Setback for Greg Abbott as Floating Migrant Barriers Fail

Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s flagship policy, Operation Lone Star, has encountered a setback after the failure of newly installed floating barriers designed to deter illegal entry into the U.S.

In a major bump for Abbott’s border security measures, the barriers had to be removed by local authorities after being in place for less than a week.

Governor Abbott’s press secretary Andrew Mahaleris said the buoy barriers were removed due to “construction issues.”

“New floating marine barriers were deployed in Eagle Pass last week before construction issues arose with the anchoring system. Additional materials are on the way, and the floating marine barriers will be expanded upon delivery,” Mahaleris said in a statement.

Newsweek has contacted the office of Governor Abbott by email for further information and the Texas Democratic Party.

Abbott had announced plans to expand the use of buoy barriers across the Rio Grande to deter migrants from unlawfully entering the U.S.

Speaking on the expansion of floating barriers, Mahaleris told Newsweek on November 20: “Texas deployed floating marine barriers last summer to help deter and repel illegal river crossings—these have been so successful that not a single migrant has attempted to cross over them.

“Despite the Biden Administration fighting us every step of the way, courts have ruled that Texas has the right to deploy floating marine barriers, and Texas is installing even more of these barriers to stop illegal immigration into our state. Until the federal government steps up and does its job to secure the border, Texas will continue utilizing every tool and strategy to respond to the border crisis and protect Texans.”

State crews have been surveying the area near Shelby Park along the river and plan to install barriers in high-traffic crossing zones as early as Wednesday, according to NewsNation.

“You can expect to see an increase of the buoys in the Rio Grande,” Abbott told NewsNation in August.

The decision to expand the floating barriers comes amid concerns over a potential increase in border crossings as President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration approaches.

Buoy barriers were initially deployed in 2023 as part of Operation Lone Star, an $11 billion program launched by Abbott in 2021 to tackle an increase in undocumented migrants in Texas.

Lone Star has spent $1 million on a 1,000-foot barrier on the Rio Grande near the Texas border town of Eagle Pass.

According to American Oversight, a nonpartisan watchdog, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) agreed to pay a supplier $850,000 for a “barrier buoy” between April and August, 2023.

Abbott has been in a long-running standoff with President Joe Biden’s administration over humanitarian concerns about border enforcement policies in Texas.

The Governor has expressed concern at what he views as inadequate federal action to address the surge in migrant crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border.

In June 2023, the Biden administration filed a lawsuit against Texas, claiming that the state had not obtained a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to construct the buoy barrier.

In July a federal appeals court ruled that floating barriers in the Rio Grande could remain but legal wrangling continues, with the Biden administration insisting that Texas’ use of buoys has violated the federal Rivers and Harbors Act.