Allegations of inhumane treatment of migrants at the Texas-Mexico border have sparked an official investigation by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS). A state trooper's email alleges superiors ordered officers to push migrants, including children, back into the Rio Grande and deny them water. The claims also detail a pregnant migrant suffering a miscarriage after entanglement in razor wire and numerous other wire-related injuries.
DPS spokesman Travis Considine denied the existence of any policy directing troopers to withhold water or push migrants back into the river. The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is currently investigating these serious accusations. The trooper who made the allegations serves as a medic and reportedly witnessed these events while on patrol in Eagle Pass, the same area where Governor Greg Abbott recently deployed a floating barrier in the Rio Grande.
Migrants near the floating border barrier in Eagle Pass, Texas. (AP/Eric Gay)
The trooper's email describes an incident on June 25th involving a group of approximately 120 migrants, including young children and infants, who were reportedly exhausted and hungry near the border fence. The trooper claims they were ordered to force the group back into the river, a directive they questioned due to the risk of drowning. They allege they were then instructed to simply tell the migrants to return to Mexico.
Further allegations detail a four-year-old girl passing out from heat exhaustion after being pushed back by Texas National Guard soldiers while trying to cross razor wire. The email also mentions a father rescuing his child from the wire-covered barrier in the river and several other wire-related injuries in subsequent days.
A separate incident on July 1st involved Border Patrol agents discovering a woman and two children attempting to cross the Rio Grande. One child tragically died later in a hospital, while the other child's body remains unrecovered. The increased border security measures, including the controversial floating barriers, have drawn criticism from Mexico, which argues they violate international treaties.
