OAN’s Roy Francis
11:19 AM – Saturday, August 5, 2023
The Texas Governor’s office said that Mexico is “flat-out wrong” as the southern country tried to tie the death of two migrants to the floating border barrier on the Rio Grande.
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Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said that Governor Greg Abbott (R-Texas) is “inhumane” after the governor authorized the placement of the floating barrier in the Rio Grande to try and lessen the crossing of migrants.
“We reiterate the position of the Government of Mexico that the placement of wire buoys by the Texas authorities is a violation of our sovereignty,” Mexico’s foreign ministry said. “We express our concern about the impact on the human rights and personal safety of migrants that these state policies will have, which run counter to the close collaboration between our country and the federal government of the United States.”
Mexico announced earlier this week that the body of a migrant had been found in the southern part of the Rio Grande, stuck in the buoys that were placed by Texas. A little while later, shortly after, a second body was found around three miles up the river.
The report of the bodies that were found increased the criticism of the border barrier, with Mexico blaming the buoys for the deaths.
Abbott’s office refuted the claims and said that the barrier has nothing to do with the two deaths near the barrier. Spokesman Andrew Mahaleris told Fox News that the Mexican government is “flat-out wrong” and that the evidence points towards the “drowning occurring before the body was even near the barriers.”
“The Mexican government is flat-out wrong,” Mahaleris said. “To be clear, preliminary information points to the drowning occurring before the body was even near the barriers. The Texas Department of Public Safety previously reported to Border Patrol the dead body floating upstream from the barriers in the Rio Grande. Also, DPS monitors the barriers for anyone attempting to cross and has not observed anyone attempting to cross since they were installed.”
He went on to point out that drownings were common in that area, even before the barrier was implemented. He said that the deaths are the result of the “open border policies of President Biden.”
“This is a result of the reckless open border policies of President Biden and President López Obrador. In fact, before Texas deployed barriers, the United Nations declared the U.S.-Mexico border the deadliest land crossing in the world,” he said. “If President Biden and President López Obrador truly cared about human life, they would do their jobs and secure the border.”
On Friday, Governor Abbott said that he will do anything he can to defend Texas against the “invasion of Mexican drug cartels” and other illegal immigrants.
“I will do whatever I have to do to defend our state from the invasion of the Mexican drug cartels and others who have tried to come into our country illegally, and I will protect our sovereignty,” the governor said.
The efforts of Abbott to keep illegal migrants out of the state of Texas has caused friction between him and the president of Mexico who urged Hispanics in the state not to vote for Abbott.
“We don’t have to do much, just tell our compatriots not to vote for the governor of Texas or for lawmakers of the Republican Party who support these measures,” he said.
The floating barrier in the Rio Grande, which was installed in July, is now facing a lawsuit by the Department of Justice and high-profile Democrats.
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