Abbott & DPS chief: “The hope is that the possibility of death will deter people from trying to cross the river”
It wasn’t enough for the GOP to separate immigrant children from their parents, the Trumpian policy that to this day have stranded hundreds in the system, and still apart from their adult loved ones. Now, under the diabolical leadership of Gov Greg Abbott, the state of Texas is installing a floating wall in the Rio Grande, a wall designed to actually drown refugees.
“The hope is that the possibility of death will deter people from trying to cross the river,” Abbott and DPS Director Steve McGraw were quoted in a recent Wall Street Journal article.
The terrible irony is that border crossings are way, way down. The border is becoming increasingly under control, thanks to the Biden Administration. Much of this is due to Biden’s finally successful effort to end Title 42, a statue intended for use only during epidemics. Title 42 was unfairly and incorrectly continued following the end of the major Covid pandemic. Republicans continued to push for Title 42, despite the hardships it imposes on immigrants and refugees.
Since the end of Title 42, and because they stop counting recidivism as new encounters, border crossings are down 70%. Yet, Abbott and the GOP are still using fear-mongering about migrants and employing tactics to inflict harm on refugees.
The floating wall, when completer, will be run for 1,000 feet down the middle of the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass.
“What Abbott is doing is conducting an irresponsible experiment at the expense of federal and international law,” said Steven Mumme, a scholar at the Baker Institute Center for the United States and Mexico specializing in transboundary environmental and natural resources management along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Mumme said the buoys would illegally alter the flow of the river which would change the boundary between the United States and Mexico.
As reported by the “Texas Standard,” Jesse Fuentes of The Eagle Pass Border Coalition said he suspects the barriers will not be securely anchored and during the frequent river overflows, the buoys could break away. This would cause the buoys to float downstream and crash into critical infrastructure like the border bridges.
Fuentes is a participant in a lawsuit filed Friday against Abbott, the state of Texas, and the Department of Public Safety over the buoy barrier.
At a press conference Friday, Fuentes said the barriers are a violation of international law, an environmental stressor on an already troubled river—and also unnecessary. Fuentes added that it will do nothing to make the border more secure.
“This is the most secure border in all of America because there are people in the air, people in the water, people driving around, people looking at us from the left, from the right, and this is our community.”
Under the ruthlessTrump policy to tear families apart, over five thousand children were taken away from their parents. And while many have been returned, hundreds were lost in the system, never to be seen or heard from again.
In the end, research showed that both family detention and family separation policies have not deterred families from coming to the United States.
Because of this policy, the saying, “cruelty is the point,” became a common phrase when speaking of GOP policy. Greg Abbott’s latest political stunt is no different.
Links:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/texas-uses-large-buoys-in-latest-effort-to-stop-illegal-crossings-4856121c (Note: Pay wall)
Unbelievable! Has Abbott even considered the heartbreak of the families who watch their loved ones drown in front of their eyes. And what will become of their bodies, washed downstream and forever lost. What a monstrosity!