John Moore/Getty Images
Three migrants, including two children, died in Texas on Saturday after state authorities blocked Border Patrol from accessing the area.
A woman and two children drowned in the Rio Grande, near Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Cuellar said that Border Patrol had been informed of six migrants in distress as they were trying to cross the Rio Grande on Friday.
But its attempts to phone the Texas Military Department (TMD), the Texas National Guard, and the Texas Department of Public Safety about the situation were fruitless, he added.
After making "physical contact" with the Texas Military Department and the Texas National Guard at an entrance gate at Shelby Park, "Texas Military Department soldiers stated they would not grant access to the migrants – even in the event of an emergency – and that they would send a soldier to investigate the situation."
The TMD confirmed to Texas Public Radio that it had been contacted about a "migrant distress situation" at 9 p.m. on Friday.
"TMD had a unit in the vicinity of the boat ramp and actively searched the river with lights and night vision goggles. No migrants were observed," it said in a statement, adding that it later "observed a group of Mexican authorities responding to an incident on the Mexico side of the river bank" and reported this to Border Patrol.
"They confirmed that the Mexican authorities required no additional assistance. At that time, TMD ceased search operations," it continued.
Cuellar said that the bodies of three migrants were subsequently found on Saturday morning by Mexican authorities.
"Mexican sources say that the three migrants recovered today were a family. The female adult was identified as the mother of both children, an 8-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy," Cuellar added in another post.
David Zalubowski
The tragedy comes a day after it was alleged that Texas National Guard soldiers had been blocking US Border Patrol agents from accessing parts of the US-Mexico border.
The Justice Department said in a court filing on Friday that the Texas National Guard had erected new razor-wire barriers and fencing along a stretch of the border in Eagle Pass.
"That fencing further restricts Border Patrol's ability to reach the river in particular areas," the Justice Department said in the filing, as it blocks access to a boat ramp that agents use to get to the Rio Grande.
Under Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, the state has pushed its own border controls, which the federal government normally handles, Reuters reported.
"The Texas governor's policies are cruel, dangerous, and inhumane, and Texas's blatant disregard for federal authority over immigration poses grave risks," US Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Luis Miranda said in a statement, per Reuters.
"The State of Texas should stop interfering with the US Border Patrol's enforcement of US law," he added.
The Department of Homeland Security, the Texas National Guard, and the Texas Military Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
