Former Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott said “chainsaw devices” on Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s floating buoy barrier are meant to prevent climbing and were previously tested by the federal government in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation Thursday.
Scott, who served during the Trump administration and for a short stint under President Joe Biden, said Border Patrol tested different kinds of buoy barriers and that what appear to be blades are known as “passive radial discs” that make people trying to traverse them “uncomfortable” without injury. Democratic Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro posted a video from the barriers in Eagle Pass, Texas, Tuesday calling the discs “chainsaw devices” used for Texas’ “barbaric” operation. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Tim Scott Releases Campaign Ad Pledging To ‘Unleash’ Military On ‘Terrorist’ Cartels)
“When I was Chief, USBP tested numerous variations of buoy barrier features to include what some are calling a ‘saw’ blade,” Scott said. “It is actually called a passive radial disc. It is an anti-climb deterrent and was tested by USBP in 2020 and determined to be passive and make climbers uncomfortable but would not break skin or injure a person,” Scott told the DCNF.
“During testing, USBP personnel jumped on top of it from different platforms without issue. The teeth were designed to avoid injuring illegal aliens,” Scott said.
In early June, Abbott announced he would erect the floating buoy barrier in the Rio Grande River to deter illegal immigration.
Everyone needs to see what I saw in Eagle Pass today.
Clothing stuck on razor wire where families got trapped. Chainsaw devices in the middle of buoys. Land seized from US citizens.
Operation Lone Star is barbaric — and @GovAbbott is making border communities collateral damage. pic.twitter.com/PzKyZGWfds
— Joaquin Castro (@JoaquinCastrotx) August 8, 2023
Authorities found one dead body in Abbott’s barrier Aug. 2. Texas DPS Director Steve McCraw said the deceased individual was believed to have drowned “upstream from the marine barrier” and later floated into the buoys, in a previous statement to the DCNF.
Another was found near the barrier, the Mexican government told ABC News Aug. 3.
Appalled by the ongoing cruel and inhumane tactics employed by @GovAbbott at the Texas border. The situation’s reality is unsettling as these buoys’ true danger and brutality come to light. We must stop this NOW! pic.twitter.com/XPc4C8Tnl0
— Rep. Sylvia Garcia (@RepSylviaGarcia) August 8, 2023
Democratic Texas Rep. Sylvia Garcia said the buoys posed a “true danger and brutality,” in a video from Eagle Pass posted Tuesday.
Abbott’s office hit back against “false information” about the barriers, in a statement to the DCNF.
“President Lopez Obrador and Democrats spreading false information that Texas’ marine barriers caused any death are flat-out wrong. Where was this outrage from Democrats when President Biden’s reckless open border policies encouraged migrants to make the dangerous and illegal trek across the border, ultimately taking the lives of over 850 migrants last year?” Abbott spokesman Andrew Mahaleris said.
“These marine barriers help deter illegal river crossings, redirecting migrants to use one of the 29 international bridges on the Texas-Mexico border where they can safely and legally cross. No one drowns on a bridge,” Mahaleris said.
Regarding the structural purpose behind the bladed plates, Mahaleris referred the DCNF to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), which didn’t respond to a request for comment. Cochrane, the company contracted for Abbott’s buoy barrier, also didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The Biden administration sued Abbott on July 24 over the buoys, arguing that they violate parts of the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act of 1899 for allegedly obstructing navigable waters and allegedly flouting approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
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