The Biden administration is claiming that the Texas military prevented Border Patrol agents from rescuing two migrants stranded near the Rio Grande river bank on Friday.
The Texas Department of Public Safety seized control of Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, Texas, along the southern border and is being accused of shutting out Border Patrol agents from trying to police the area.
The administration claims that the Texas National Guard prevented agents on Friday from rescuing two migrants in “distress” who were stuck on the Texas side of the Rio Grande, the river marking the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a Supreme Court filing on Tuesday.
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The acting supervisory border patrol agent approached the Texas National Guard to request entry to the area to help the migrants and noted the “seriousness” of the situation, as three migrants had drowned in the river an hour prior, but was turned away, according to the court filing. Texas authorities went to investigate and aid the situation, instead.
The two stranded migrants attempted to venture back across the river toward Mexico and were rescued by Mexican authorities, and two additional migrants who attempted to cross later that night were also rescued, according to the court filing. The bodies of the three drowned migrants, a mother and two children, were allegedly recovered by Mexico.
“Those events underscore that Texas is firm in its continued efforts to exercise complete control of the border,” the Justice Department alleged in the court filing, admitting that it was “impossible to say” whether or not border patrol could have changed the situation.
Texas claimed that its National Guard “apprehended two migrants” on Friday in regard to the incident, according to the court filing. One migrant allegedly received emergency medical services for hypothermia.
“To the extent the complete circumstances surrounding Texas’s account of an apprehension of two migrants are uncertain in the time allowed to assess them, that reflects the confusion and communication problems that occur when Texas seeks to substitute its own law-enforcement personnel for Border Patrol,” the court filing reads.
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Some Border Patrol agents previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation that Texas’ actions to secure the border are working and that the Biden administration’s efforts are not enough. Texas has been in conflict with the Biden administration over how the border crisis should be handled.
Illegal immigration has reached new heights under the Biden administration’s policies. Migrant apprehensions at the southern border crossed 2.2 million in fiscal year 2022, compared to roughly 1.6 million just a year prior, according to Customs and Border Protection data.
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