Three migrants, including two children, drowned while trying to cross the Rio Grande after US authorities in the state of Texas fenced off a park on the border with Mexico and began turning away Border Patrol agents, TRT World reports.
The Biden administration criticised what it said were “dangerous” obstructions by Texas authorities after the migrant deaths. White House spokesperson Angelo Fernandez Hernandez said on Sunday:
On Friday night, a woman and two children drowned near Eagle Pass, and Texas officials blocked US Border Patrol from attempting to provide emergency assistance. While we continue to gather facts about the circumstances of these tragic deaths, one thing is clear: Governor Abbott’s political stunts are cruel, inhumane, and dangerous. US Border Patrol must have access to the border to enforce our laws.
The Texas Military Department responded by calling the accusation that TMD officers prevented federal agents from saving lives “completely inaccurate”.
The White House has been engaged in a legal fight with Republican Governor Greg Abbott, a fierce critic of the Biden administration’s immigration policies and a staunch supporter of former US President Donald Trump.
The US Justice Department has accused the governor of preventing federal agents from carrying out their traditional duties of securing a key section of the border. Abbott claims the federal government is failing in its duties to curb a record influx of migrants.
Abbott supports tough border measures, including installing barbed wire along the border and floating fences on the Rio Grande.
On Saturday, Henry Cuellar, a congressional Democrat from Texas, also accused the state’s National Guard, which this week took exclusive control of a key sector of the border, of refusing to “allow Border Patrol agents access to rescue migrants.” Cuellar said in a statement:
This is a tragedy, and the State bears responsibility.
On Friday, TMD, which operates the Texas National Guard, offered a significantly different version of events.
It confirmed that Border Patrol agents had contacted it Friday night “about the migrant situation,” adding that one of its units “actively searched the river with torches and night-vision goggles” but found no migrants in distress or bodies.
On Sunday, after reviewing the circumstances surrounding the deaths, TMD strongly denied the White House’s allegations and said the incident occurred mostly on the Mexican side of the river. It said in a statement:
Claims that TMD prevented Border Patrol from saving the lives of drowning migrants are wholly inaccurate. At the time that Border Patrol requested access, the drownings had occurred, Mexican Authorities were recovering the bodies, and Border Patrol expressed these facts to the TMD personnel on site.
In December, a federal appeals court barred the Border Patrol from removing or dismantling barbed wire installed by Texas at Eagle Pass except in emergencies. The Justice Department appealed the decision to the US Supreme Court.
The Texas National Guard began installing new fences this week that prevented federal border police from accessing a key 3.7 kilometre (2.5-mile) stretch of the border, according to a statement from US Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar. In their response to the Supreme Court case, Texas authorities acknowledged that they took control of a city park in Eagle Pass “for law enforcement and disaster response”.
