Gov. Abbott's border buoys on Rio Grande face pushback

EAGLE PASS, Texas (Nexstar) — The state's latest attempt at deterring migrants from crossing the Rio Grande into the U.S. is being met by legal concerns from Congressional members to a local business owner who is already suing Texas over its deployment of buoys to the Texas-Mexico border.

Last week, Texas began installing the buoys and razor wire near Eagle Pass. In early June, Gov. Greg Abbott announced the initiative by using a natural disaster declaration, touting it as another strategy in his Operation Lone Star to prevent migrants from crossing. State leaders said in turn, the physical deterrent would hopefully lead to fewer migrant deaths related to drowning while swimming across the Rio Grande.

On Friday, the incoming secretary of foreign affairs for Mexico, Alicia Bárcena, said that the buoys violate various water treaties between Mexico and the United States. She told reporters that Mexico sent a letter to the U.S. in June, reminding federal leaders that Texas' flotation devices violate a 1944 water treaty. Bárcena said she intends to dispatch a team to inspect the Rio Grande, which will assess whether the barrier extends into the Mexican side of the border and might break the treaty, the Associated Press reported Friday.

Congressional pushback

Last Thursday, El Paso Congresswoman Veronica Escobar sent a letter to the Department of Justice and Department of State expressing safety and environmental concerns about the buoys. The letter, signed by seven other Democratic delegates from Texas, went on to echo Mexico's concerns that the flotation devices violate international water agreements.

"Governor Abbott’s installation of floating barriers in the Rio Grande to deter migrant crossings is yet another dangerous stunt that prioritizes political posturing over the safety and well-being of both Texans and migrants,” the lawmakers wrote. “Instead of notifying and collaborating with the appropriate federal agencies...Governor Abbott continues to undermine the federal government by misusing state resources to interfere with federal immigration and security responsibilities."

Legal pushback

Jessie Fuentes, a local business owner in Eagle Pass, is the first to sue Abbott and the state of Texas over the floating barriers. Fuentes, who owns Epi’s Canoe & Kayak Team, filed a suit last Friday asking a court to remove the buoys, citing they will cause halt his business by preventing him to give tours on the Rio Grande, causing “imminent and irreparable harm.”

His attorney, Carlos Evaristo Flores, said already since the installment, Fuentes has had to cancel tours.

"The ramp that's used to access the river is blocked, they can't use it now… there's concertina wire all along this area," Flores said. "If you're a tourist who's looking to maybe have a nice adventure on the river, I'm not sure you want to feel like you're floating down a war zone."

Fuentes is also challenging Abbott's authority to place these buoys in the river.

"The governor should not be allowed to build barriers in places like the Rio Grande without really doing the necessary things to figure out whether one is going to be effective to whether it's legal and three, whether or not, you know, he has the authority to do it," his attorney said.

A spokesperson for the U.S. International Boundaries and Water Commission told Nexstar as of Monday that the governor's office still has not reached out about the barrier project or tried to get a permit.

“Our door is always open to discussions with Texas and we have recently shared information with them about our permitting process and federal law. We are studying what Texas is publicly proposing to determine whether and how this impacts our mission to carry out treaties between the US and Mexico regarding border delineation, flood control, and water distribution, which includes the Rio Grande," IBWC said in a statement.

Nexstar reached out to the governor's office for comment but has not heard back yet. Abbott, however, responded to the lawsuit on his social media saying he intends to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary and that, "Texas has the constitutional right to secure our border."