Texas Military Department disputes allegations by Democrats and the White House
Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Texas) said on Monday that Democrats “forgot to get the facts” before accusing Texas authorities of preventing Border Patrol from rescuing drowning illegal immigrants in the Rio Grande.
Contrary to allegations leveled by a Democrat Congress member and the Biden administration, the Texas Military Department (TMD) asserted on Jan. 14 that the bodies of one adult woman and two children had already been recovered from the river by Mexican authorities before Border Patrol agents requested access to a fenced-off 2.5-mile stretch of the southern border in Eagle Pass on Jan. 12.
TMD, which runs the National Guard, provided additional details about the incident in an updated statement on Jan. 14, once again calling the allegations “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,” the TMD stated on Jan. 14.
According to TMD, its soldiers reported that at the time of the incident, Border Patrol agents informed them that Mexican authorities had already recovered the bodies of two drowned people.
TMD added that federal Border Patrol agents requested access to the park to apprehend two additional illegal immigrants who crossed at the Shelby Park boat ramp. These individuals were presumed to be travel companions of the deceased, according to the agency.
Of the two illegal immigrants apprehended, TMD stated that its soldiers turned one of them over to the Texas Department of Public Safety, while the other was transferred to emergency medical services due to hypothermic conditions.
“Additionally, TMD remained engaged with lights, night vision goggles, and thermals to ensure that no additional migrants were in the river or in distress,” TMD stated.
The previous day, the agency asserted that its security personnel saw no sign of distressed illegal immigrants in the river and that Mexican authorities required no help with an incident observed on the Mexican side of the river bank. TMD also said that its personnel did not turn away any illegal immigrants.
