The state of Texas has started to take border security into its own hands, and the Mexican government is not happy about it.
Alicia Barcena, Mexico’s foreign relations secretary, said that her country has sent the U.S. government a diplomatic note, saying that the floating barriers that Texas has deployed along the Rio Grande might be in violation of treaties on water and boundaries.
The Associated Press reported that Barcena told the U.S. that Mexico has plans to send a team to inspect the Rio Grande to look whether any section of Texas’ barrier is encroaching on Mexico’s territory. The river sets the border between the United States and Mexico.
Earlier this month, Texas started deploying these floating barriers as a way to deter illegal immigrants from crossing into the U.S.
Many immigration advocates have said that the buoys actually serve as a major drowning risk, rather than a deterrent for migrants to not cross. In addition, environmental advocates have questioned whether the buoys will impact the river at all.
The AP reported that Barcena also wasn’t happy that Texas installed barbed wire on an island that sits in the river close to Eagle Pass, Texas.
Photos from the scene show that the barriers are basically spheres that are strung together and float in the water. If someone were to try to scale over them, it appears as though they would spin and prevent them from doing so.
Republican Governor Greg Abbott of Texas issued a press release about the barriers, saying they 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.
“Thanks to the leaderships and hard work of [state Department of Public Safety] Director [Steve] McCraw, [Major General] Thomas Suelzer and their teams, Texas has pushed back against the swell of migrants and held the line to keep people out of Texas, but there’s more that needs to be done.
“The Texas Legislature has stepped up to make sure we continue to robustly respond to President Biden’s growing border crisis, including allocating $5.1 billion for border security.”
Abbott signed a package of border security bills in June that are meant to help Texas “hold the line” as the state is experiencing a huge influx of illegal migrants, illegal weapons and illegal drugs continue to come into the U.S. through Texas.
In those bills is a measure that gives Texas’ military the authority to utilize unmanned aircraft as part of search and recovery missions. It also authorizes agents with U.S. Border Patrol who go through training with the Texas DPS to “arrest, search and seize” at any established checkpoint along the Texas-Mexico border.
Landowners in Texas can also receive compensation for any damage to their properties that is caused by activities that revolves around illegal immigrants coming into the U.S.
