The military and border guards in Texas were ordered to stop illegal immigrants by any means: push in the Rio Grande, do not give water

Officers working under Gov. Greg Abbott's border security initiative have been ordered to push small and infant children back into the Rio Grande and withhold water from asylum seekers in extreme heat, according to Houston Chronicle.

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A July 3 report reviewed by Hearst Newspapers reveals several previously unreported border incidents. An eyewitness to the incident was a serviceman in Eagle Pass, where the state of Texas had installed miles of barbed wire and deployed a wall of buoys in the Rio Grande.

Late last month, a pregnant woman who had a miscarriage was found caught in a wire and doubled over in pain, according to an email. A four-year-old girl passed out from heatstroke after she tried to cross a river and was pushed back by Texas National Guard soldiers. The teenager, trying to move around the water around the wire, broke his leg and his father had to carry him.

An email the soldier sent to the commander suggests that Texas has set up "traps" made of barrels wrapped in barbed wire in parts of the river where there is a lot of water and poor visibility. It says the wire has increased the risk of drowning, forcing migrants into deeper sections of the river.

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The soldier called for immediate policy changes to improve the safety of migrants, including the removal of barrels and the repeal of the directive to contain the river with extreme force.

“Due to the extreme heat, the order not to give water to people should be canceled immediately,” the soldier wrote. “I think we have crossed the line of inhumanity.”

The reaction of officials

Department of Public Safety spokesman Travis Considine did not comment on the full content of the soldier's email, but said there was no policy against distributing water to migrants.

Considine provided an email from DPS Director Stephen McCraw on July 15 urging an audit to determine if more could be done to minimize the risk to migrants. McCraw wrote that military personnel should warn migrants not to cross the border with barbed wire; they should be diverted to ports of entry and closely watched for anyone in need of medical attention.

In another email, McCraw acknowledged that there was an increase in barbed wire injuries between July 4 and July 13, including seven incidents reported by border officials where migrants required "increased medical attention."

“The purpose of the wire is to deter smuggling between ports of entry and not harm migrants,” McCraw wrote. “Smugglers don’t care if migrants are injured, but we do.” We must take all necessary measures to reduce the risk to them, including injuries from trying to cross barbed wire, drowning and dehydration."

The incidents detailed in the email occurred in recent weeks as Abbott stepped up efforts to physically bar migrants from entering the country as part of its Operation Lone Star initiative. This has led to an escalation in tensions between state and federal officials, as well as heightened scrutiny from humanitarian groups who say the state is putting asylum seekers at risk. The most aggressive initiatives were directed towards the Eagle Pass.

Deadly obstacles

The state has now deployed a wall of floating buoys in the Rio Grande, drawing complaints from Mexico.

Federal Border Guard officials have issued internal warnings that barbed wire prevents their agents from reaching at-risk migrants and increases the chance of drowning in the Rio Grande. A DPS officer expressed similar concerns. The placement of the wire along the river, he said, "forces people to cross the road in other places, deeper and not as safe for people with children and bags."

An email from a soldier sheds light on a series of previously reported cases of drowning in a river over the course of one week earlier this month, including a mother and at least one of her two children. Federal Border Patrol agents spotted them as they tried to cross the Rio Grande on July 1.

According to the report, the DPS boat found a mother with a child who had gone under water. They were pulled out of the river and given medical attention, and then taken to the emergency room, but later in the hospital they were declared dead. The second child, according to the email, was never found.

The governor said he was taking the necessary steps to secure the border and accused federal officials of failing to do so.

“Texas is using every tool and strategy to deter and defeat illegal crossings between ports of entry as President Biden's dangerous open border policies encourage migrants from more than 150 countries to risk their lives to enter the country illegally,” said Andrew Mahaleris, Abbott's press secretary. . “President Biden has unleashed chaos at the border, and it is our constitutional responsibility to respond to this unprecedented crisis.”

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An email from a DPS officer details four incidents in just one day in which migrants were caught or injured while attempting to bypass the wire.

On June 30, servicemen found a group of people along the barbed wire, including a 4-year-old girl. She tried to cross the wire and, according to the email, was pushed back by the Texas Guards "because of the orders they had given." The DPS officer wrote that the temperature was "significantly over 37C" and the girl passed out.

“We helped the patient, who did not come to her senses, and transferred her to the ambulance service,” the soldier wrote.

In another case, servicemen found a 19-year-old girl stuck in a wire, "experiencing obvious pain." She was released and a medical examination was carried out, which showed that she was pregnant and had a miscarriage. Then she was transferred to EMS.

One of the soldiers treated a man with a "significant laceration" on his left leg, who said he had cut it while trying to free his child: he was "trapped in the water". In addition, the serviceman treated a 15-year-old boy who broke his right leg while walking along the river, because the barbed wire was "laid in such a way that it forced him to jump into the river, where it is not safe to walk."

On another occasion, on June 25, soldiers came across a group of 120 men camped along a fence set up near a river. Among them, according to the letter, were several small children and infants who were breastfed. All these people were exhausted and hungry, they were tired. The shift leader, the soldier noted, ordered his subordinates to "throw people back into the water to go to Mexico."

According to the author of the letter, the soldiers decided that this was wrong, since there was a "very high risk of drowning malnourished people." The troops called the command again to express their concerns and were ordered to "tell them to go to Mexico". After they left, other soldiers worked with the border patrol to help the migrants, the email said.

Other incidents

In addition, other emails detail seven incidents reported by federal border guards. Migrants were injured by barbed wire, including a child who was taken to hospital on July 13 with cuts on his left arm. The mother and child, who were taken to the hospital on July 12, had "minor lacerations" on "the lower limbs". Another migrant was flown to San Antonio on July 4 to be treated for "several lacerations" that required staples.

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Victor Escalon, director of the DPS, which oversees Texas South, emailed other agency officials on July 14 that service members "may need to remove barbed wire to help people in distress, maintain order and/or make an arrest for criminal trespassing."

“Our DPS medical unit has been assigned to this operation to address the medical concerns of all involved,” Escalon wrote in the end.

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