Texas Governor Greg Abbott has vowed to defy a federal government agency that has instructed him to remove constructions from Fronton Island, situated in the Rio Grande between the United States and Mexico, and restore it to its original condition.
Abbott made the pledge on September 9 in a letter sent to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris after the U.S. Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission (USIBWC) told the Texas General Land Office (GLO) to restore Fronton Island to “pre-construction conditions.”
In 2021, Abbott launched Operation Lone Star in a bid to prevent illegal border crossings from Mexico into Texas. As part of the program, Texas National Guard soldiers and law enforcement have constructed razor wire fencing and other barriers along the border and have floated buoys in the Rio Grande to make it harder to cross. Abbott has repeatedly clashed with the Biden administration over Operation Lone Star, and in January, he invoked Texas’ “right to self-defense” after the Supreme Court ruled that federal agents could remove razor wire installed along the border on his orders.
According to Abbott, on April 30, the USIBWC instructed the GLO to “return [Fronton Island] to preconstruction conditions.” The federal agency said the GLO had “built two sediment bridges,” “placed concertina wire” and “cleared vegetation” on the site. The agency suggested these constructions could alter the Rio Grande’s flow in violation of a 1970 treaty to resolve pending boundary differences and maintain the Rio Grande and Colorado River as the international boundary between Mexico and the United States. USIBWC also suggested that Texan authorities had trespassed on federal land as part of their operation.
The GLO responded in May, denying it had “engaged in construction activities” and insisting that the state owned the site in question, not the federal government.
USIBWC is the American section of the International Boundary and Water Commission, a body formed by the governments of Mexico and the U.S. to regulate their shared border, and it is run by the State Department.
Andrew Harnik/Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/GETTY
In October, Texan authorities moved to secure Fronton Island after saying criminal cartels were using it as a base. Abbott said in his letter that the authorities “proceeded to clear obstructions—including dense vegetation and structures seemingly built by the cartels” and erected razor-wire fencing to “gain operational control” of the island.
Newsweek contacted the U.S. Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission for comment via telephone and voicemail message outside regular office hours and the White House press office and Abbott via email.
In his letter, Abbott said that “for years, the cartels were ‘running rampant’ in Fronton Island’s ‘thick vegetation’ and ‘bullet-pocked structures’ along the river to stage illegal entries, surveil state and federal law enforcement, stash weapons, plant explosives, evade apprehension, and engage in open warfare against rival cartels and against state and federal officers.”
He added: “On one occasion recounted in the citations below, authorities found ‘six assault rifles, a grenade launcher, a rocket launcher, 20 ammunition magazines for various-sized weapons and three packages of what appeared to be C-4 plastic explosives’ hidden on the Island. On another, Texas soldiers found an improvised explosive device ‘buried amid a stash of weapons and semi-automatic rifle ammunition.'”
Abbott said the cartel activity on Fronton Island, including the presence of explosives, could have threatened the Rio Grande’s flow, not the subsequent actions of Texan authorities.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the governor added: “For years, Fronton Island was overrun with violence. Texas secured it against the cartels.
“The Biden-Harris Admin now demands that Fronton Island return to its prior condition. Today, I told Biden & Harris that Texas will not comply.”
For years, Fronton Island was overrun with violence.
Texas secured it against the cartels.
The Biden-Harris Admin now demands that Fronton Island return to its prior condition.
Today, I told Biden & Harris that Texas will not comply.
Read more: https://t.co/q6FAhHaNPD pic.twitter.com/suXykeg3Eo
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) September 9, 2024
