AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) said Texas has moved a string of buoys in the Rio Grande further north in the water following pushback from the international water commission that the barrier had drifted onto the Mexico side of the river.
"Out of an abundance of caution, Texas went back and moved the buoys into a location where it is clear that they are on the United States side, not on the Mexico side," Abbott said during a press conference in Eagle Pass on Monday afternoon, where the buoys were installed last month.
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Flanked by four other Republican governors, Abbott doubled down that the state's installation of a 1,000-foot line of floating barrier was legal despite pushback from the Biden administration and Mexico.
"If you look at the treaty between the United States and Mexico, that treaty specifically references buoys as a device that can be allowed in these waters between the United States and Mexico," Abbott said.
Governors from across the country joined Abbott for an aerial tour of the border Monday and later gathered near the river to defend the state's military and police action at the border since early 2021.
Gov. Kim Reynolds (R-IA), chairwoman of the Republican Governors Association, said 25 states have sent a combined 1,600 troops and 330 police officers to the Texas border since President Joe Biden took office.
"U.S. governors are not going to stand idly by and see this disaster wreaked upon the United States, and that's why they have come here and why they are sending their personnel here," Abbott said. "And let me be clear: We are fully authorized by the Constitution of the United States of America to do exactly what we are doing, and that is to secure the border."
Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD) referred to Abbott as a "rock star" for stepping up to bolster border security as more than 6 million people have been encountered illegally entering the country since February 2021.
"What we're literally witnessing is a war zone," said Noem. "We absolutely have to show people that there's a different choice. And it literally is just enforcing the laws that we already have."
Gov. Jim Pillen (R-NE) made his first visit to the border with the group and described being shocked by what he saw.
"My one word of what I've experienced my first time here — my word is disbelief. Absolutely disbelief of the misrepresentation ... of the buoys," Pillen said. "I'm a pig, a pig farmer. It's hogwash. Pun intended — hogwash. The buoys are a deterrent. They don't cause a Band-Aid, and if they do, I say, 'What the heck. Stay on your side of the river.'"
Abbott did not answer a question about his GOP pick for president in 2024 but said it was imperative that the country replace Biden with a Republican.
"The country cannot suffer four more years under Joe Biden. America will be destroyed from within," Abbott said. "Thousands more of migrants will lose their lives, but the soul of America will be crushed."
Reynolds described her state as a border state despite its being 1,000 miles north of Eagle Pass. Reynolds said state law enforcement had seen a 500% increase in pounds of fentanyl seized since 2020 and that her state was prime smuggling territory for the drug cartels because it is located at the intersection of two major interstates. The drug seizures were in addition to more than 400 million pills containing fentanyl that Texas has seized since 2021.
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The Justice Department sued Biden in late July for placing the string of buoys in the river.
Abbott said in July that he envisioned expanding the line of buoys to more parts of the border. Former President Donald Trump's newly released border policy stated that, if elected, it would support Abbott's expansion of the buoys.