The State of Texas has officially claimed ownership of nine islands located in the Rio Grande.

"Gabriel Eckstein, a water law scholar at Texas A&M University, says the real question is not whether they are taking islands that belong to Mexico but rather: “Are they claiming U.S. islands? That is, do they belong to the federal government or to the state of Texas?” Eckstein, who is also president of the International Water Law Association, explains that if an island was part of Texas when it became a state in 1845 and remained U.S. territory according to the 1970 treaty, it could be argued that it is state property. But if an island was ceded by Mexico to the U.S. under the 1970 treaty, then it belongs to the federal government north of the Rio Grande."

"Since the start of Donald Trump’s second term, border security and stopping illegal immigration have become two of the main pillars of his administration. Based on those principles, and acting unilaterally, the Texas government has announced it has taken control of nine islands located in the water border between Mexico and the United States, along its territory between Laredo and McAllen. In a statement on Tuesday, Dawn Buckingham, that state’s land commissioner, authorized the Texas National Guard to access those small river islands in order to maintain the operational security of the southern border. The Mexican government has responded by asking that the 1970 Boundary Treaty between the two countries be respected and says that determination of the international boundary is the sole responsibility of the International Boundary and Water Commission."

"The Texas General Land Office has determined that nine islands in the Rio Grande, totaling roughly 66 acres, belong to the State of Texas and has authorized state police and the Texas Military Department to patrol them, Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham announced Monday. The determination answers a federal request. In letters dated October 26 to Col. Freeman F. Martin, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, and Maj. Gen. Thomas Suelzer, the Texas adjutant general, Buckingham wrote that U.S. Customs and Border Protection had asked the land office about 28 islands in the river “whose ownership had not been definitively established.” After a review of “historical records, surveys, and other relevant information,” the office concluded that nine of them are state property."

"Gabriel Eckstein, a water law scholar at Texas A&M University, says the real question is not whether they are taking islands that belong to Mexico but rather: “Are they claiming U.S. islands? That is, do they belong to the federal government or to the state of Texas?” Eckstein, who is also president of the International Water Law Association, explains that if an island was part of Texas when it became a state in 1845 and remained U.S. territory according to the 1970 treaty, it could be argued that it is state property. But if an island was ceded by Mexico to the U.S. under the 1970 treaty, then it belongs to the federal government north of the Rio Grande."

"Since the start of Donald Trump’s second term, border security and stopping illegal immigration have become two of the main pillars of his administration. Based on those principles, and acting unilaterally, the Texas government has announced it has taken control of nine islands located in the water border between Mexico and the United States, along its territory between Laredo and McAllen. In a statement on Tuesday, Dawn Buckingham, that state’s land commissioner, authorized the Texas National Guard to access those small river islands in order to maintain the operational security of the southern border. The Mexican government has responded by asking that the 1970 Boundary Treaty between the two countries be respected and says that determination of the international boundary is the sole responsibility of the International Boundary and Water Commission."