(NewsNation) — Most of the floating barrier Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s administration put on the Rio Grande with the aim of blocking migrants from entry is in Mexico, a federal topographic survey released Tuesday says.
Survey data says the buoys placed in the river span 995 feet, and 787 of those feet are located in Mexico. That’s a little less than 80% of the barrier.
The floating barrier, made up of wrecking-ball-sized buoys, has drawn criticism from people who call it inhumane. This criticism ramped up after two bodies were found near the chained buoys.
The Justice Department sued Abbott over the barrier, which is where the survey stems from.
A federal court filing by the Biden administration on Tuesday said United States and Mexican officials at the International Boundary and Water Commission conducted the joint survey at the site of the barrier near Eagle Pass, Texas. In their survey, the groups recorded the locations of the buoys and concrete anchors the state deployed, about two miles downstream of the Camino Real International Bridge.
Border Report said the project cost about $1,000 per foot, making its total cost around $1 million.
NewsNation has reached out to Abbott’s office for comment on the survey.
The Biden administration had previously warned Abbott in a letter that it would sue, saying that the buoys were “unlawful,” the Associated Press reported in July.
“The floating barrier poses a risk to navigation, as well as public safety, in the Rio Grande River, and it presents humanitarian concerns,” the letter said. In response to the letter, Abbott tweeted that Texas has the “sovereign authority” to defend its border.
Democratic Texas lawmakers, writing a letter of their own to U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, accused Abbott of political posturing, NewsNation partner Border Report wrote.
Saying he is “wasting taxpayer dollars,” the lawmakers, led by U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, wrote that Abbott is “once again choosing inhumane and dangerous practices that intimidate, endanger, and hurt migrants and their families and put CBP personnel at risk.”
Mexican officials, according to The Hill, called the buoys a violation of their country’s sovereignty and said they pose significant dangers to migrants.
“We express our concern about the impact on the human rights and personal safety of migrants of these state policies, which run counter to the close collaboration between our country and the United States federal government,” Mexican officials said in the statement.
Abbott, meanwhile, on Wednesday touted a Newsweek poll that found that of 687 Texas voters asked, most supported the barriers.
“Well, of course!” the governor wrote on Twitter. “Only 28% disagree. They probably support Biden’s Open Border policies.”
A total of 49% of respondents to the poll carried out by Redfield & Wilton Strategies said they supported the buoys. About 15% didn’t oppose or support it, and 7% said they didn’t know how they felt.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.