The Texas Department of Public Safety announced that an illegal immigrant was found dead after attempting to cross the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass on Saturday.
Lt. Chris Olivares, a Texas DPS spokesman, wrote on Platform It said the deceased man had been recovered.
“The dangerous Rio Grande crossing at Eagle Pass was another tragedy,” Olivarez wrote.
Over the past three years, about 2,300 undocumented immigrants have died from drowning, heat stroke, vehicle accidents or other dangerous conditions blamed on human smuggling and harsh environmental conditions, Olivares said.
Olivarez said Texas is taking every precaution to stop illegal border crossings.
He said these types of precautions “require a federal response to enforce consequences and enact current laws to prevent anyone from crossing the river.”
This comes after three migrants, a woman and two children, drowned in the Rio Grande about a week ago.
Federal officials and U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, initially responded to accusations that the Texas Department of Military Affairs denied Border Patrol access to Shelby Park to help six migrants in distress. It held the state responsible for the deaths of the three migrants.
However, an investigation by the Texas Department of State Military Affairs found that this accusation was “totally inaccurate” and that the drowning had already occurred by the time Border Patrol requested access to the area.
“At the time Border Patrol requested access, a drowning had occurred and Mexican authorities were in recovery of the body, and Border Patrol communicated these facts to TMD personnel on scene,” TMD said in a news release last week. mentioned in.
The Texas Department of Military Affairs said Border Patrol agents learned of the migrants in distress on January 12 and contacted the soldiers directly when they requested access to Shelby Park.
The soldiers said the Border Patrol told them when they requested entry that Mexican authorities had already recovered the bodies of two drowned migrants.
Border Patrol specifically requested access to the park to retrieve two additional migrants who were traveling with the deceased and believed to have crossed to the boat launch, according to a press release.
Two migrants were arrested by the Texas military, one was turned over to the Department of Public Safety, and the other was rushed to the hospital for early hypothermia.
Soldiers continued to use lights, night vision goggles and thermals to prevent any more migrants from entering the river or becoming lost, according to a press release.
