From the editorial staff
The newspaper La Jornada
Thursday, August 29, 2024, p. 26
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, said he plans to expand buoy barriers along the Rio Grande as part of his strategy to stem the influx of undocumented migrants, but he said he is waiting for a court to give the green light to the project.
In an interview with NewsNation, Abbott defended the buoys as one of the most effective ways to deter migrants from trying to cross from Mexico into Texas, noting that the cost is one tenth of a border wall.
Let’s look at the timeline, because you’ll remember that Joe Biden put in place his so-called executive order in which he helped close the border in June, but if we go back and look at when the crossings started to decrease, that was more than half a year earlier, last December, after Texas had begun operations to deny entry to undocumented immigrants, using the National Guard, barbed wire, and the shooting of pepper balls.Abbott said.
He added that What really caused the decline was the solid and comprehensive Texas strategy. Biden simply came along and took advantage of our success..
Abbott was referring to the executive order signed by Biden last June restricting the right to asylum. Three weeks after it came into effect, the number of migrants intercepted at the US-Mexico border fell by 40 percent.
The order includes exceptions such as minors traveling alone, victims of some form of severe trafficking, migrants with a visa, and those arriving at a port of entry through legal means such as the CBP One mobile app.
In addition to enabling the closure of the border, the decree tightens standards for examining asylum applications and encourages expedited deportations.
Just over a year ago, Governor Abbott spent $850,000 on a 1,000-foot-long buoy barrier that would be anchored in concrete along the Rio Grande, in the waters between Eagle Pass, Texas, and Piedras Negras, Mexico.
The series of concrete-anchored buoys stretches roughly the length of three football fields at one of the busiest points for irregular border crossings, NewsNation recalled.
The Justice Department has asked a federal court to order Texas to remove the buoys, arguing that the water barrier raises humanitarian and environmental concerns along the international border, sparking a legal battle between state and federal officials.
The buoys were installed as part of Abbott’s border control initiative called Operation Lone Star.
