Large piles of concertina wire that once lined portions of the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass have apparently been removed and are now being dumped on property owned by the city of Eagle Pass, according to video shared by the Frontera Foundation.
Still images from the video show massive heaps of tangled concertina wire, cut vegetation and debris stacked in an open area. The organization says the material came from the state’s border barrier system installed as part of Texas’ Operation Lone Star.
The precise location of the dumping site and which agency is responsible for the removal could not immediately be independently confirmed.
Much of the wire was installed around Shelby Park, a 47-acre municipal park along the Rio Grande that Texas seized in January 2024 during a high-profile standoff with the federal government over border enforcement. The park, directly across the river from Piedras Negras, Coahuila, became the center of the state’s border security operations and was closed to much of the public for more than a year before reopening in April 2025.
Operation Lone Star, launched by Gov. Greg Abbott in 2021, has cost Texas taxpayers an estimated $11 billion through appropriations and related spending. While the state has not released a breakdown of how much was spent specifically on concertina wire in Eagle Pass, the barrier system represented only one portion of the broader operation, which also included fencing, barriers, shipping containers, law enforcement personnel, Texas National Guard deployments, heavy equipment and ongoing maintenance.
The cost of concertina wire varies depending on its specifications and purchase volume. Commercial-grade coils can cost roughly $20 to $30 for a 50-foot roll, while large government purchases, reinforced systems and installation costs are substantially higher. The total expense includes transportation, installation, inspections, repairs and, now, removal and disposal.
The Frontera Foundation alleges the removed wire is being piled on land owned by the city of Eagle Pass, raising new questions about who authorized the disposal site, whether the city consented to its use and what plans exist for the material’s eventual removal or recycling.
The video illustrates another phase in the changing landscape along the Texas-Mexico border. Infrastructure that was once promoted as a critical security measure is now being dismantled in at least some locations, leaving behind large quantities of steel barriers that must be transported, stored or disposed of.
Shelby Park sits across the Rio Grande from Piedras Negras, Coahuila, a city that has consistently ranked among the Mexican municipalities with some of the lowest reported perceptions of insecurity in national public safety surveys.
State officials have not announced a broader effort to remove concertina wire from other sections of the Texas border, and it remains unclear whether the work shown in the Frontera Foundation’s video is part of a larger project or is limited to the Eagle Pass area.
