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The Justice Department announced Wednesday it would be assessing the legality of Texas’ razor wire border fence after the Mexican president called it “inhumane.” Welded Gabion Baskets
As part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star, Texas installed miles of razor wire and buoys in the middle of the Rio Grande to help prevent asylum seekers from reaching the US.
In addition, an anonymous Department of Public Safety trooper detailed several incidents in an email obtained by the Houston Chronicle where he claimed to a superior that they were ordered to “push the people back into the water to go Mexico” and forgo giving migrants any water, despite the dangerous heat wave.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador called the deterrents “inhumane” and said he had a hard time accepting that troopers would deny water to migrants, saying it was “barbaric.”
He also said he believed Abbott was employing such measures for “votes,” adding “I don’t think the people of Texas view the policies in a positive light.”
DOJ spokesperson Xochitl Hinojosa said she was “aware of the troubling reports” and the department was working with Homeland Security to “assess the situation.”
There have been reports that a 19-year-old pregnant woman, who was reportedly having a miscarriage, was found trapped in the razor wire last month and doubled over in pain.
A four-year-old girl also passed out from heat exhaustion and had to be pulled from the water by Texas National Guard soldier, the Houston Chronicle first reported.
The same day, a man with a laceration on his leg suffered additional injuries after trying to save his child from razor wire after they grabbed onto a buoy in the Rio Grande.
And a 15-year-old with a broken leg had to be carried through the water by his father, who was trying to avoid the wire.
In a separate incident, troopers found a group of 120 people camped out along the river and were ordered to “push the people back into the water to go to Mexico,” the email said.
The unidentified trooper agreed with the Mexican president, calling the actions “inhumane.”
“I believe we have stepped over a line into the inhumane,” he wrote in the email.
He also reiterated to his superior that the wired parts of the Rio Grande was preventing officers from reaching those in need and it was forcing migrants to cross in deeper areas.
In a separate email from DPS Director Steven McCraw, he said: “The purpose of the wire is to deter smuggling between the ports of entry and not to injure migrants. 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.”
The email comes as Abbott increased efforts to secure the border with the most aggressive initiatives, including the wall of floating buoys at Eagle Pass.
Governor Abbott has been vocal about the migration patterns in his state and has blatantly blamed President Joe Biden for refusing to secure the border.
“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, told the paper.
“President Biden has unleashed chaos on the border that’s unsustainable, and we have a constitutional duty to respond to this unprecedented crisis.”
Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced on Wednesday that she did not know what conversations were happening between Texas and Mexico officials, but called the barriers “shameful” and “atrocious.”
However, she did not say if the Biden Administration planned on having the barbed wire removed, as Mexico has requested.
Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Secretary, Alicia Barcena, sent a note to US officials claiming the barbed wire broke two treaties the two countries signed in 1944 and 1970, which could have forced the State Department to obtain a permit to install the dangerous wire along the waterways of the border.
More than 100,000 migrants are currently waiting at the border, up from the 60,000 last month. Figures obtained by The Post show 17,000 asylum-seekers waiting in Tijuana, just south of San Diego, California, alone, according to city immigration officials.
Although the government has put tougher penalties in place for those caught attempting to enter the U.S. illegally, up to 43,500 migrants are being waved into the country legally each month after applying through the government’s CBP One app.
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