Greg Abbott Condemned After Migrant Children Drown: ‘Murder’

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has faced condemnation on social media on Saturday after the state’s National Guard troops blocked federal forces from approaching migrants that later drowned.

Details about the incident emerged on Saturday, confirmed in a written statement from Representative Henry Cuellar, a Texas Democrat. On Friday evening, federal Border Patrol agents noticed six migrants in distress who were attempting to cross the Rio Grande River. Initial attempts by Border Patrol officers to alert state officials about the situation by phone were unsuccessful.

Later, the federal agents attempted to enter a migrant holding and processing area in Shelby Park near Eagle Pass. The park had previously been seized by Texas National Guard troops deployed by the Republican governor and is near where the group of migrants were struggling. According to Cuellar’s statement, the state troop said they could not allow entry, even in the event of an emergency, with CBS News later reporting that the federal agents were “physically” barred from entering the area. Three migrants, a woman and two children, ultimately drowned.

When it comes to security at the U.S.-Mexico border, Republicans have claimed that surges in migrant crossings in the last several years have amounted to a “crisis” or an “invasion,” as opposed to their Democratic colleagues, who have pushed for streamlined processes for asylum-seeking migrants. Some GOP lawmakers, meanwhile, have consistently been critical of President Joe Biden‘s handling of the issue and have attempted to make stricter laws a major requirement for new government funding deals.

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Newsweek reached out to Abbott’s office via email for comment.

In the wake of the incident, numerous individuals took to X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday to vent their frustrations and anger with Abbott.

“Greg Abbott blocked U.S. Border Patrol from reaching the river,” Santiago Mayer, executive director for the Voters of Tomorrow advocacy group, wrote. “He let two children drown. He is a murderous psychopath and should be held accountable.”

“Greg Abbott said the only thing keeping Texas from shooting people who come across the border was that they would be charged with murder,” The Atlantic writer Jerusalem Demsas wrote, invoking recent comments from Abbott. “Now, a woman and two children have drowned in the Rio Grande as Texas officials physically prevented federal agents from intervening.”

“Last night a woman and two children drowned crossing the Rio Grande River near Shelby Park—land recently seized by the Texas National Guard, who blocked Border Patrol from accessing the land,” Sawyer Hackett, a Democratic strategist and one-time appointee of former President Barack Obama, wrote in his own post. “Greg Abbott is responsible for these deaths. And he should be tried accordingly.”

“Aiding and abetting the death of children in the name of ‘border security’ is a bloodthirsty approach to governance that places our entire state in danger,” the official account for the Texas Democratic Party wrote in a post on Saturday. “Greg Abbott is Texas’ own grim reaper and he must be held accountable for the blood on his hands.”

Demsas’ X post referenced specific comments Abbott made in a January 5 radio interview with former National Rifle Association (NRA) spokeswoman Dana Loesch. In the interview, Abbott claimed that the only reason Texas officials were not shooting migrants at the border was because “the Biden administration would charge us with murder.” The governor’s comments sparked their own wave of backlash.

Meanwhile, National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd defended Abbott’s actions last week, telling Fox News that the governor was not harming operations, but instead “enhancing them.”

“His seizing control of Shelby Park allows our agents to deploy to troubled spots that experience high numbers of gotaways,” Judd said. “Governor Abbott’s actions should be seen as a force multiplier.”

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