By Desperate times call for desperate measures, and Texas Governor Greg Abbott has decided to pick up the slack from Joe Biden when it comes to securing the border.
Earlier in the week, the governor’s office announced that the state of Texas would be deploying a “floating barrier” in the Rio Grande in an effort to slow down the thousands that cross into the country every week.
Video shared by a Texas Department of Public Safety official this week revealed that construction workers in Eagle Pass, Texas, are in the process of connecting a series of large floating red buoys that look like oversized balls. The state has referred to this new deterrence system as a “marine barrier,” writes The Washington Examiner.
Abbott announced the measure on June 8 and said it would serve as another layer of border security and deter immigrants from crossing in certain areas and funnel people who do cross to other parts of the river where federal and state officials can apprehend them.
“When we’re dealing with 100 or 1,000 people, one of the goals is to slow down and deter as many of them as possible,” Abbott said on June 8. “Some may eventually get to the border where they are going to face that multilayered razor wire and a full force of National Guard and DPS officers.”
Locals told the Washington Examiner in June that they were optimistic about the idea of a maritime barrier but worried the measure was already too little too late.
The State of #Texas is taking historic action under Gov. @GregAbbott_TX’s Operation Lone Star to secure the border. Installation of the marine barrier began today in #EaglePass. The marine barrier will deter unlawful crossings & human smuggling, & prevent the loss of life due to… pic.twitter.com/4PYy25RDFr
— Chris Olivarez (@LtChrisOlivarez) July 10, 2023
The new barriers have not been welcomed by everyone on the border, however. A canoeing and kayaking company that uses the Rio Grande has sued the governor over the buoys.
“In his complaint, Fuentes said the buoy barrier system announced in June is causing ‘irreparable injury’ to his small business due to a boat ramp blockade, the ‘narrative’ that Eagle Pass is a dangerous community, the destruction of a tributary that served as the ‘main entrance to the end of (the company’s) river trips,’ and other problems, reports The Texan.
“Fuentes also argued Operation Lone Star is not a legitimate use of the Texas Disaster Act, which Abbott has invoked to declare states of emergency along the border. Illegal immigration is not an “imminent threat” that can be considered a disaster for the purposes of the law, Fuentes claimed.
The plaintiff also said state police and National Guardsman are targeting Hispanics and other minority groups. He argued the effort runs afoul of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Arizona v. United States, in which the court held that enforcement of immigration law falls strictly within the purview of the federal government.”
Of course, the shop owner went court shopping for his lawsuit. The outlet continues, “Fuentes filed the lawsuit in Travis County, widely regarded as one of the most progressive jurisdictions in Texas. According to his court documents, filing the suit in Travis County is mandated by state law. He filed the lawsuit as Texas began the process of delivering the buoys to the sites where they will be implemented.”
Illegal immigration by migrants from South America has become a crisis under Joe Biden’s leadership. In May, The New York Post reported that “over 73,000 migrants crossed the southern border in the last 10 days according to the US Border Patrol — who admitted a further 17,000 illegal “gotaways” avoided detection and entered the country as things reach a fever pitch.
Texas is not the only state that has begun to take matters into its own hands. Florida recently made headlines by announcing a crackdown on illegal immigrants using out-of-state driver’s licenses from
states that allow those in the country illegally to obtain a form of ID and license to drive.
Fox News explained, “DeSantis, who is also running for president in 2024, announced that the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles has published a list of out-of-state license classes that are now invalid in Florida.
That list targets certain licenses given to illegal immigrants in Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Rhode Island and Vermont. It does not apply to typical driver licenses, but those with certain limitations — including those that state they are “not for federal identification” are not REAL ID compliant or that are dubbed “limited purpose.”
The move is due to the passing of SB 1718, a sweeping anti-illegal immigration bill signed by DeSantis earlier this year and which includes provisions that bar licenses to illegal immigrants and makes licenses distributed exclusively to them illegal.”
In a statement, the Florida governor said, “Someone who is in our country illegally and has violated our laws should not possess a government-issued ID which allows them access to state-funded services and other privileges afforded to lawful residents.”
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