To deter undocumented immigration in early July of 2023, the State of Texas constructed a 304.8 meters (1,000 foot) line of buoys in the middle of the Rio Grande at Eagle Pass, Texas without first consulting the city, the federal government, or the USACE. Buoy construction followed the placement of other federal and state fence sections including movable rail car containers along the channel banks and the takeover of the city owned Shelby Park. Previous flood modeling the impact of fence sections shows that the fencing will cause water depth and velocity within the channel to increase as a result of the channelization of flow that these floodplain obstructions cause.
However, the placement of the buoys directly in the channel has the potential to cause additional alterations in flow conditions, likely diverting water, changing sediment deposition, and causing unpredictable erosion patterns along the channel banks. Field work including sediment sampling, drone flights, and velocity measurements show changing river conditions and sediment patterns at the buoys including the formation of a bar that, at times, has developed vegetation growth. In addition, each layer of fence, including the buoys, has the potential to alter migration pathways and increase injuries and casualties. The policies that resulted in the placement of the buoys and the overtaking of Shelby Park in Eagle Pass are an interesting study in the interplay between local and state politics and river processes.