Both Mexico and the United States reported the two deaths as separate episodes and now the Coahuila state prosecutor’s office is in charge of identifying the bodies, presumably migrants who lost their lives trying to cross the river that borders between the two irregularly. countries. The cause of the deaths has also not been officially determined yet.
The Texas Department of Public Safety said in a statement Thursday that it had received a report Wednesday of “a possible drowning victim floating upstream” of the buoy barrier and that it notified U.S. Customs and Border Protection and to the Mexican consulate. The agency indicated that, later but on the same Wednesday, a second body was found on the floating barrier.
“Preliminary information suggests this individual drowned upstream of the marine barrier and floated toward the buoys,” said Steve McCraw, director of the Department of Public Safety. “There are personnel stationed at the marine barrier at all times in case any migrant tries to cross.”
According to the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs, one of the bodies was about 5 kilometers upriver from the buoys.
Isabel Turcios, a nun who runs the Casa del Migrante de Piedras Negras, indicated that migrants continue to cross even though the US authorities put barbed wire in the area under the border bridge that separates that town from Eagle Pass. At another point a little further downstream, they placed the 300-meter buoys.
Normally, he explained, they do it through an area near the bridge, which is where there is less water, and then they walk downstream until they find some space where there is no barbed wire.
Turcios said he did not know if there are people who are also trying to do it through the area of the buoys and mentioned that he had noticed an increase in the riverbed, probably because the gates of the dam located upstream had been opened.
Migrants continue to arrive in droves,” he said. “Some 200 people slept last night, this morning more than 50 entered the shelter.” ) and then they go and jump into the river” to deliver themselves to the other side where they are usually processed.
Mexico had warned of the risks posed by the huge orange buoys that stretch some 1,000 feet into the Rio Grande, which is called the Rio Grande in the United States. The barrier, which was installed in July and is the equivalent of three football fields, is designed to make it difficult for migrants to climb or swim under the buoys.
The Foreign Ministry recalled on Wednesday that Mexico had warned about the risks and that the barrier violates treaties on the use of the river and Mexican sovereignty. “We express our concern about the impact on the human rights and security of migrants that these state policies will have,” their statement said.
The US Department of Justice has sued Abbott over the floating wall. The lawsuit filed Monday asks a court to force Texas to remove it because, according to the Joe Biden administration, humanitarian and environmental concerns.
The buoys are the latest escalation in Texas’ drive to tighten the border, which also includes deploying cutting wire and arresting migrants on trespassing charges.
Migrant drownings are frequent in the Rio Grande. On the weekend of July 4, prior to the buoys being installed, four people, including a minor, drowned in the river near Eagle Pass.
FOUNTAIN: Associated Press
