In a letter to President Biden, Texas Gov. Abbott defended his state’s placement of a floating barrier in the Rio Grande that is intended to deter migrant crossings.
The Justice Department, in its letter to Abbott on Friday, said the river buoys also violate theMigrants trying to enter the U.S. from Mexico approach the site where workers are assembling large buoys to be used as a border barrier along the banks of the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Texas, on July 11, 2023.
“Neither of us wants to see another death in the Rio Grande River,” Abbott wrote. “Yet your open-border policies encourage migrants to risk their lives by crossing illegally through the water, instead of safely and legally at a port of entry. Nobody drowns on a bridge.”Brandon Bell / Getty Images A spokesperson for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The DOJ's Friday letter asked Texas to respond by 2 p.m. ET on Monday indicating the state's commitment to “expeditiously remove” the buoys. If Texas did not provide such a response, “the United States intends to file legal action,” the letter"Texas will fully utilize its constitutional authority to deal with the crisis you have caused," Abbott said.
Michael Mitsanas is a Los Angeles-based journalist. His reporting has appeared in The Diplomat Asia Pacific, NBC News, NBC OUT, NBC News NOW, and MSNBC.
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