Officials in Texas have unveiled a new floating barrier with the aim of curbing illegal border crossings. The barrier, consisting of hundreds of huge, orange buoys connected by webbing, will be installed across a span of 1000 feet in the Rio Grande.
The extraordinary effort, led by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, is one of the many aggressive measures taken by the state in its push to secure the US-Mexican border. The project is estimated to cost billions of dollars and also included the installation of razor wire fences at popular crossing points and the deployment of National Guard members to make arrests.
“We always look to employ whatever strategies will be effective in securing the border,” Abbott said in a press conference to introduce the project. He stressed that the objective is to “deter” migrants from attempting to cross the river, adding that any kind of illegal immigration “comes at the expense of the rule of law”.
The buoys are part of a larger border mission that has also included bussing migrants to liberal states and setting up state checkpoints beyond federal ones to inspect commercial traffic.
Immigrant advocates are wary of the effects the new barrier might have, warning that those attempting to cross the river will face additional risks. Sister Isabel Turcios, who runs a migrant shelter in Piedras Negras just across the river from Eagle Pass, met with Texas Department of Public Safety to express her concerns.
“That’s more and more dangerous each time…because it has perches, it has whirlpools and because of the organized crime,” Turcios said.
The state also failed to inform the federal International Boundary and Water Commission about the project, prompting questions about its impact on the environment. Environmental activists from Eagle Pass and Laredo held a demonstration to voice their worries, while local business owner Jessie Fuentes filed a lawsuit to prevent the project in fear of its disruption to his river paddling business.
Despite the opposition, the buoys will remain in the Rio Grande to serve as a notice to those entering the US illegally. It is yet unclear whether the project will prove successful, as the overall number of migrant crossings in the Eagle Pass sector this year is lower than it was at the same time last year. However, the Biden administration’s new asylum-seeking options did shift the dynamics in May. The federal government currently caps the number of asylum claims per day at 1,450, which in turn creates frustration among those who are unsuccessful. Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s efforts, therefore, are a direct response to the rising numbers of such illegal border crossings.
