Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has revealed plans to expand on buoy barriers in the Rio Grande to prevent migrants from crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
“You can expect to see an increase of the buoys in the Rio Grande River,” Abbott told NewsNation in an interview aired on Tuesday.
He said he is waiting “on a final decision from the court that has to enforce what the 5th Circuit already told them to enforce before making that investment.”
Abbott said buoys are one of the most effective ways to stop migrants from illegally entering Texas from Mexico.
Greg Abbott, right, holds a news conference as members of the Texas National Guard prepare to deploy to the Texas-Mexico border in Austin, Texas, Monday, May 8, 2023.
Eric Gay/AP
He claimed the cost of buoys is “one-tenth” that of a border wall.
Abbott has been in a long-running standoff with President Joe Biden‘s administration over immigration policy on the U.S.-Mexico border.
In June 2023, the Biden administration sued the state of Texas over the buoys, arguing that the barrier violated the Rivers and Harbors Act, as the state did not obtain a permit to construct the barrier without permission from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
In July, Abbott celebrated after a federal appeals court ruled floating barriers in the Rio Grande meant to discourage migrants from crossing into the state can remain.
A worker inspects buoys being used as a barrier along the Rio Grande, Monday, Aug. 21, 2023, in Eagle Pass, Texas.
Eric Gay/AP
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a previous decision by a panel of the court, who ruled that the buoys must be moved under a preliminary injunction.
A Trump-era appointee, U.S. Circuit Judge Don R. Willett, said the lower court improperly granted the federal government a preliminary injunction forcing Texas to remove the barrier.
The ruling will permit the state to maintain a floating river barrier along the Mexico border for now. The barrier can remain in place while a lower court considers the case against it.
The ruling by the court dealt a blow to the Biden administration’s attempt to remove the floating barrier.
In 2023, Abbott’s administration spent $850,000 on a 1,000-foot-long barrier of buoys to be anchored in concrete along the Rio Grande, in the waters between Eagle Pass, Texas, and Piedras Negras, Mexico.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has revealed plans to expand on bouy barriers in the Rio Grande to prevent migrants from crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
AP
The series of linked, concrete-anchored buoys is in one of the busiest hotspots for illegal border crossings.
Abbott has credited his border security policies as being the reason why border crossings have declined.
“Let’s look at the timeline, because you will remember that Joe Biden put his so-called executive order in place where he helped to close the border in June. But if you go back and look at when border crossings began to decline, that was more than a half a year before that, back in last December, and that was after Texas had begun our accelerated operations to deny illegal entry, using the guard, using the razor wire, using the pepper ball,” Abbott said.
“It was the robust, comprehensive approach by Texas that actually led to the decline. Biden just happened to come in and stepped and rode on our coattails.”
Republicans have been keen to make sure border security and immigration are at the forefront of the 2024 election.
According to a poll by Gallup, 55 percent of respondents want to see immigration levels decrease, which shows Republicans and Democrats back curbs on immigration.
In the same poll, 53 percent support significantly expanding the construction of walls along the U.S.-Mexico border, up 13 points since 2019.
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