Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has come under fire after videos surfaced on social media showing the floating border barrier made of buoys with âcircular saw bladesâ on them.
Democratic Texas Reps. Sylvia Garcia and Joaquin Castro posted video footage of the 1,000-foot buoy barrier in the Rio Grande river, which Abbott revealed plans for in early June. The Department of Justice issued a lawsuit against Abbott on July 24 over the floating barrier, according to the Associated Press.
NPR confirmed in an article that there were âcircular saw bladesâ on the buoys, after Texas journalist David Martin Davies; host of the Eagle Pass talk show, Jessie Fuentes, and Democratic Texas Rep. Vikki Goodwin joined a âfact-finding kayak groupâ to see the buoy barrier.
âFarther down river, we reach the orange buoy barrier. It stretches out for more than three football fields in the middle of the Rio Grande,â Davies says of the expedition. âSwimming under the barrier is not an option. Itâs anchored to the shallow water with thick cables and concrete bases, and there are serrated metal plates that look like circular saw blades between each buoy to deter anyone from climbing over it.â
Garcia expressed dismay at the circular saw blades found between the buoys in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
âAppalled by the ongoing cruel and inhumane tactics employed byâ Abbott, she wrote in her post. âThe situationâs reality is unsettling as these buoysâ true danger and brutality come to light. We must stop this NOW!â
Castro shared a similar post on X, in which he uploaded a video of the buoy barrier he had seen.
âEveryone needs to see what I saw in Eagle Pass today,â Castro wrote. âClothing stuck on razor wire where families got trapped. Chainsaw devices in the middle of buoys. Land seized from US citizens.â
While many others, including 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson, expressed the usage of such blades was âdisgusting, immoral and illegal,â others pointed out why it was necessary.
Julio Rosas, a senior writer with Townhall, pointed out he didnât âsee Democrats rush down to Eagle Pass last yearâ before the construction of the buoy barrier, when âmigrants were drowning almost everyday.â
âDemocrats only care about the border crisis when there are attempts to stop and deter Illegal immigration,â Rosas wrote.
Associate Producer and writer with Fox News, Kyle Becker, questioned why the United States was âthe only country in the world thatâ was ânot allowed to defend its borders?â
âGot any good answer for me, Democrats?â Becker questioned.
âNot to sound like a âradical right-wing extremist,â but our tactics to keep people from illegally crossing our border needs to become more aggressive,â conservative political commentator Xaviaer DuRousseau wrote.
DuRousseau pointed out how people would never have the âcomfortability to illegally enter Syria.â
âSo why do we allow illegal aliens to infiltrate our country?â DuRousseau asked.
The focus on the circular saw blades on the buoys comes days after two dead bodies were found in the Rio Grande river. One of the bodies was found stuck between the lines of buoys, while the other was found in the vicinity of the buoy barrier, according to ABC News.
