Trump administration now wants a floating border wall to seal off waterways along Mexico boundary

By Nick Miroff
8/14/2020, 9:49:00 a.m.

The Trump administration wants to install floating border barriers that could be used to wall off river crossings and reservoirs along the international boundary with Mexico or extend U.S. fencing deeper into the sea, according to a new market solicitation posted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The Buoy Barrier System described in a new federal contracting bulletin seeks information from private companies capable of installing a system that could meet U.S. Customs and Border Protection requirements. Such a barrier would need to prevent swimmers from climbing onto it “and must include a component (such as an anti-dive mesh) that would impede incursions and/or breaching via underwater diving while minimizing debris buildup,” the solicitation states.

President Trump’s $15 billion border wall project includes about 275 miles of newly completed barriers thus far, and Department of Homeland Security officials say they are on track to finish another 175 miles by the end of the year. The floating barriers described in the contracting bulletin would be in addition to those on dry land.

Such floating barriers or river-based deterrents could allow the U.S. government to block migrants from fording waters along stretches of the Rio Grande where it is difficult or impossible to build steel barriers on the shoreline. It also could provide the U.S. government a way to install some form of a barrier in areas of Texas where private owners have resisted efforts at eminent domain seizures or proposals to build structures and roadways on their properties.

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