(June 22, 2026) EAGLE PASS, TX — Eagle Pass residents Amérika García Grewal, Luis Alfonso Ruiz, and North Carolina resident Meg Stuart filed a lawsuit today against the City of Eagle Pass, over the City’s violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act (TOMA) when it used a vague, closed-session agenda item to conceal discussion, approval, or facilitation of the floating buoy barrier system now staged in Shelby Park next to the Rio Grande.
The suit, filed in Maverick County, argues that the Eagle Pass City Council never mentioned buoys, floating barriers, or any installation in the river in its notice to the public even though that is what city officials actually discussed and decided upon behind closed doors.
“Eagle Pass families had no idea their city council okayed a Rio Grande drowning device,’” said Amérika García Grewal, co-director of Frontera Federation. “If our local government is going to make decisions that put our drinking water, our lives, and our river at risk, we the public have a right to know it’s happening before the buoys show up on a flatbed truck.”
Texas law requires that public notice of a government meeting be specific enough to alert the public to the actual subject under consideration, not generic labels that obscure it. In this case, the item authorizing a closed executive session to discuss a “Notice of Interest” from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was regarding a “border barrier system construction on city property.”
Texas Supreme Court precedent holds that vague agenda descriptions are inadequate when they conceal the real topic, particularly on matters of significant public concern.
The lawsuit asks the court to declare that the notice on March 3, 2026 was legally insufficient, to void any city action taken in violation of TOMA, and to issue a temporary restraining order and injunction blocking the city from further implementing, facilitating, or participating in any buoy-barrier action that flowed from the closed-door session until the city complies with the law.
Frontera Federation has separately raised concerns about the buoy barriers themselves. Today’s lawsuit does not resolve those underlying concerns, but it is a necessary first step: forcing the city to follow the law that guarantees residents a seat at the table before and not after decisions like this one are made.
A copy of the petition is available upon request.
About Frontera Federation
Frontera Federation is a binational organization working to defend the human rights of border communities and migrants on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. Learn more at fronterafederation.org.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Amérika García Grewal (English/Spanish), Co-director, Frontera Federation adg@fronterafederation.org, +1-830-294-8380
Ari Sawyer (English/Spanish), Co-director, Frontera Federation sawyera@fronterafederation.org, +52-55-1135-0065