Re-post: Texas rolls out huge buoys across 1,000ft of the Rio Grande in desperate attempt to stem the flow of migrants from Mexico after end of Title 42

 From the Daily Mail.

• Governor Greg Abbott has begun his plan to create a 1,000-ft-long barrier made of four-foot-wide buoys chained together, with netting underneath
• The buoys are part of Abbott's mission to deter migrants from crossing the Rio Grande into his state
• Texas officials say the buoy barrier is not intended to be entirely impenetrable, but deter them from crossing
• Texas has installed giant buoys across the Rio Grande, creating a floating barrier in a desperate effort to stem migrant crossings.

• Construction of the 1,000-foot-long barrier begun on Friday in the town of Eagle Pass.
  Officials said the four-foot-wide orange buoys will be chained together to make the barrier, and netting will be placed underneath to prevent swimming below.Steve McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said it was never intended to be fully impassable, but it would certainly dissuade some.
  'There's ways to overcome it, but it takes great effort,' said McCraw last month. 'It takes specialized skills and equipment.' 
  The barrier is designed to form part of Operation Lone Star, which also encompasses bussing migrants to liberal states and authorizing the National Guard to make arrests.
  But even before the huge, orange buoys were unloaded from the trailers that hauled them to the border city of Eagle Pass, there were concerns over this part of Abbott's unprecedented challenge to the federal government's authority over immigration enforcement. 
  Migrant advocates voiced concerns about drowning risks and environmentalists questioned the impact on the river.
  Dozens of the large spherical buoys were stacked on the beds of four tractor trailers in a grassy city park near the river on Friday morning.

• A pandemic-era migration law, Title 42, expired on May 12, but its expiration has actually slowed the rate of crossings.

  Since May 12, the average number of daily illegal crossings has been around 3,360, according to Department of Homeland Security data. 

  In March 2022, it was 7,100.

  Under the new rules, migrants can apply for asylum before crossing, using a smartphone app. New processing centers for applications have opened in Haiti, Venezuela and Cuba. And those who are caught entering illegally will face a ban from the United States for five years.

  But the slowing of migrant crossings is not expected to last, because the underlying factors behind migration remain.

  As of June 14, there were about 104,000 migrants in northern Mexico, about eight hours from the U.S. border, according to an intelligence estimate the Biden administration gave in a recent court filing. 

  And there are more along the route from Colombia, where journeys typically begin in the Western Hemisphere. 

Full story here in Daily Mail.