A tragedy announced in the Rio Grande. A woman and two children drowned in the waters of the border between Mexico and the United States in the midst of a challenge from Texas Governor Greg Abbott to President Joe Biden about security measures in the area.
An investigation is open to determine whether state officials denied access to border agents at the Shelby Park entrance, closed by Abbott to stop immigrants from arriving in his state.
Jesse Fuentes, a resident of Eagle Pass (Texas) and owner of a canoe and kayak business that operates in the river waters shared by both countries, was one of those who a few months ago supported the Biden Administration's judicial complaint against the installation of floating barriers by order of the governor to prevent the entry flow of undocumented immigrants.
The dispute continues there while the escalation has gone even further with Abbott's decision that the state national guard prevent access to that strip of the river by the patrol boats dependent on the Washington Executive, which is the one who has power over the borders. , although the feds are the only ones authorized to enter that terrain in case of an emergency.
“I'm afraid of what will come next, everyone is pushing each other. “Where is all this taking us,” Fuentes asked himself in a statement published by The Washington Post last Friday.
The response only took a few hours. According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), border agents received a call from Mexican authorities warning about the emergency situation of three people who were trying to access the United States by crossing the river. But, always based on this version, Texas officials vetoed the entry of rescue assistance to that territory, “physically blocked” by the Texan military. Mexican officers recovered the three bodies in the Eagle Pass area.
“This is a tragedy and the responsibility falls on the state,” denounced Democratic legislator Henry Cuellar.
The Texas military responded that when they received the request for access to Shelby Park, the immigrants had already drowned.
“The Texas governor's policies are cruel, dangerous and inhumane. “This state’s blatant disregard for federal immigration authority poses a serious risk,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement.
Abbott, who has become the conservative standard-bearer against immigrants, totally despises the fact that the Government is the one in control of international borders. The Government made an emergency request, hours before the latest disaster, to lift the order blocking the passage between the two countries. He responded that Texas had every right to control who entered its territory.
“The only thing we can't do is shoot border crossers because, of course, the Biden Administration would charge us with murder,” Abbott insisted, a response that sparked even more alarm.
The entry of undocumented immigrants has become one of the Achilles heels of the Democratic Government. Since 2021, at least 2.1 million immigrants have been detained when trying to enter the US. Last December alone, the record number of 300,000 arrested in one month was reached.
Although immediate deportation measures are applied, a very high number of these people are released pending their appointment to resolve their asylum claim.
Abbott has taken advantage of this to play politics with immigrants. The problem has spread throughout the country by chartering fleets of buses to send thousands of undocumented immigrants to refuge cities such as New York or Chicago, while immigration reform remains stuck in Congress.
