?@GregAbbott_TX? strung razor wire in the river to stop migrants. What he stopped was US Border Patrol from rescuing drowning kids: Texas border razor wire hinders agents, endangers migrants https://t.co/xWoHkqKxEX
— Frank Figliuzzi (@FrankFigliuzzi1) July 16, 2023
News broke last week:
EAGLE PASS — Razor wire put up by the state of Texas along the Rio Grande is blocking Border Patrol agents from reaching at-risk migrants — including families with infants and unaccompanied children — and increasing the risk of drownings, according to a Customs and Border Protection document obtained by Hearst Newspapers.
The warning is a new sign of escalating tension between state and federal officials over Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security program, Operation Lone Star, and it comes as the governor is putting a wall of buoys in the river despite concerns from immigration advocates that it will further endanger migrants…
The state has strung wire along much of the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass, a section of the border that has seen a surge of Venezuelan and Cuban migrants over the past year. It has gone up across gates that the Border Patrol uses to quickly reach the river, according to the document.
The wire is preventing agents from getting to asylum-seekers — some of whom have said they have been stuck in the river for hours and days, exposed to the elements with little to no help from Texas Department of Public Safety officers, according to the document…
The document was dated just days before four migrants, including an infant, drowned in the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass. Officials have not said the wire played a role in the drownings. A Texas DPS spokesman has said the migrants were found floating along the river by state officials July 1.
The Texas Department of Public Safety, meanwhile, has effectively shut down key designated areas that CBP identified as staging points to get asylum-seekers out of the elements, including extreme heat, and process and transport them to detention centers, the document says.
CBP did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the memo. Asked for a copy of the full document, agency officials said the records were not under its “purview.”
“The absence of razor wire makes the job of Texas National Guard soldiers and DPS troopers more dangerous and difficult,” said Andrew Mahaleris, Abbott’s press secretary. “The real problem is that President Biden’s open border policies have unleashed chaos on the border that’s unsustainable.” …
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