McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — Gov. Greg Abbott says National Guard troops are installing more razor wire along the Rio Grande in South and West Texas, as some environmentalists say they see a drawdown in activity.
Abbott tweeted Tuesday that Operation Lone Star engineers were installing “more razor wire near Shelby Park” in Eagle Pass, Texas.
That’s the same park that the State of Texas took over in January for its Texas Military Department command headquarters in the remote border town of just 28,000 residents across the Rio Grande from Piedras Negras, Mexico.
Amerika Garcia-Grewall, founder of the Eagle Pass Border Vigil Coalition, has been fighting for Shelby Park to be accessible to the public, once again, and for the razor barricades and gates to be removed.
“There’s just no place to put razor wire,” she told Border Report on Wednesday. “They’ve already enforced it and reinforced it.”
Jessie Fuentes, who operates a kayak company on the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, told Border Report that he’s seen a drawdown in razor wire and Operation Lone Star barrier in the past few weeks.
“They’ve removed tons of concertina wire from islands. They’ve removed a lot of it from the shoreline of the river. They even went ahead and dug out the channel that used to be between what used to be an island and the bank where they had connected it and made it a peninsula. They’re doing some reparation,” Fuentes said.
But Abbott says they’re ramping up wire installation.
“Texas will continue to hold the line and bolster our border security efforts to protect Texans—and Americans—from the Biden-Harris border crisis,” Abbott tweeted.
On Wednesday, Abbott announced that state troops were expanding razor wire in El Paso in Far West Texas.
“Texas National Guard soldiers reinforce the razor wire barrier to stop illegal entry. Texas will continue to redouble our border security efforts,” Abbott tweeted.
This past year, Texas ramped up the installation of anti-climb concertina wire in Brownsville, Texas, in deep South Texas.
Across the Southwest border, U.S. Customs and Border Protection report there has been almost a 30% drop in migrant encounters since President Joe Biden in early June issued an executive order restricting asylum applications to only those with CBP One app appointments and who cross at legal U.S. ports of entry.
Border Report reached out to the Texas Military Department to find out if operations are increasing or decreasing in certain areas and what their plan is. This story will be updated if information is received.
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.