Greg Abbott defies Joe Biden’s orders in Texas border dispute

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has vowed to defy federal agencies that have ordered him to remove structures from Fronton Island, in the Rio Grande between the United States and Mexico, and return it to its original state.

Governor Abbott made the pledge in a letter sent to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on September 9th after the U.S. branch of the International Boundary and Water Commission (USIBWC) directed the Texas General Land Office (GLO) to return Fronton Island to its “pre-construction condition.”

Governor Abbott launched Operation Lone Star in 2021 to prevent illegal border crossings from Mexico into Texas. As part of the operation, the Texas National Guard and law enforcement have erected barbed wire fences and other barriers along the border and floated buoys on the Rio Grande River to make crossing more difficult. Governor Abbott has clashed with the Biden administration on multiple occasions over Operation Lone Star, and in January asserted Texas’ “right to self-defense” after the Supreme Court ruled that federal agents could remove barbed wire installed along the border at the governor’s order.

According to Abbott, on April 30, the USIBWC instructed the GLO to “restore Fronton Island to its pre-construction condition.” The federal agency said the GLO “constructed two pile bridges,” “installed accordion wire,” and “removed vegetation on the property.” The agency suggested that these constructions could alter the course of the Rio Grande River in violation of a 1970 treaty that resolved an outstanding boundary dispute and maintained the Rio Grande and Colorado rivers as the international boundary between Mexico and the United States. The USIBWC also suggested that Texas authorities had trespassed on federal land as part of the operation.

GLO fired back in May, denying that it had “engaged in any construction activities” and arguing that the site in question is owned by the state, not the federal government.

The USIBWC is the U.S. branch of the International Boundary and Water Commission, an agency established by the Mexican and U.S. governments to regulate the border, and is run by the Department of State.

In October, Texas authorities moved to secure Fronton Island, accusing the island of being used as a base by criminal gangs. In a letter, Governor Abbott said authorities were “removing obstacles, including dense vegetation and structures believed to be criminally constructed,” and erecting a barbed wire fence to “gain operational control” of the island.

“The International Boundary and Water Commission maintains that Fronton Island is federal property and that the State of Texas is operating without our permission,” a spokesperson for the US branch of the International Boundary and Water Commission told Newsweek.

“Our responsibility under a 1970 treaty with Mexico is to monitor construction along the Rio Grande floodplain to ensure the safety of communities, the flow of the river, and the maintenance of our border with Mexico. We again request that Texas meet with us to discuss the project it is planning on lands under our jurisdiction.”

Newsweek reached out via email to the White House Press Office and to Abbott.

“For years, drug cartels have ‘randomized’ the ‘dense jungles’ and ‘bullet-riddled structures’ along Fronton Island’s rivers, plotting trespassing, surveilling state and federal law enforcement, hiding weapons, planting explosives, evading arrest, and waging open war against rival cartels and state and federal officials,” Abbott said in the letter.

He added: “In one incident, cited below, authorities found ‘six assault rifles, one grenade launcher, one rocket launcher, 20 magazines for weapons of various sizes, and three boxes of suspected C-4 plastic explosives’ hidden on an island. In another incident, Texas soldiers found an improvised explosive device ‘buried amongst a pile of weapons and semi-automatic rifle ammunition.'”

Abbott said cartel activity on Fronton Island, including the presence of explosives, may have threatened the flow of the Rio Grande, but not the subsequent actions of Texas authorities.

“For many years, violence has ravaged Fronton Island. Texas protected the island from the drug cartels,” the governor added in a post on Twitter.

“The Biden-Harris Administration is now demanding that Fronton Island be returned to its previous state. Today, I told Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris that Texas will not comply.”

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Updated 3 a.m. Sept. 11, 2024: This story has been updated with comment from a spokesperson for the U.S. chapter of the International Boundary and Water Commission.