Mexico Files Complaint About Texas' Innovative New Low Tech Border Crossing Deterrent Amid Rollout
Mexico is objecting to a floating barrier in the Rio Grande that was placed there to stop illegal immigrants from entering Texas.
Mexico’s Foreign Relations Secretary Alicia Bárcena said Mexico sent a diplomatic protest to the United States’ government after Texas — fed up with the lack of action from the Biden administration to deter illegal immigration — decided to place the floating barrier in the river, according to the Associated Press.
She said that the barrier could violate 1944 and 1970 treaties on boundaries and water and that Mexico, which wants the barrier removed, will send an inspection team where the buoys have been deployed.
The inspection team, Bárcena said, will make sure the river flow is normal and unobstructed, per the treaties, and will check that the barrier does not cross into Mexico’s side.
Texas launches floating barrier in the Rio Grande to stop illegal migrants pic.twitter.com/U5gkhCiKu1
— Daily Loud (@DailyLoud) July 12, 2023
Once installed, buoys and the webbing below them will block about 1,000 feet of the river and be anchored to the bottom. The river is key because it spans the border between Texas and Mexico.
Installation of the floating barrier began and Wednesday and should be completed this week, Texas Department of Public Safety Spokesman Lt. Chris Olivarez said, according to the New York Post.
“The buoys go down a foot below the water line, so anyone wanting to get past them would have to swim at least that far down,” he said.
He said most illegal immigrants “don’t want to go under water. They’re trying to scale over, like a wall.”
“Especially with children, I think it’s going to be most effective with families who are trying to come across. Across the board, we want to prevent people from crossing the river in the first place,” he said.
The State of #Texas is taking historic action under Gov. @GregAbbott_TX’s Operation Lone Star to secure the border. Installation of the marine barrier began today in #EaglePass. The marine barrier will deter unlawful crossings & human smuggling, & prevent the loss of life due to… pic.twitter.com/4PYy25RDFr
— Chris Olivarez (@LtChrisOlivarez) July 10, 2023
Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott announced the plan for a mobile, floating barrier last month.
The Texas Department of Public Safety is overseeing the installation of new marine barriers on the Rio Grande.
President Biden refuses to secure the border.
Texas continues to hold the line in his absence.https://t.co/rZ6LSQvDbE
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) July 14, 2023
“This strategy will proactively prevent illegal crossings between ports of entry by making it more difficult to cross the Rio Grande and reach the Texas side of the southern border,” Abbott said then.
The barriers are being put in the river near Eagle Pass, Texas, according to the Associated Press. The Border Patrol sector in which Eagle Pass is located has had the second-highest number of illegal immigrants crossing into Texas this fiscal year.
However, the plan drew the ire of attorney David Donatti with the ACLU of Texas.
“The chain of buoys along the Rio Grande is just the latest in a chain of gifts from the state to private contractors to fuel the governor’s manufactured crisis at the border,” he said, according to CNN.
“The floating balls will not address the real and important reasons people are coming to the United States. The buoys are a blight on Texas’s moral conscience.”
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