Since Saturday, Texas law enforcement officers have recovered the corpses of four migrants, including an infant, from the Rio Grande River along the US-Mexico border, according to an official.
To deter illicit border crossings, Texas officials are anticipated to construct a floating water barrier along portions of the Rio Grande in the coming days. Governor Greg Abbott and other officials announced last month that the first 1,000 feet of the barrier will be installed near Eagle Pass starting on July 7.
4 Bodies Pulled From Rio Grande in Eagle Pass
A woman and infant girl were discovered unresponsive in the river on Saturday, and a deceased male and female were recovered on Sunday and Monday, respectively, according to a tweet by Lieutenant Christopher Olivarez of the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Olivarez stated that the mother and child were located after US Customs and Border Protection requested assistance from the Tactical Marine Unit of the state department of public safety about a potential infant drowning.
According to Olivarez, the marine unit deployed two watercraft in the river, where they discovered four persons, including the unresponsive mother and child. A spokesperson stated that chest compressions were administered to the unresponsive couple before their transport to a local medical center, where they were pronounced deceased.
According to him, the two survivors were turned over to US Customs and Border Protection. Olivarez stated no deceased migrants possessed identification documents, and their identities are unknown.
To avoid detection and enter the United States, migrants have adopted increasingly dangerous - and frequently fatal - methods in recent years. In March, near Eagle Pass, a deceased migrant was discovered among a dozen individuals stowing away in a train car.
CNN reported that 2022 was the deadliest year for migrants crossing the US-Mexico border, with at least 748 deaths. CNN has previously reported that immigrant rights advocates attribute the increase in border fatalities to policies that have made it more difficult for migrants to seek asylum in the United States.
Olivarez reports that on July 1, the Texas Department of Public Safety Tactical Marine Unit Operators and the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission responded to a request from the United States Border Patrol "concerning a potential neonate drowning."
As per Fox News, the authorities deployed two airboats and discovered multiple bodies afloat in the river. Olivarez stated that four persons were brought onto the boat, and two of them, a woman and an infant daughter, were unresponsive.
The woman and her infant were given CPR by TMU personnel, but they remained unresponsive. After the arrival of medical personnel, both victims were transported to the Fort Duncan Regional Medical Center, where they were pronounced deceased.
The two unidentified survivors were turned over to US Border Patrol. In addition, authorities recovered the corpse of an unidentified male from the Rio Grande on Sunday, followed by the body of an unidentified female on Monday, according to the Texas DPS spokesperson.
Texas DPS troopers on Monday rescued two Guatemalan migrant children who had been abandoned near the border. The children, aged 8 and 11, were discovered at the Rio Grande's border in Eagle Pass, according to Olivarez.
The children told the troopers that a woman left them at the river's margin in Mexico and instructed them to cross. Over 900 minors have been recovered by Texas DPS personnel during incidents involving smuggling and human trafficking.
US Migrants Crisis
Meanwhile, a bus carrying migrants from a border city in Texas arrived in downtown Los Angeles for the second time in less than three weeks on Saturday. The office of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was made aware of the bus from the border community of Brownsville on Friday without formal notification, as per Daily.
Zach Seidl, a spokesman for Bass, stated, "The City of Los Angeles believes in treating everyone with respect and dignity and will do so."
The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights reported that eleven children were also on the transport. The asylum aspirants arrived from Cuba, Belize, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
They received water, food, clothing, and initial legal assistance for immigration at the Croatian Parish Center and church of St. Anthony. Coalition spokesperson Jorge-Mario Cabrera stated that the group was less tense and disorderly than previously.
Cabrera reported that most were gathered by family members in the vicinity and appeared to have sandwiches and water, unlike the previous incident. According to him, six individuals required flights to Las Vegas, Seattle, San Francisco, and Alameda, not Los Angeles.
On June 14, the city received a transport conveying 42 migrants from Texas. Many were from Latin American nations, such as Honduras and Venezuela, and neither water nor sustenance was provided. Since last spring, Texas has bused more than 21,600 migrants out of the state, according to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's office.
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