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In addition to the border infrastructure funded by President Trump’s One Big Beautify Bill, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced plans to quickly install 17 miles of floating border barrier in the Texas Rio Grande Valley. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem signed a waiver on Thursday to ensure the construction of the barrier is not impeded by environmental regulations.
According to DHS, the waterborne barrier will be constructed in the Rio Grande in Cameron County, Texas within the U.S. Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Valley Sector. Bids for the RGV Waterborne Barrier Project have been solicited and the project is planned for funding award before the end of Fiscal Year 2025 in September.
Funding for the project will come from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Fiscal Year 2021 appropriations. Secretary Noem signed five other regulatory waivers since President Trump’s inauguration that allow infrastructure projects, including border wall projects to proceed swiftly and avoid lengthy environmental surveys.
The San Antonio Express-News called the order from Secretary Kristi Noem the continued “militarization of the southern border.”
The water-borne buoy barrier is not a new concept along the Texas/Mexico border. As reported by – Texas, in July 2023, Texas Governor Abbott began installation of the buoy barriers in Eagle Pass, Texas. At the time, the small border city was the epicenter of the Biden border crisis and remained one of the busiest areas for illegal border crossings for more than a year.
Abbott’s project was opposed by a small group of open border activists who staged a protest along the Rio Grande in the small border city. As reported by – Texas, about two dozen protesters chanted and unfurled signs critical of Abbott’s border buoy project on the day materials for the barrier project.
In addition to the small outcry of a few protesters, the Texas buoy project was met with legal action filed by the Biden administration. At one point in the legal wrangling between Abbott and then President Biden, a federal appeals court ordered the barrier removed from the Rio Grande.
The court ruling was quickly overturned when the full court issued a stay in a 10-7 vote that allowed the floating border barrier to remain delivering a victory for the Texas governor.
The border buoy project announced by DHS will be the first water-borne barrier project undertaken by the Trump administration. According to DHS, the project will eliminate a capability gap that has been identified in the waterways along the Southwest border where drug smuggling, human trafficking and other dangerous and illegal activity occurs.
The department asserts the project will create a safer border environment for patrolling agents as well as serving to deter illegal border crossings within the dangerous waterways.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Before his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @RandyClarkBBTX.
