Gov. Greg Abbott denies responsibility for migrant drownings near Eagle Pass

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott took to social media late Sunday to deny state responsibility in the drowning deaths of three migrants near a park in Eagle Pass the state closed off to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents.

In a tweet, Abbott alleged that the migrants had already drowned on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande by the time federal Border Patrol agents requested access to the area occupied by Texas National Guardsmen. In his statement, Texas’ Republican governor also got in shots at U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, and the media for publicizing the fatalities.

“Turns out Rep. Cuellar (& some media) were so eager to point finger at Texas for drowning of migrants they forgot to get the facts,” Abbott tweeted. “When [Border Patrol] requested access to river the drownings had already occurred and [the bodies] found in [Mexico.] The fact is the deaths are [because] of Biden’s Open Border magnet.”

Media reports, including one by Texas Public Radio’s Pablo De La Rosa, have disputed Abbott’s version of events. Border Patrol officials told reporters that Texas National Guardsmen directly thwarted efforts to rescue the three migrants.

A woman and two children drowned while trying to cross the Rio Grande from Mexico into Texas on Friday. Critics, including Cuellar and the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), blamed Abbott’s occupation of Eagle Pass’ Shelby Park for the deaths, saying federal agents’ inability to access the area prevented them from rescuing the trio.

Texas National Guardsmen seized Shelby Park Jan. 10 and have since prevented federal Border Patrol agents from entering the area. BCP had previously used the park as a staging ground to detain and process migrants entering the U.S.

“I am shocked that Gov. Abbott and his administration continue a ‘go it alone’ approach, creating policies that prioritize his political interests and result in the unnecessary deaths of the most vulnerable while wasting Texans’ taxpayer dollars and doing nothing to fix our immigration system,” LULAC National President Domingo Garcia said in a statement.

However, Abbott has since denied that his troops, stationed at Shelby Park as part of his pricy border crackdown Operation Lone Star, are to blame for the drownings.

Following an internal investigation, the Texas Military Department (TMD) — the same agency charged with running Abbott’s border crackdown Operation Lone Star — determined that the accusations made by the media, Cuellar, and LULAC were “wholly inaccurate.”

“At the time that Border Patrol requested access, the drownings had occurred, Mexican Authorities were recovering the bodies, and Border Patrol expressed these facts to the TMD personnel on site,” TMD officials wrote in a Sunday press release.

The TMD argued that by the time the Border Patrol officials learned of the distressed migrants and requested access to Shelby Park, the three had already drowned and that efforts to recover the bodies had already begun on the Mexican side.

However, TPR’s De La Rosa said in a tweet on Sunday that BCP did try to rescue the drowning migrants and Texas National Guardsmen got in the way of those efforts.

“Texas Public Radio confirmed directly with CBP that the attempt to rescue was blocked,” De La Rosa wrote. “Congressman Cuellar tweeted more than once to clarify that he confirmed this as well. [Texas Military Department] made absolutely no denial that they did so in their statement.”

On Friday, the Biden White House and the U.S. Justice Department asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in Abbott’s occupation of Shelby Park. The high court is expected to discuss the request this week.

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This article appears in Jan 10-23, 2024.