When Texas installed floating buoy barriers in the Rio Grande, critics rushed to condemn the move as extreme, dangerous, and inhumane. Activists staged protests. Democrats issued press releases. The Biden Department of Justice sued.
Now, just a few years later, the federal government is deploying the very same deterrent Texas pioneered.
Under Greg Abbott, Texas took unprecedented action to defend its border through Operation Lone Star. The buoy barriers installed near Eagle Pass were never intended to be punitive. They were designed as a deterrent — a visible, physical signal that illegal crossings between ports of entry would not be tolerated.
The Rio Grande is not a benign body of water. It is unpredictable, fast-moving, and dangerous. Discouraging people from attempting to cross it illegally is not cruelty — it is common sense.
Open-border activists and progressive lawmakers immediately labeled the buoys as “inhumane,” ignoring the reality that deterrence prevents far more harm than it causes. Mexico lodged diplomatic complaints. Advocacy groups accused Texas of valuing enforcement over lives.
But deterrence is a humanitarian policy when it stops people from risking their lives in the first place.
The Biden administration, through the U.S. Department of Justice, sued Texas, arguing the state lacked federal permission to place the buoys in navigable waters. A lower court briefly ordered their removal, but Texas appealed and ultimately prevailed procedurally.
The Fifth Circuit allowed the buoys to remain while litigation continued, affirming that Texas had a legitimate interest in border security when the federal government abdicated its responsibility.
Fast-forward to today. Under a new administration, the Department of Homeland Security has announced plans to deploy buoy barriers along large stretches of the Rio Grande.
In other words: Texas was right.
Illegal immigration is not an abstract debate—it has real consequences. According to recent federal enforcement data, hundreds of individuals faced border-related charges in the Southern District of Texas in just the final weeks of 2025 alone. Those cases include illegal entry, repeat reentry after deportation, and human smuggling.
This is not a crisis of compassion. It is a crisis of enforcement.
Buoy barriers are not a silver bullet—but they are a safe, visible, and effective deterrent that works as part of a layered border strategy. They discourage dangerous crossings, support law enforcement, and reinforce the rule of law.
Texas acted when Washington refused to. Texas endured lawsuits and outrage for doing so.
And now Washington is following Texas’ lead.
That’s not extremism. That’s leadership.
Border security is not optional. And deterrence, done responsibly, is not cruelty. It’s policy grounded in reality.
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