Three migrants attempting to enter the United States Friday night had already drowned when Texas’s National Guard turned U.S. Border Patrol Agents away from the Rio Grande, according to a recent Department of Justice filing.
Robert Danley, lead U.S. Customs and Border Protection field agent for the broader Del Rio area, wrote in a statement included with the filing that a Mexican official notified the U.S. Friday night that three migrants — a woman and two children — had drowned roughly an hour earlier while traversing the river.
A Border Patrol official then went to the Shelby Park Boat Ramp entrance, where three Texas guardsmen told him they had been ordered not to let Border Patrol agents into the area.
The filing contradicts earlier mainstream reporting and statements made by Representative Henry Cuellar (D., Texas), as well as a cease-and-desist letter to Texas attorney general Ken Paxton written by U.S. Department of Homeland Security general counsel Jonathan Meyer ordering Texas to stop preventing Border Patrol officials from accessing a section of the state’s border with Mexico.
“Texas’s failure to provide access to the border persists even in instances of imminent danger to life and safety,” Meyer wrote, referencing the drownings. “Texas has demonstrated that even in the most exigent circumstances, it will not allow Border Patrol access to the border to conduct law enforcement and emergency response activities.”
Texas officials have for the past several months been engaged in a legal battle with the federal government over razor wire the state installed last to deter migrants entering the country as part of Operation Lone Star, an initiative Texas governor Greg Abbott (R.) launched in an attempt to curtail illegal border crossings from Mexico into Texas. The Biden administration is also challenging a new Texas law that empowers state and local authorities to arrest and deport illegal immigrants, a power the Biden administration contends is reserved for the federal government alone.
Earlier this month, the Texas National Guard deployed units in Shelby Park, which has become a popular illegal entrance into the U.S., to deter Border Patrol agents from collecting and processing undocumented immigrants.
“The Texas National Guard has maintained a presence with security points and temporary barrier in Shelby Park since 2021,” a spokesman said, though the refusal to let Border Patrol agents into the area only began in January of this year. “The current posture is to prepare for future illegal immigrant surges and to restrict access to organizations that perpetuate illegal immigrant crossings in the park and greater Eagle Pass area.”