Report: Texas Agents Told Not to Give Migrants Water, Push Them Back Into Rio Grande
© AP Photo / Eric Gay
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In 2021, Texas Governor Greg Abbott declared a border emergency in 34 counties, giving him millions in funding for building border barriers and the use of private property unauthorized by the landowner. Abbott renewed the order in May.
An internal email sent by a Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) trooper detailed that officers were ordered to push migrants back into the Rio Grande River and withhold water as part of Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star initiative.
The email which was provided to the Houston Chronicle, details previously unreported incidents the trooper witnessed at Eagle Pass, where the state has erected barriers, including razor wire and a wall of buoys. It also says officers have been directed not to give water to migrants, even while temperatures reach record levels in the southwest.
The email describes a 19-year-old pregnant woman who was entangled in the wire while having a miscarriage. It's detailed the officers found her in obvious pain and had to cut her out and provide medical attention, which is when they discovered she was having a miscarriage. The woman was later transferred to emergency personnel.
Another incident described by the trooper involved a four-year-old girl who passed out from heat exhaustion after being “pushed back” by the Texas Guards. The trooper indicated it was well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit when the incident occurred.
The trooper’s email also recounted an experience where officers had found a man with a “significant laceration” in his leg that was sustained when the individual was trying to help his son, who had gotten trapped on a razor-wrapped buoy in the water. Around the same time, the trooper treated a 15-year-old boy who broke his leg trying to go around the wire, which had forced him into an unsafe area of the river.
The owner of a farm just south of Eagle Pass, who leased some land to the state of Texas for the purpose of processing migrants there, has since given interviews in the media stating he told the DPS not to set up the razor wire on his property, and has demanded they take it down, but have so far refused. He is threatening to bring charges of trespassing and destruction of property, but DPS officials claim their actions are legal under a border-related disaster declaration signed by Abbott in 2021.
There also appears to be some pushback among troopers about the orders they are being given, according to the new findings.
The trooper described an incident where officers encountered a group of 120 people camped alongside a fence near the river, and which included small children and nursing babies. The email notes the officer in command told troopers to “push the people back into the water to go to Mexico.”
It was further described in the correspondence that the troopers didn’t agree with the order and called high command to express their concerns. They were then told to tell the migrants to go back to Mexico and leave in their cars. The email stated that other troopers worked with the Border Patrol to provide aid for the migrants.
“Due to the extreme heat, the order to not give people water needs to be immediately reversed as well,” the trooper wrote. He later added, “I believe we have stepped over a line into the inhumane.”
At the same time, according to the same Texas outlet, the Federal Border Patrol has issued internal warnings about the razor wire, noting that their agents have had trouble reaching migrants in need of assistance and have increased the rate of drowning.
The email also sheds light on a previously reported incident of a mother and at least one of her children drowning in the river after trying to go around the razor wire. In fact, the email described how troopers pulled the mother and one child from the river after they went under the surface for a short time. Although the two individuals were later given medical attention, they ultimately succumbed to their injuries. The woman’s other child was never found.
Travis Considine, a spokesperson for the DPS, would not comment on all the contents of the trooper’s email but did say the department does not have a policy against providing migrants with water.
He did provide an email from DPS Director Steven McCraw, who called for an audit to determine if more can be done to ensure the safety of migrants. In the email, he reportedly tells officers to warn migrants from attempting to cross the wire, redirect them to legitimate ports of entry and to search for migrants who need medical care.
“The purpose of the wire is to deter smuggling between the ports of entry and not to injure migrants,” McCraw wrote. “The smugglers care not if the migrants are injured, but we do, and we must take all necessary measures to mitigate the risk to them including injuries from trying to cross over the concertina wire, drownings and dehydration.”
Meanwhile, the governor’s office has stated it is trying to secure the border and put the onus for the issue on the Biden administration.
“Texas is deploying every tool and strategy to deter and repel illegal crossings between ports of entry as President Biden’s dangerous open border policies entice migrants from over 150 countries to risk their lives entering the country illegally,” Andrew Mahaleris, Abbott’s press secretary, said. “President Biden has unleashed a chaos on the border that’s unsustainable, and we have a constitutional duty to respond to this unprecedented crisis.”
Texas Democrats have called on the White House to intervene against Abbott's barriers.
"I read him the title and first paragraph of the [Chronicle] article and urged the administration to intervene — and to remove the death traps Abbott has installed for the sake of human rights,” Representative Castro (D-TX) said late Monday.
The name of the trooper has not been released by the Chronicle, which added that it is unclear if he received a response from his superiors.
