Title 22Foreign Relations and IntercourseRelease 119-73

§277d–34 American-Mexican Boundary Treaty, authorization for carrying out treaty provisions; investigations; land acquisition, purposes; damages, repair or compensation

Title 22 › Chapter CHAPTER 7— - INTERNATIONAL BUREAUS, CONGRESSES, ETC. › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER IV— - INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY AND WATER COMMISSION › § 277d–34

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary of State, through the U.S. Commissioner of the International Boundary and Water Commission, may carry out work needed to follow the 1970 treaty with Mexico. The Commissioner can study and investigate things like marking and mapping the rivers, moving or improving river channels, setting maritime boundaries, managing water resources, and preventing pollution and sanitation problems. The Commissioner can also get land by donation, purchase, or condemnation when needed to give land to Mexico, build or protect new U.S. river channels and levees, stop work that would change river flow, or move buildings or facilities when required. If U.S. works harm Mexico, the Commissioner may remove, change, or repair them, or pay Mexico for the damage.

Full Legal Text

Title 22, §277d–34

Foreign Relations and Intercourse — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

In connection with the treaty between the United States of America and the United Mexican States to resolve pending boundary differences and maintain the Rio Grande and the Colorado River as the international boundary between the United States of America and the United Mexican States, signed November 23, 1970, (hereafter in this Act referred to as the “treaty”), the Secretary of State, acting through the United States Commissioner, International Boundary and Water Commission, United States, and Mexico (hereafter in this Act referred to as the “Commissioner”), is authorized—
(1)to conduct technical and other investigations relating to—
(A)the demarcation, mapping, monumentation, channel relocation, rectification, improvement, stabilization, and other matters relating to the preservation of the river boundaries between the United States and Mexico;
(B)the establishment and delimitation of the maritime boundaries in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Pacific Ocean;
(C)water resources; and
(D)the sanitation and the prevention of pollution;
(2)to acquire by donation, purchase, or condemnation, all lands or interests in lands required—
(A)for transfer to Mexico as provided in the treaty;
(B)for construction of that portion of new river channels and the adjoining levees in the territory of the United States;
(C)to preserve the Rio Grande and the Colorado River as the boundary by preventing the construction of works which may cause deflection or obstruction of the normal flow of the rivers or of their floodflows; and
(D)for relocation of any structure or facility, public or private, the relocation of which, in the judgment of the Commissioner, is necessitated by the project; and
(3)to remove, modify, or repair the damages caused to Mexico by works constructed in the United States which the International Boundary and Water Commission, United States and Mexico, as determined have an adverse effect on Mexico, or to compensate Mexico for such damages.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

This Act, referred to in text, means Pub. L. 92–549, Oct. 25, 1972, 86 Stat. 1161, which enacted sections 277d–34 to 277d–42 of this title and amended section 1322 of Title 19, Customs Duties. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out below and Tables.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Short Title

Pub. L. 92–549, § 1, Oct. 25, 1972, 86 Stat. 1161, provided: “That this Act [enacting this section and sections 277d–35 to 277d–42 of this title and amending section 1322 of Title 19, Customs Duties] may be cited as the ‘American-Mexican Boundary Treaty Act of 1972’.”

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

22 U.S.C. § 277d–34

Title 22Foreign Relations and Intercourse

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73