Mexico Files Complaint Over Gov. Abbott’s Makeshift Floating ‘Border’ in Rio Grande

Mexico has filed an official diplomatic complaint over Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's put-together garish pontoon "border" floating in the Rio Grande.

Mexican officials complain that the moving string of large red-orange buoys in the river to dissuade migrants from crossing into Texas violates treaties, and is suspected of encroaching on Mexican territory, the Texas Tribune reports.

Mexico’s incoming secretary of foreign affairs, Alicia Bárcena, told reporters Friday that the government sent a letter late last month to the U.S. stating that the buoy barriers violate a 1944 water treaty, Reuters reported.

Bárcena also plans to send an inspection team to determine if the makeshift "border" trespasses on Mexican territory, the Associated Press reported.

When Abbott announced the launch of the buoys last month, he insisted: "We're securing the border at the border. What these buoys will allow us to do is prevent people from getting to the border.”

The owner of a kayak and canoe rental on the river, Jessie Fuentes, has sued Abbott and the Texas Department of Public Safety over the barriers.

The lawsuit claims the new buoy system will dramatically hurt his business, will destroy the natural ecosystem of the river, and that Abbott does not have the authority to regulate cross-border traffic.

"The river can't speak for itself," Fuentes told CBS News. "So, I am speaking for the river, and our area, and our culture, and or history, and our … people."