EAGLE PASS, Texas — An immigrant couple and their baby nearly drowned while trying to cross the Rio Grande into Texas early Monday morning, The Post has learned.
National Guard officials said the mother and child were rescued shortly before 7 a.m. after they were “nearly swept away” while trying to cross “rapid water” in the hotly contested border area.
Another official said the infant was in critical condition and had to be “stabilized” at the scene after the near-tragedy.
Witnesses recalled seeing the infant wrapped in a silver hypothermia blanket in the back of the ambulance.
The condition of the baby’s parents was not immediately known.
It was not immediately clear whether the father had to be pulled from the water or whether he was able to get to safety on his own.
Border Patrol and Texas Department of Public Safety officials did not immediately respond to The Post’s requests for comment.
The ordeal occurred near Shelby Park, where Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered the National Guard to install fences, barriers and razor wire along the banks of the Rio Grande to deter migrants from illegally crossing the border.
This near-drowning occurred just two weeks after another immigrant woman and her two children drowned while attempting to cross the same river.
In this case, Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) was quick to claim that Texas authorities blocked federal agents from assisting.
However, the Texas National Guard claims that account is “totally inaccurate,” and by the time Customs and Border Protection agents requested access to Shelby Park, the drowning had occurred and Mexican authorities had recovered the body. He pointed out that he was being held.
Meanwhile, tensions between federal authorities and local governments continue to rise after the Department of Homeland Security last week demanded that states stop occupying city parks and vacate them.
State officials ordered the 50-acre park to be relinquished by 1 p.m. Friday, but the park entrance was still guarded as of Monday morning, and National Guard troops and law enforcement officers were still present. .
Mr. Abbott, a Republican, has repeatedly criticized the Biden administration for allowing a deluge of illegal immigrants into Texas border towns.
Despite Biden’s insistence last year that he would take a tough stance on illegal border crossings, the number of migrants encountered by agents along the Southwest border last month rose, according to figures released by the Border Patrol on Friday. This was a record high of 302,034 people.
Additionally, fewer than 500,000 people were deported in the eight months from May to the end of the year, less than one in five of the total number of migrants encountered at the Southwest border in 2023.
