Body found at buoy barrier Texas set up on Rio Grande, Mexico says

The Mexican government reported that a body was spotted along the floating barrier that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott installed recently in the Rio Grande, across from Eagle Pass, Texas, Report informs via CBS.

Mexico's Foreign Relations Department said authorities recovered the body but didn't know the person's identity or cause of death.

Many have warned about the danger the barrier poses because it's designed to make it more difficult for migrants to climb over or swim under it.

A Texas state trooper raised internal concerns about the barrier diverting migrants, including children, into parts of the Rio Grande where they're more likely to drown.

The barrier was installed in July and stretches roughly the length of three soccer fields.

The department said Mexico had warned about the risks posed by the bright orange, wrecking ball-sized buoys on the Rio Grande. It also claimed the barrier violates treaties regarding the use of the river and violates Mexico's sovereignty.

"We made clear our concern about the impact on migrants' safety and human rights that these state policies would have," the department said in a statement. Mexico said it was officials from the Texas Department of Public Safety that notified Mexico's consulate in Eagle Pass Tuesday about the body.

The US Justice Department is suing Abbott over the floating barrier. The lawsuit asks a court to force Texas to remove it. The Biden administration says the barrier raises humanitarian and environmental concerns.

The buoys are the latest escalation of Texas' border security operation that also includes razor-wire fencing and arresting migrants on trespassing charges.

The state trooper's internal complaint raised concerns about Texas' border initiative, known as Operation Lone Star. The trooper described migrants being cut by the razor wire, and directives to push families back into the Rio Grande.

Migrant drownings occur regularly on the Rio Grande. Over the Fourth of July weekend, before the buoys were installed, four people, including an infant, drowned in the river near Eagle Pass.

A Biden administration official told CBS News last month that the floating barriers have interfered with Border Patrol efforts to patrol the river and process migrants who reach US soil. In one week, the official added, Border Patrol encountered dozens of injured or drowned migrants, including babies.

Once migrants are on the US side of the border which, in Texas, falls in the middle of the Rio Grande, federal law requires Border Patrol officials to process them and decide whether they should be deported, transferred to another agency, detained or released. The law also requires federal officials to review the asylum claims of those who ask for refuge. State officials aren't authorized to enforce these laws.