(Washington) The American administration of President Joe Biden denounced Sunday the obstruction of the Republican governor of Texas Greg Abbott, after the drowning of three migrants at the border with Mexico.
A declared supporter of Donald Trump, who made the fight against immigration one of the main themes of his electoral campaign, Mr. Abbott openly challenges the authority of the Biden administration, accusing it of “deliberate inaction” in the face of a record influx of migrants at the border in recent months.
Texas and the Biden administration are also engaged in a legal standoff. The Justice Department accuses the governor of preventing the Federal Border Patrol from accomplishing its mission by blocking its access to a key sector of the border with Mexico, which Texas authorities dispute.
“On Friday evening, a woman and two children drowned near Eagle Pass, while Texas authorities prevented the Border Patrol from providing assistance,” White House spokesperson Angelo said on Sunday. Fernandez Hernández.
PHOTO SAM OWENS, ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES
Texas Department of Public Safety officers guard the entrance to Shelby Park, Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024, in Eagle Pass, Texas.
“While we are still establishing the facts about these tragic deaths, one thing is clear: Governor Abbott’s political schemes are cruel, inhumane and dangerous. Federal Border Patrol must have access to the border to enforce our laws,” he added.
A Texas Democrat elected to the House of Representatives, Henry Cuellar, also accused the Texas National Guard, which this week took exclusive control of a key sector near the border town of Eagle Pass, on the Rio Grande, “for not having allowed access to the border police to save the migrants”.
“This is a tragedy, for which the State of Texas bears responsibility,” he said in a statement Saturday.
Barbed wire
Texas National Guard regulators said in a statement cited by US media that they searched the Rio Grande for migrants on Friday evening “with lights and night vision goggles” after being informed by Border Patrol. of an “emergency situation”, but not having found one.
The National Guard then stopped its search after noting that Mexican authorities were “reacting to an incident on their bank of the river,” according to the same source.
In December, a federal appeals court prohibited the Border Patrol from removing or dismantling the barbed wire installed by Texas near Eagle Pass to carry out its missions, unless justified by a medical emergency.
The Department of Justice appealed to the Supreme Court in early January to have this decision overturned.
But this week, the Texas National Guard began installing new barriers, which “effectively prohibit Border Patrol agents from accessing the border or approaching the river along this segment of 2, 5 miles” (approximately 3.7 km), Biden administration legal advisor Elizabeth Prelogar said Friday.
In its written response to the Supreme Court on Saturday, “Texas acknowledges that it took control of a municipal park in Eagle Pass for law enforcement and relief purposes.” But he assures “that he has not been aware until now of the current objections of the federal security services, and is working towards their rapid resolution”.