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U.S. Border Patrol agents attempting to investigate reports of drowning migrants Friday night were denied access to a strip of the Rio Grande by Texas National Guard members, federal authorities said, the latest in a string of disputes between federal and state officials over access to the border area.
On Saturday, the bodies of three migrants, a woman and two children, were found in the river by Mexican authorities, Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Tex.) said in a statement, which the Department of Homeland Security later confirmed.
After Border Patrol learned Friday evening that a group of six migrants were in distress while trying to cross the river near Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, they contacted the Texas Military Department and the Texas National Guard, according to Cuellar.
The Texas Military Department told Border Patrol that it would not allow federal agents into the area, even in the case of an emergency, but that it would send a soldier to investigate the situation, Cuellar said.
“This a tragedy, and the State bears responsibility,” the congressman said.
Luis Miranda, a DHS spokesman, said Border Patrol agents were responding to a distress call from the Mexican government when they were “physically barred by Texas officials from entering the area.”
“Tragically, a woman and two children drowned last night in the Shelby Park area of Eagle Pass, which was commandeered by the State of Texas earlier this week,” Miranda said in a statement. “The Texas governor’s policies are cruel, dangerous, and inhumane, and Texas’s blatant disregard for federal authority over immigration poses grave risks.”
The Texas Military Department said in a statement that after being contacted by Border Patrol about 9 p.m., it “searched the river with lights and night vision goggles,” but no migrants were found. The department said it stopped searching after Mexican authorities were seen scouring their side of the river and Border Patrol confirmed the Mexicans did not need help.
“At no time did TMD security personnel along the river observe any distressed migrants,” the department said in a statement.
Mexican immigration officials did not respond to calls inquiring about details of the case Saturday afternoon.
Earlier this week, Border Patrol agents were blocked from a 2.5-mile stretch of Rio Grande riverfront by Texas National Guard troops under the order of Gov. Greg Abbott (R).
The Texas Department of Public Safety and National Guard officials started raising fencing and razor wire around the municipal Shelby Park on Wednesday in Eagle Pass, a border crossing where thousands of migrants have arrived in recent months.
On Friday, after state officials took over Shelby Park, the Biden administration made an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene.
In a court filing, government lawyers said that Texas cannot control Border Patrol’s access to the river, which is an international boundary under the jurisdiction of federal authorities, or dictate its duties.
“Texas has the legal authority to control ingress and egress into any geographic location in the state,” Abbott told reporters Friday. That power, he said, is being asserted in Eagle Pass “to maintain operational control.”
The tension between Texas and the Biden administration over how to manage the record migrant influx has escalated from debates on paper — such as lawsuits over the placement of river buoys — to physical confrontations over control of border lands.
Texas blocks feds from Rio Grande park in new escalation at border
Border Patrol also attempted to contact the Texas Department of Public Safety by telephone Friday evening but was unsuccessful, according to Cuellar.
A DPS official told The Washington Post that it was not operating the entrance to the area and that it did not receive any communication about the drownings on Friday. Migrant drownings are “nothing new,” said Lt. Chris Olivarez, a DPS spokesman.
“It’s tragic,” he said. “But you know this has been happening for the last three years and even when [the DPS was] heavily involved in the park, many migrants have drowned there.”
Olivarez added that neither Border Patrol nor DPS has boats out in the water at night.
Olivarez said that if there is a medical emergency in an area under DPS control and federal agents need to get in, the department will let them. “But I can’t speak on what the National Guard is doing and what their orders are,” Olivarez said.
In a statement, Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Tex.) criticized Abbott’s Operation Lone Star, a $4 billion campaign that has activated thousands of National Guard troops to posts along the border.
“Texas officials blocked U.S. Border Patrol agents from doing their job and allowed two children to drown in the Rio Grande,” he said.
“This is what Operation Lone Star looks like on the ground,” Castro added.
A vigil to remember those who have died trying to cross the Rio Grande was held Saturday afternoon at Shelby Park.
Earlier, the Eagle Pass Border Vigil Coalition set up 700 wooden crosses to mark the deaths of migrants who attempted to cross the border from Mexico in 2023. The Saturday vigil was a closing service for that commemoration.
Nick Miroff contributed to this report.
Source link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/01/13/migrants-drown-rio-grande-texas-border/