EAGLE PASS, Texas— Soldiers of the Texas State and National Guard are putting into action a conceptual idea to stop illegal immigrants from climbing over the metal shipping containers along the riverbank of the Rio Grande River in the community area of Shelby Park.
The park has been a veritable thoroughfare for human smuggling, drug trafficking and illegal immigrant crossing into the US, posting over 35,000 illegal immigrant encounters in December 2023.
The Soldiers supporting Operation Lonestar began shutting down the park with additional layers of concertina wire around the border of the park. But there was still the challenge of securing the shipping containers. The challenge presented was to use material already on hand to design a barrier that would not only deter but stop even the most determined individual from climbing over and breaching the shipping container barriers.
Using 15 – 20 Soldiers from Special Response Teams 2 and 3 as well as project management, they put together the material on hand: anti-climb barrier, concertina wire, razor wire, barbed wire, and long galvanized steel polls. The design uses the anti-climb barrier with razor wire attached to the top in two rows, mirrored over and under. When placing the ACB laying down on top of the container with a two-foot over-hang of the mirrored over and under razor wire it offers a formidable obstacle.
There were assurances to secure the ACB to the container for optimum safety for Soldiers and would be illegal immigrants. Securing ACB segmented panels at the container’s four corners as well as to the long polls that run down the entire length of the container ensured the barrier could not be torn down or pulled off. The razor wire suspended over the river side of the CONEX system adds an effective deterrent to scaling over.
The SRT project in Shelby Park consists of 109 CONEXs reinforced with over 13,000 ft. of concertina wire and 4,300 ft. of razor wire. Additionally, 6,500 ft. of ACB extends throughout the park to secure the area from illegal migrant crossings. The reinforced barrier system is yielding excellent results since installation and continues to be constructed.
The Texas National Guard, in conjunction with our interagency partners, is dedicated to preventing illegal migrant crossings from Mexico to the US and stopping cross-border illicit narcotics trafficking.
| Date Taken: | 02.01.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 03.19.2024 12:05 |
| Story ID: | 465897 |
| Location: | EAGLE PASS, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 21 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Proof of Concept in Action Along Shelby Park, by MAJ Michael Perry, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
