Texas builds makeshift border wall with surprising material

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Texas begins building makeshift border wall with shipping containers

Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, says he thinks the new border wall construction is a ‘great idea’

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has begun taking matters into his own hands, installing makeshift border walls created from repurposed shipping containers in strategic locations where migrants are likely to cross.

Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, who previously served as a sheriff in Fort Bend County for eight years, called the new border structures "a great idea" Thursday on "Fox & Friends." 

"It’s a tool that the governor is using to try to help slow down, curb this invasion, this invasion that we’re seeing at our southern border," said Nehls.

TEXAS GOV. GREG ABBOTT: 'WE ARE BUILDING OUR OWN BORDER WALL'

Nehls described the border wall construction as a "defensive position" to "channel" migrants into areas with larger law enforcement and Border Patrol presences. 

"We have 1,250 miles of border in Texas. That’s a lot of area to cover and we’re doing the federal government’s job for them because they refuse to do it on their own," Nehls added. 

Workers continue the assembly at the Mission Levee Phase II border wall construction site off Abram Road in Mission, Texas, Oct. 6, 2021. (REUTERS/Jason Garza)

The Texas representative said that inaction from the Biden administration and Congress has forced governors in southern states to "augment" border enforcement with their own resources. Texas' Department of Public Safety [DPS] and National Guard have been dispatched to help overwhelmed Border Patrol agents.

Nehls said the current circumstances at the border are costing Texans billions of dollars. 

On Oct. 28, Abbott spoke with Tucker Carlson, where he laid out the specifics of the border wall plan. 

Workers continue the assembly of a border wall at a construction site in Pharr, Texas, Oct. 5, 2021.  (REUTERS/Jason Garza)

"We begin dropping these large containers that you see on 18 wheelers, you also see on these ships that are going across the ocean," Abbott said. "We’re dropping them down on locations that could be crossings that would be used by these caravans to serve as a blockade to prevent them from coming across the border.

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Abbott told Carlson that he has also dispatched 6,500 National Guard and DPS troopers to the border to contain the surge in migrant caravans crossing into the U.S.

The agents have been tasked with identifying possible points of entry and installing razor wire to deter those who wish to enter illegally, he explained.

Fox News' Yael Halon contributed to this report.