Staff Reports
In a surprising twist of fate, the Biden-Harris administration, which was previously all aboard the “let’s-keep-the-buoy-barriers-out-of-the-Rio-Grande” train, seems to have inadvertently inspired the very solution it initially resisted. Democrat Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas, representing a border district, has stepped forward to claim credit for the idea of floating water barriers intended to manage illegal immigration. This revelation raises eyebrows, considering Cuellar’s party has spent much of its time kicking and screaming against border security measures.
Cuellar recently shared with Newsweek that he pitched the buoy barrier concept to Border Patrol long before Operation Lone Star became a household name in Texas. His idea was to avoid the wall that Republicans have rallied behind, suggesting instead that barriers in the river would keep illegal migrants from easily claiming asylum by merely dipping their toes in the water. Apparently, Cuellar’s innovative thinking got sidelined by countless bureaucratic foot-dragging, which is par for the course in this administration.
Contrary to Cuellar’s attempts at heroism on the issue, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has taken the spotlight for successfully implementing these barriers under Operation Lone Star, which kick-started in March 2021. Abbott has not only sought to arrest hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants but has also relocated tens of thousands of them to various sanctuary cities—because what’s a little chaos in blue areas, right? He has pushed for the expansion of buoy barriers, showing that when it comes to tackling the border crisis, Texas is willing to think outside the (wall) box.
Biden-Harris DOJ Spent A Year Battling Texas Over Its Border Buoys. Democrat Claims Barriers Were His Idea https://t.co/NVHKefVPwO via @dailycaller
— Carol RN *Miss Rush & the Gipper* 👩⚕️🇺🇸 🇮🇱🦈 (@pasqueflower19) December 3, 2024
Eagle Pass, Texas, has become the perfect exhibit of how the Democrats’ policies have backfired, leading to an ongoing immigration disaster vulnerable to critique even from within their own ranks. Cuellar, notably a rare moderate among House Democrats, even joined a small group of his party members in expressing disdain for the Biden administration’s immigration handling. This is especially wild given that he now wants to stand tall, patting himself on the back for an idea that the left once dismissed.
As Abbott continues to defend the buoy barriers from the federal government’s flimsy legal challenges, the Texas governor has scored a significant win with a court decision allowing him to keep the barriers intact. The Biden administration’s apparent desire to have these barriers removed seems at odds with any rational for securing the border, leaving many to scratch their heads in disbelief. With the Trump administration poised for a return, promising an immigration crackdown with a focus on enhanced border security, the Biden-Harris team might want to check their inventory of ideas before passing off Cuellar’s concept as an afterthought. After all, in Texas, being on the right side of a buoy can make all the difference.
