Mom, Two Kids Drown In Rio Grande As Texas Guard Blocks Rescuers

A woman trying to cross the Rio Grande with two children all drowned Friday while trying to enter the U.S. near a section of the border where, as directed by Greg Abbott, Texas National Guard soldiers prevented federal Border Patrol agents from processing and rescuing migrants. Via CBS News:

Federal officials and a Texas congressman said National Guard soldiers deployed by Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott did not allow Border Patrol agents to attempt to rescue the migrants. Earlier this week, Texas National Guard soldiers abruptly seized control of a public park in Eagle Pass that Border Patrol had been using to hold migrants, marking the latest escalation in an intensifying political and legal feud between Abbott and President Biden over U.S. border policy.

On Friday night, Border Patrol identified six migrants in the Rio Grande who were in distress near the park, known as Shelby Park, Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar said in a statement Saturday. Federal agents, Cuellar added, unsuccessfully attempted to contact Texas state officials about the emergency by phone. Then, when Border Patrol agents went to the park and asked to be allowed to render aid to the migrants, they were denied entry, according to Cuellar.

[...] "This is a tragedy, and the State bears responsibility," he added.

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