Texas built a floating wall of blade-studded, one-ton buoys to maim people trying to cross the Rio Grande, and this week that same cruelty came roaring back to bite the state that built it, when over a hundred of them broke loose in flooding and slammed straight into Laredo, shutting down the nation's number one trade port. Governor Abbott championed this as a signature piece of Operation Lone Star, brushing off warnings that the design was reckless.
This was entirely foreseeable. The Rio Grande International Study Center warned Laredo officials back in March, about four months ago, that flooding could snap the barriers free, and advocates say they had been sounding the alarm even longer. City leaders reportedly waved it off to stay in the federal government's good graces.
Now the chickens are coming home to roost. The Laredo customs district normally processes around $3.5 billion in goods each week, and any shutdown of its busiest crossing bleeds real money real fast, on top of the safety risk to residents downstream.
Update: The bridges were opened again after a brief closure.
But seriously - this is what we do now. It's the same old story from decades ago: Going to such great lengths trying to keep people out, will always eventually result in the realization that you're just putting yourself in a prison of your own making.
So oftentimes it happensThat we live our lives in chainsAnd we never even knowWe have the key
What's the fuckin' point here? These people are risking everything to come here. All they want is their fair shot at a better life for themselves and their families.
Yes - control the borders. Try to make it all work better. And don't forget that in 2024, there was legislation that had full bipartisan support ready for markup and passage in both houses. But Trump took a dump on it because - and several members reported he said this straight out - he wanted the issue for his campaign.
And stupid MAGA people, in their stupid red hats, jumped up and down cheering for him.
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