Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Deputy Secretary Troy Edgar toured portions of the southwest border near Brownsville, Texas, on Tuesday alongside Acting Deputy Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection Ron Vitiello. Edgar took to social media after the visit, touting the impact of infrastructure projects funded by the “One Big Beautiful Bill” (OBBB) on border security.
The tour along the Rio Grande near Brownsville included a visit to sites where newly installed border surveillance technology and border security infrastructure had been recently installed. In a social media post on X by Edgar, the DHS Deputy Secretary highlighted the current construction of 536 miles of waterborne barriers in the Rio Grande, saying, “These stop drugs and illegal crossings — keeping our country safe. This is just one tool we have to keep dangerous criminals and illicit narcotics out of the U.S.”
Edgar shared photos of the tour showing a line of orange cylindrical buoys floating in the Rio Grande, designed to keep people and narcotics from illegally crossing into the United States. As reported by Breitbart Texas, the installation of the buoys in Texas began in early 2026. Currently, more than 15 miles have been placed into the border waterway near Brownsville. Most buoys that remain to be installed will be placed in the Rio Grande in other parts of Texas.
The buoys shown in the photos provided by Deputy Secretary Edgar are different from those placed in Eagle Pass. The current buoy project consists of 15-foot-long cylindrical buoys, rather than the smaller round buoys that Texas Governor Greg Abbott installed in Eagle Pass during the Biden Administration.
As reported by Breitbart Texas, in July 2023, Texas Governor Abbott began installing buoy barriers in Eagle Pass, Texas. At the time, the small border city was the epicenter of the Biden border crisis and remained one of the busiest areas for illegal border crossings for more than a year.
Abbott’s project was opposed by a small group of open border activists who staged a protest along the Rio Grande in the small border city. The Texas buoy project was met with legal action filed by the Biden administration. At one point in the legal wrangling between Abbott and then President Biden, a federal appeals court ordered the barrier removed from the Rio Grande.
The court ruling was quickly overturned when the full court issued a stay in a 10-7 vote that allowed the floating border barrier to remain, delivering a victory for the Texas governor, paving the way for President Trump’s OBBB-funded buoy project to be rapidly installed in the Rio Grande.
CBP Acting Deputy Commissioner Vitiello touted the results from the latest border security infrastructure deployments in Brownsville, announcing on social media, “The front line delivered: there’s a 99% reduction in illegal crossings in Brownsville, TX!”
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Before his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @RandyClarkBBTX.
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