LAREDO, Texas — Laredo is the latest area of the Texas-Mexico border to see new barriers go up.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) confirmed to Spectrum News that the federal government began installing a 50-mile stretch of buoys in the Rio Grande near the city on Monday, May 4.
On the same day, Laredo city leaders decided to pay for a study on how border barriers could affect flooding and drinking water. Laredo depends fully on the Rio Grande for drinking water.
Laredo Mayor Victor Treviño says the results of the study will be shared with CBP in hopes of a compromise that protects the border and the city’s only water source.
“We are in this thing together. The federal government has a mandate, and we have issues here that have to be mitigated,” Treviño said. “We’re able to provide this information to them so they can make better decisions.”
The use of buoys in the Rio Grande is not new. The state of Texas launched several more than two years ago as part of Operation Lone Star.
The group to conduct the study in Laredo has not yet been chosen.