On Monday, work crews in Eagle Pass, Texas, began constructing a brand-new, historic floating border barrier nearby. The new project’s ultimate objective is to act as a potent deterrent for those considering illegal border crossing in densely populated areas along the Rio Grande. The fact that so many immigrants have lost their lives trying to cross the river and it now poses a severe safety risk to those trying to enter the United States is partly to blame for this.
Breitbart News reported that Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Lt. Olivarez tweeted a number of videos showing the beginning of the installation of a number of buoys by construction workers. Republican Governor Greg Abbott has ordered the installation of the buoys, and the Texas Legislature has approved financing for the undertaking.
Olivarez claimed that in addition to the influx of tens of thousands of migrants passing through the region, these additional obstacles will also assist save many lives of people attempting to cross the perilous river to reach American soil.
The intense heat of a typical Texas summer hasn’t seemed to stop migrants from trying to enter the Eagle Pass region from Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, despite the temperatures.
The steps Gov. Abbott is taking to try to control the out-of-control border crisis erupting along the state’s borders, however, are not being well received by everyone.
Steven Mumme, a researcher at the Baker Institute Center for the United States and Mexico that focuses on transboundary environmental and natural resource management along the U.S.-Mexico border, continued, “What Abbott is doing is conducting an irresponsible experiment at the expense of federal and international law.”
Mumme continued, according to the Texas Standard, that the new floating obstacles would affect the river’s flow against the law and ultimately alter the border between the United States and Mexico. It is unclear whether Gov. Abbott and Texas will be targeted by Biden or another government organization as a result, or whether it will remain mute in the expectation that the border crisis would pass without his administration having to deal with it.
Four people attempted to cross the river in the Eagle Pass region over the past week, all of them drowned. Some others worry that the obstacles may make rescue operations more challenging. However, it might also deter people from trying to cross in the first place, eliminating the need for the majority of rescue operations. What transpires on that front remains to be seen.
Mumme said netting would be put in place to keep migrants from swimming under the buoys. He said that he thinks this will result in debris being caught in the nets, adding to the dangers for people trying to cross. The risks won’t apply, though, if the threat and difficulty prevent them from crossing.