Texas prepares to deploy Rio Grande buoys in governor’s latest effort to curb border crossings

By VALERIE GONZALEZ and ACACIA CORONADO
Associated Press

EAGLE PASS, Texas (AP) — Texas has started rolling out what is set to become a new floating barrier on the Rio Grande. The state’s move on Friday is the latest escalation of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s multibillion-dollar effort to secure the U.S. border with Mexico. It already has included bussing migrants to liberal states and authorizing the National Guard to make arrests. But even before the huge, orange buoys were unloaded from the trailers in the border city of Eagle Pass, there were concerns over this part of Abbott’s unprecedented challenge to the federal government’s authority over immigration enforcement. Migrant advocates voiced concerns about drowning risks and environmentalists questioned the impact on the river.