Mexico Files Diplomatic Complaint Over Gov. Gregg Abbotts New Border Buoy Border Barrier

Mexico’s incoming secretary of foreign affairs, Alicia Bárcena, said Friday that Texas’ deployment of buoys on the Texas-Mexico border to prevent migrants from crossing the Rio Grande are a violation of water treaties between the U.S. and Mexico.

Texas has been installing the buoys over the past week, along with razor wire on the Rio Grande river near Eagle Pass.

Those measures are the latest in Gov. Greg Abbott’s aggressive border security initiative Operation Lone Star, which launched in March 2021. Abbott has also deployed the Texas National Guard, built new sections of border wall and bused more than 20,000 migrants from Texas to big cities led by Democrats.

The new barriers haven’t just ruffled diplomatic feathers. Jessie Fuentes, owner of Epi’s Canoe & Kayak Team, an Eagle Pass-based kayak rental business, has filed a lawsuit against Abbott and the Texas Department of Public Safety. The lawsuit alleges the installation of a buoy system had harmed his business and that Abbott did not have the authority to regulate cross-border traffic.