Greg Abbott defies Joe Biden's order in Texas border dispute

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has announced that he will defy a federal agency's order to remove structures from Fronton Island in the Rio Grande between the United States and Mexico and restore the island to its original state.

Abbott made the commitment in a letter to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on September 9, after the U.S. section of the International Boundary and Water Commission (USIBWC) called on the Texas General Land Office (GLO) to restore Fronton Island to its “pre-construction condition.”

In 2021, Abbott launched Operation Lone Star to prevent illegal border crossings from Mexico into Texas. Under the program, Texas National Guard soldiers and law enforcement officers have erected barbed wire fences and other barriers along the border and floated buoys in the Rio Grande to make crossing more difficult. Abbott has repeatedly clashed with the Biden administration over Operation Lone Star, and in January he invoked Texas' “right to self-defense” after the Supreme Court ruled that federal officials could remove barbed wire along the border on his orders.

According to Abbott, on April 30, the USIBWC instructed the GLO to “return [Fronton Island] the conditions prior to construction.” The federal agency said the GLO “built two sediment bridges,” “laid barbed wire” and “removed vegetation.” The agency suggested that these structures could alter the course of the Rio Grande, a violation of a 1970 treaty that settles outstanding border disputes and maintains the Rio Grande and Colorado Rivers as the international border between Mexico and the United States. The USIBWC also suggested that Texas authorities had trespassed on federal land as part of their operation.

The GLO responded in May by denying any “construction activity” and insisting that the land in question belongs to the state, not the federal government.

USIBWC is the American branch of the International Boundary and Water Commission, a body established by the governments of Mexico and the United States to regulate their shared border and under the authority of the Department of State.

In October, Texas authorities began securing Fronton Island after suspecting criminal cartels were using the island as a base. In his letter, Abbott wrote that authorities had “begun removing obstacles – including dense vegetation and structures apparently constructed by the cartels” and erected a barbed wire fence to gain “operational control” of the island.

In conversation with Newsweek, A spokesman for the U.S. Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission said: “The U.S. Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission maintains that Fronton Island is federal property and that the State of Texas has conducted activities without our permission.”

“Our responsibility under the 1970 treaty with Mexico is to oversee construction along the floodplains of the Rio Grande to ensure the safety of communities, the flow of the river and the maintenance of the border with Mexico. We again ask Texas to meet with us to discuss any projects they plan on land under our jurisdiction.”

Newsweek contacted the White House press office and Abbott by email.

In his letter, Abbott wrote: “For years, the cartels have operated in the 'dense vegetation' and 'bullet-riddled buildings' along the river on Fronton Island to stage illegal break-ins, surveil state and federal law enforcement, stockpile weapons, plant explosives, evade capture, and wage open warfare against rival cartels and against state and federal officials.”

He added: “In one incident described in the quotes below, authorities found 'six assault rifles, a grenade launcher, a rocket launcher, 20 magazines of ammunition for weapons of various sizes, and three packages of what appeared to be C-4 plastic explosives' hidden on the island. In another incident, Texas soldiers found an improvised explosive device 'buried amidst a cache of weapons and ammunition for semi-automatic rifles.'”

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

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the governor added: “For years, Fronton Island was overrun by violence. Texas secured the island against the cartels.”

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

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Update 9/11/24, 3:00 a.m. ET: This story has been updated with comment from a spokesperson for the U.S. chapter of the International Boundary and Water Commission.