Greg Abbott Says Texas ‘Won’t Back Down’ After Migrant Buoy Barrier Win

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has vowed the state “won’t back down” and that controversial floating buoys placed in the Rio Grande to deter illegal immigration “are staying in place.”
The governor made the comment in a post on X, formerly Twitter, Wednesday, which he accompanied with a GIF showing a line of the red buoys which are interspaced with metal discs.
The buoys were first installed in 2023 as part of Operation Lone Star, a scheme Abbott launched in 2021, in a bid to combat irregular migration from Mexico into Texas. Under the program thousands of National Guard soldiers have been sent to patrol the border and install razor wire fencing, and other obstacles, to obstruct unauthorized crossings.
However the federal government launched legal action in a bid to get the buoys removed, arguing they violated the Rivers and Harbors Appropriations Act of 1899 by blocking a “navigable water of the United States.” Texan authorities have insisted the Rio Grande isn’t navigable according to stipulations set out in the legislation.
Legal filings from the federal government also claimed the buoys were damaging U.S.-Mexico relations and had been installed without the required permission from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
In his X post Abbott said: “The Fifth Circuit recently ruled in favor of keeping Texas’ floating marine barriers in the Rio Grande. Texas won’t back down. The buoys are staying in place.”
The ruling Abbott is referring to was made by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in July, which struck down a lower court decision which granted the federal government a preliminary injunction ordering the buoys to be removed.
In response Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said: “The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in Texas’ favor, finding that the federal district court abused its discretion when it ordered Texas to remove the buoys floating in the Rio Grande that prevent aliens from attempting a dangerous river crossing to enter America illegally.
“The buoys can remain in the river. I will continue to defend Texas’ right to protect its border from illegal immigration!”
Abbott did not cite a more recent threat to his scheme in his post on X.
Newsweek contacted Abbott and the White House press office for comment on Thursday via email outside of regular office hours.
On Wednesday Abbott also announced on X that a new surveillance truck had joined Operation Lone Star and was now active along the Texas-Mexico border.
He wrote: “Texas has deployed the Modular Mobile Surveillance System—an all-terrain truck—to help secure the border.
“Operation Lone Star utilizes every tool and strategy to protect our state and our nation.”
The post was accompanied by three photographs showing a surveillance device on the top of a Texas National Guard pickup truck, with two soldiers monitoring screens inside.
Speaking to NewsNation at the end of August Abbott claimed his border control measures were working following the publication of U.S. Customs and Border Protection showing the number of suspected illegal migrant encounters in July 2024 for Texas was 104,116, down from 183,479 over the same month last year.
He said: “It was the robust, comprehensive approach by Texas that actually led to the decline. Biden just happened to come in and stepped and rode on our coattails.”
However speaking to Newsweek Yael Schacher, director for the Americas and Europe Contents at Refugees International, argued changes in U.S. and Mexican government policy were primarily responsible.
She said: “The drop in encounters at the border began at the beginning of this year because of increased Mexican enforcement and then dropped again because of the Biden administration’s border proclamation and regulation in June.”