Dam."

The evidence Cortez was due to give could have supported the federal government's claim that the Rio Grande is navigable at the point where the floating buoys were installed, thus making this a violation of the Rivers and Harbors Appropriations Act.

The Texas attorneys continued: "Mr. Cortez is a fact witness and admitted that he has no expert opinions in this case about the decision factors for water releases from Amistad Dam."

Data published by U.S. Customs and Border Protection earlier this year showed a significant drop in encounters between law enforcement and suspected illegal migrants in the first three months of 2024, versus the same period in 2023.

On Monday the bodies of four suspected illegal migrants were recovered from desert near the Santa Teresa border crossing in New Mexico by Border Patrol agents.