Three migrants, including two children, drown near the Texas border
Three migrants drowned in the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass, Texas, officials said Saturday, sparking a dispute between state and federal officials in what appeared to escalate the feud between the Biden administration and Gov. Greg Abbott over the strict safety measures imposed by the state has taken. imposed to prevent migrants from entering the country.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, Border Patrol agents received a distress call from Mexican authorities about a woman and two children attempting to enter the United States near the entrance to Shelby Park, which Mr. Abbott recently closed to stem migration .
Homeland Security said that when Border Patrol agents attempted to respond to the call, they were “physically barred” from entering the area by Texas Military Department agents. But the military department said that when Border Patrol agents requested entry, the migrants had already drowned, adding that claims that it had prevented agents from rescuing them were “completely inaccurate.”
For more than two years, Mr. Abbott has been testing the legal limits of what a state can do to enforce immigration law, expanding the use of rip cords along the riverbank and installing buoy barriers to discourage migrants from crossing the border. But Border Patrol officials in the area have complained that these measures have made it harder for agents to help migrants in need. And a Homeland Security spokesperson said Texas officials should stop interfering with federal law enforcement.
“The Texas governor's policies are cruel, dangerous and inhumane, and Texas' blatant disregard for federal authority over immigration poses serious risks,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
The military department said its officers searched the Rio Grande with lights and night vision goggles but saw no migrants trying to cross. The department said its agents confirmed that when federal agents tried to enter Shelby Park, they said Mexican authorities had already recovered the bodies of two of the migrants.
The Mexican government confirmed that the National Guard recovered the bodies of three migrants and rescued two other Mexican people.
The Texas Military Department denied being notified of any dire situation or people needing help near Shelby Park. “At no time did TMD security personnel observe migrants in distress along the river, nor did TMD return illegal immigrants from the US during this period,” the report said in a statement.
The Times could not independently confirm the events surrounding the drownings.
Responding to the deaths, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Democrat who represents part of South Texas including San Antonio, said by phone Sunday: “The state should not prevent the Border Patrol from doing its job in that area.”
Eagle Pass is a small border town where as many as 5,000 migrants crossed each day during the height of the influx. More recently, that number has dropped to about 400 to 500, Mayor Rolando Salinas Jr. said. at a press conference last week.
Many migrants crossing the border require urgent medical attention when they arrive in Eagle Pass, which is struggling to meet the needs of its 28,000 residents, let alone those also crossing the border. The city has had to use one of its five ambulances full-time to transport injured migrants from the edge of the Rio Grande.
In December, an estimated 300,000 migrants were apprehended along the southern border, a record, leading to the temporary closure of four international border crossings, including the one at Eagle Pass. The Ministry of Justice indicted the governor's decision to close the entrances.
Texas has long been the focus of U.S. immigration policy, with some of the largest arrivals in recent years taking place in El Paso and across the Rio Grande Valley. But the area has become a major point of friction between Republican leaders and the Biden administration this year.
Edgar Sandoval, J. David Goodman And Lola Fadulu reporting contributed.