HARLINGEN, Texas (Border Report) — Giant buoys will be used as barriers to be put in the Rio Grande in South Texas, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has confirmed.
The agency posted on its website Wednesday that the 80 miles of planned waterborne barrier will include buoys varying in size — from 4 to 6 feet in diameter — strung together for miles to stop illegal immigration from Mexico.
The flotation devices are similar to what Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in 2023 put in the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Texas. However, that state-funded string was only 1,000 feet long, cost relatively less at $1 million, and all of the orange buoys are 4-feet wide.
The new buoy barriers will total 80 miles and will include 17 miles from Brownsville, Texas, to the Gulf; and two more strings of 23 miles and 40 miles in the Border Patrol’s Del Rio Sector, near the border towns of Eagle Pass and Del Rio, Texas.
The Trump administration says this is part of its new “Smart Wall” border barrier plan that was funded by the Big Beautiful Bill.
“The Smart Wall means more miles of barriers, more technology, and more capability for our agents on the ground. This is how you take control of the border,” CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott said in a statement.
On Oct. 10, the Department of Homeland Security announced it has awarded $4.5 billion worth of contracts to build 230 new miles of border barrier along the Southwest border, including 80 miles of “waterborne barrier” to be installed in the Rio Grande in South Texas.
At the time, however, it was unclear what the waterborne barrier would include, despite repeated questions from Border Report to DHS officials.
A map and information on the agency’s website confirms buoys will be used and the 17 miles to be strung in the river in Cameron County will cost $96.1 million and will end just south of the SpaceX Starbase facility, according to a map on the agency’s website.
No construction has begun and the barrier is still in the planning phase, according to the website.
Altogether, the Trump administration plans to build 538 miles of waterborne barriers on the Southwest border, the agency says. However, 458 miles are planned and funded, but construction contracts have not yet been awarded.
Traditional border barrier bollards, as well as additional technology and special roadways also are part of new border barrier plans.
Funds are paid from the $46.5 billion appropriated by Congress in the Big Beautiful Bill for border barrier costs. President Donald Trump signed the bill into law on July 4.
The agency website says construction plans may vary and the map is to be updated weekly. However a note at the top indicates that under the current government shutdown: “Due to the lapse in federal funding, this website will not be actively managed.”
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.
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