Deadly buoys, razor wires, armed guards: Greg Abbott is fixated on keeping migrants out

The Texas governor has turned the Rio Grande river bank into a battlefield and lives as well as the environment are at grave risk

Juanita Martinez stood on the muddy banks of the Rio Grande watching the iconic ribbon of water that marks the US-Mexico border. She was separated from the river by coils of razor wire and was just upstream from the infamous giant orange buoys installed to deter migrants from crossing into Texas. On the verge of tears, she said: What have they done to our river?"

Nearby, old shipping containers were stacked, topped with more barbed wire. Martinez, an Eagle Pass native and chair of the local Maverick county Democratic party, told the Guardian: It's so inhumane to expose innocent migrants to this."