Greg Abbott, the Texas Governor, announced plans to deploy a floating marine barrier along the Rio Grande to prevent illegal immigrants from crossing the border via the river.
Governor Gregg Abbott, who has criticized President Biden’s border enforcement policies many times, said that he wants to start the floating barrier near the city of Eagle Pass. Eagle Pass is a common place for illegal border crossing, so it has become the most heavily fortified city in Texas.
Although the barrier of buoys would only cover 1000 feet of Texas’s large 1254-mile-long border, Abbott stated that these buoys could easily be deployed in other locations with bodies of water. “We can put mile after mile after mile of these buoys,” the governor said at a news conference. Colonel Steven McCraw, the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, also stated that the buoys could be quickly deployed and had already been tested by border patrol. He further explained that each buoy, 5 feet in height, would be anchored to the bottom of the river, costing roughly $1 million per 1000ft.
On the other hand, David Donatti, an attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, opposed to the plan stating, “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.”
Regardless of opposition, the first deployment is set for July 7th.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/08/us/texas-abbott-border-wall.html
Governor Gregg Abbott, who has criticized President Biden’s border enforcement policies many times, said that he wants to start the floating barrier near the city of Eagle Pass. Eagle Pass is a common place for illegal border crossing, so it has become the most heavily fortified city in Texas.
Although the barrier of buoys would only cover 1000 feet of Texas’s large 1254-mile-long border, Abbott stated that these buoys could easily be deployed in other locations with bodies of water. “We can put mile after mile after mile of these buoys,” the governor said at a news conference. Colonel Steven McCraw, the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, also stated that the buoys could be quickly deployed and had already been tested by border patrol. He further explained that each buoy, 5 feet in height, would be anchored to the bottom of the river, costing roughly $1 million per 1000ft.
On the other hand, David Donatti, an attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, opposed to the plan stating, “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.”
Regardless of opposition, the first deployment is set for July 7th.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/08/us/texas-abbott-border-wall.html
