Many Texans are saying they're looking forward to the first water border barrier going up in the Rio Grande, but some are also worried that Gov. Greg Abbott's efforts are coming too late or will not be sufficient enough to keep immigrants out.
The Republican governor's administration is planning to put a 1000-foot-long strand of large red buoys in the middle of the river to keep immigrants from crossing into Texas illegally, with the barricade expected to go into place by July 7, reports The Washington Examiner.
In addition to deterring immigrants, the buoys will also help funnel some immigrants to parts of the river where concertina wire has been put on the river bank to block their passage or to places where soldiers and Border Patrol agents can capture them.
However, some Texans are saying that the barrier is not long enough and that it will lead smugglers to find other ways into the United States.
"Only covering 1,000 feet is just more than likely going to create a shift in where the traffic crosses and not actually stop the crossings or even decrease the amount of crossings," Alison Anderson, a mother and resident of nearby border town Del Rio, told the Examiner.
She said she appreciates Abbott's efforts, but she has her concerns that if the traffic shifts, "that carries with it the potential for my family to see an even greater increase in the number of illegals, specifically the getaways, and smuggling from what we already see and endure on our own property."
George Antuna, chairman of the Hispanic Republicans of Texas PAC and a former Eagle Pass, Texas, city manager, said residents appreciate the visits from Abbott and the attention the state is paying to small border communities.
"We along the Texas border can't blame the governor for trying to protect our borders, and we thank him," he commented. "The Biden administration has proven time and again that it does not care."
However, Eagle Pass Fire Department Chief Manuel Mello III says the buoy system can make fire department responses to drownings more difficult. The number of victims has climbed sharply. In 2020, Mello's department recovered up to 25 drowning victims a year, but in mid-2022, there was an average of 30 every month.
Abbott said while announcing the $1 million floating barriers project earlier this month that they will "proactively prevent illegal crossings between ports of entry by making it more difficult to cross."
According to Texas Department of Public Safety Col. Steve McCraw, the buoys will be put in a part of the river where the currents are deemed most dangerous.
"We don't want anyone to get hurt," he said during the press conference with Abbott. "We want to prevent people from getting hurt. We want to prevent people from drowning, and this is a proactive way."
Abbott says the state may install more miles of the inflatable barriers if they succeed in Eagle Pass.
The Del Rio Sector, which includes Eagle Pass, reported more than 26,000 arrests of illegal immigrants in May, according to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol information, putting it in third place in regards to arrests out of the Border Patrol's nine sectors on the southern border.
McCraw said his department has been testing whether people can swim under the buoys or go between them, and said it would take "great effort" to get past them.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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