Overview
- The federal plan would place floating barriers along about 536 miles of the Rio Grande from the Gulf of Mexico into South Texas.
- At a Laredo City Council meeting, residents called the project a threat to low-income neighborhoods and local safety.
- Customs and Border Protection says the system is engineered to handle a 100-year flood and higher currents.
- Scientists warn the buoys could block natural flow and raise flood risk because short cables and chains tie them to concrete blocks on the riverbed.
- DHS waived environmental laws to speed installation, and the far larger effort than the 2023 Eagle Pass pilot has been described as a billion-dollar project.