Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem signed a waiver speeding along a “waterborne barrier” between Texas and Mexico.
The barrier will span 17 miles along the border in Cameron County, which includes Brownsville, according to a press release. The funding is “planned for award” by the end of FY 2025.
Enforcing @POTUS Executive Orders to secure the southern border.
These barriers will:
✅Block drug smugglers
✅Deter and prevent illegal immigration
✅Create a safer environment for USBP agents pic.twitter.com/9eThNNGfyY— CBP (@CBP) July 3, 2025
Noem has “waiver authority” under federal law to sidestep “any legal requirement” to build “physical barriers and roads” – including the National Environmental Policy Act, calling projects under the waiver “critical steps to ensure the southern border.”
This particular section of the border lies in the Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Valley sector. The funding will be allocated from the FY 2021 appropriations to Customs and Border Protection.
“A capability gap has been identified in waterways along the Southwest border where drug smuggling, human trafficking and other dangerous and illegal activity occurs,” the release reads.
In response, CBP officials identified “waterborne barriers” as a solution.
“Waterborne barriers are intended to create a safer border environment for patrolling agents, as well as deter illegal aliens from attempting to illegally cross the border through dangerous waterways,” the release reads.
CBP is continuing to look for “innovative ways” to “gain and maintain operational control of the Southern border.”
Two human smugglers were recently sentenced after a tractor-trailer tragedy killed 53 illegal aliens in 2022, as The Dallas Express recently reported. Also recently, Border Patrol and CBP agents arrested drug smugglers and human smugglers along the Texas-Mexico border.
Texas recently discontinued funding for the southern border wall, looking to Trump’s administration to fill the gap, as The Dallas Express reported. Meanwhile, Gov. Greg Abbott is continuing to secure the border with Operation Lone Star.