Rightwing governor Greg Abbott unveils new measures at US-Mexico border condemned by critics as ‘chilling’

Texas Gov. Abbott announced plans to install floating barriers in the middle of the Rio Grande to block migrants from reaching the U.S. side of the river.

Texas will deploy a floating barrier along the the Rio Grande River to deter migrants from entering the state, Gov. Gregg Abbott said.

Funding will come from $5.1 billion approved by the state legislature to secure the border.

Texas authorities will begin deploying chains of specially designed buoys down the middle of the Rio Grande to deter migrants from crossing illegally, Gov. Greg Abbott announced Thursday. Abbott broke the news at a ceremony at the Capitol,

Gov. Greg Abbott said the state will put a 1,000-foot string of buoys in the middle of the Rio Grande to deter migrants from entering the United States.

The chain of buoys along the Rio Grande is just the latest in a chain of gifts from the state to private contractors to fuel the governor’s manufactured crisis at the border,