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US Justice Department evaluates Texas border fence with razor wire after Mexican President deems it 'inhumane'
The US Justice Department is investigating the legality of Texas' border fence, which uses razor wire to deter migrants. Mexican President condemned the fence.
The US Justice Department is looking into the legality of Texas’ border fence that uses razor wire and buoys to stop migrants from crossing the Rio Grande after the Mexican president has condemned the fence as “inhumane” and “barbaric.”
The fence is part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star, a campaign to secure the border amid a surge of asylum seekers from Central America and other countries.
Abbott has blamed President Joe Biden for creating a “crisis” at the border by reversing some of former President Donald Trump’s hardline policies.
But the wired fence has raised serious human rights concerns, as migrants have been injured, dehydrated, and denied water by Texas authorities, according to an email obtained by the Houston Chronicle from an anonymous Department of Public Safety trooper.
The email described several incidents where troopers were ordered to “push the people back into the water to go to Mexico” and not to give them any water, even in the scorching heat.
The trooper said he believed they had crossed a line into the “inhumane.”
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador echoed that sentiment, saying he was shocked by the reports and that he thought Abbott was using the fence for political gain.
“I don’t think the people of Texas view the policies in a positive light,” he said.
DOJ spokesperson Xochitl Hinojosa said the department was “aware of the troubling reports” and was working with Homeland Security to “assess the situation.”
The Houston Chronicle also reported that a 19-year-old pregnant woman, who was reportedly having a miscarriage, was found trapped in the razor wire last month and doubled over in pain.
A four-year-old girl also fainted from heat exhaustion and had to be rescued from the water by a Texas National Guard soldier.
A man with a cut on his leg suffered more injuries after trying to save his child from razor wire after they grabbed onto a buoy in the river.
A 15-year-old with a broken leg had to be carried through the water by his father, who was desperately attempting to steer clear of the wire.
In another email from DPS Director Steven McCraw, he defended the fence, saying it was meant to deter smugglers and not to harm migrants. He said smugglers did not care about the migrants’ well-being, but Texas did.
“The purpose of the wire is to deter smuggling between the ports of entry and not to injure migrants. The smugglers care not if the migrants are injured, but we do, and we must take all necessary measures to mitigate the risk to them including injuries from trying to cross over the concertina wire, drownings, and dehydration,” he wrote.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called the fence “shameful” and “atrocious” on Wednesday, but did not say if the Biden Administration planned on removing it, as Mexico has requested. She also said she did not know what conversations were happening between Texas and Mexico officials.
The Mexican government has protested the razor wire fence, saying it violates two agreements signed with the US in 1944 and 1970, which regulate the use of the border rivers. Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Secretary, Alicia Barcena, sent a note to US officials demanding a permit for the fence.
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The border is facing a huge backlog of migrants, with more than 100,000 waiting to enter the US, compared to 60,000 last month. In Tijuana, near San Diego, California, there are 17,000 asylum-seekers alone, according to city immigration officials who shared the data with The Post.
The US government has increased the penalties for illegal crossings, but it is also allowing up to 43,500 migrants to enter legally every month through its CBP One app, which lets them apply for appointments.
There are only 1,450 slots available per day.
