Mexico cannot have it both ways

According to news reports, Mexico is challenging Texas’s floating barrier plan on the Rio Grande.  This is the story:

Mexico’s top diplomat said Friday her country has sent a diplomatic note to the U.S. government expressing concern that Texas’ deployment of floating barriers on the Rio Grande may violate 1944 and 1970 treaties on boundaries and water.

Foreign Relations Secretary Alicia Bárcena said Mexico will send an inspection team to the Rio Grande to see whether any of the barrier extends into Mexico’s side of the border river.

She also complained about U.S. efforts to put up barbed wire on a low-lying island in the river near Eagle Pass, Texas.

I don’t know if Mexico has a case.  I’m not familiar with border treaties.  At the same time, Texas claims that the barrier is on the Texas side of the water. 

Mexico does not help its case when it allows more caravans to come north.  This is the other story:

Nearly a thousand migrants that recently crossed from Guatemala into Mexico formed a group on Saturday to head north together in hopes of reaching the border with the United States.

The group, made up of largely Venezuelan migrants, walked along a highway in southern Mexico, led by a Venezuela flag with the phrase ‘Peace, Freedom. SOS.’ 

The men, women, children and teenagers were followed by Mexican National Guard patrols.

So what is Texas supposed to do?  On the one hand, Mexico complains about Texas stopping people from crossing the river — a dangerous thing to attempt, by the way.  Some have actually drowned.  On the other hand, Mexico allows another caravan to form and head north.  Why isn’t Mexico stopping this problem at the source?

Add to this mess a Biden administration without a border policy, and you have the definition of a “problema,” a big “problema.”

Maybe the Biden administration should call on Mexico to control its own border more efficiently before it takes Texas to court.  Of course, I’m not expecting the Biden administration to do a thing, or the same nothing that we’ve seen for 30 months.

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Image: Kmusser.