Drug cartels have been committing brutal killings of people on the US southern border amid the ongoing migration crisis, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) has revealed.
"These criminal organisations come across from Mexico to the US side and they murder individuals. We've had several incidents that have taken place along the border using professional-type weapons. Very professional and methodical about how they do it and then they go back to Mexico", DPS spokesman Chris Olivarez told Fox News on Thursday.
Olivarez noted that the cartels kill people to send messages to their rivals, but added that the bodies showing up on the US side of the southern border is something DPS has not seen before.
He also referred to the developments on 26 October, when DPS found a woman murdered by suspected members of Mexican cartels in Texas. The DPS officers believe the woman was mutilated, raped, and tortured by the drug gangs before the killing, according to Olivarez.
Texas Governor Slams Biden for 'Ignoring' Border Crisis
The remarks come after Texas Governor Greg Abbott blamed President Joe Biden for ignoring the problems along the southern border while voicing concern over the refugee gridlock along the Belarusian-Polish border.
In recent months, Poland along with neighbouring Latvia and Lithuania, have reported an influx of migrants trying to cross into the European Union from Belarus and accused Minsk of facilitating illegal migration to destabilise the bloc. Belarus denied those accusations, saying it has no funds to stop the migration due to European sanctions.
"President Biden's concern for other nations' borders, while he turns a blind eye to the United States' borders that he swore to protect and defend, is appalling", Abbott's Press Secretary Renae Eze said in an interview with the Daily Mail.
She added that the president's "reckless open border policies have created an ongoing crisis along our [US] southern border, leading to a 61-year record-high number of illegal immigrants surging into our state".
Eze spoke after US Customs and Border Protection announced that a record number of migrants (almost 1.7 million) had been apprehended this fiscal year, a sea change compared to fiscal year 2020's numbers, which saw about 400,000 arrests.
Trump Slams Biden for Allegedly Mulling 450k Payments to Migrants as US Turned Into 'Dumping Ground'
30 October 2021, 07:09 GMT
The Biden administration has been heavily criticised over its handling of the border crisis, which is seen by many voters as one of the president's key failures to date. Recent polls found that 43 percent of Americans approve of the White House's handling of immigration, while 52 percent express disapproval.
Upon assuming office in January 2021, Biden reversed many hardline migration policies pursued by the Trump administration, pledging a more "humane" approach to refugee-related issues.
He issued orders to halt construction of a border wall, end "harsh and extreme immigration enforcement", and promised to "restore and expand" the asylum system.
Other moves included rescinding the Trump travel ban and promising a "path to citizenship" for more than 11 million undocumented immigrants already living in the US.
The 45th president blasted the Biden administration's decision to end his hardline policies, accusing POTUS of "destroying our country".