Breaking News! Abbott’s Rio Grande Floating Marine Buoys Claim First Migrant’s Life in Eagle Pass, Texas
By: Ricardo E. Calderon, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2023
The floating marine buoys in the middle of the Rio Grande River, installed by Texas Governor Greg Abbott in Eagle Pass, Texas during July 2023 as part of his controversial border security program named “Operation Lone Star,” have claimed the life of the first migrant seeking asylum in the United States as Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Officers discovered a lifeless body of a male individual caught in the buoys on the Mexican side of the lethal barrier on Wednesday, August 2, 2023, at approximately 2:35 p.m.
The DPS Officers notified the Consulate of Mexico in Eagle Pass, Texas of their grisly finding tangled in the floating buoys on August 2. The lifeless migrant body appeared to have been caught between the military-grade concertina wire installed in the river and the buoys. Authorities suspect the migrant may have drowned.
The razor sharp concertina wire purpose is to snag the clothing of migrants crossing the Rio Grande, according to an earlier press release by Abbott’s Office.
The migrant’s body was retrieved by Mexican authorities and the Mexican Consulate in Eagle Pass is seeking to identify the name and nationality of the deceased migrant found in the buoys.
American and international humanitarian organizations denounced the cruel and inhumane policy to install floating marine buoys in the Rio Grande by Governor Abbott since it was announced at a press conference on June 8, 2023 in Austin, Texas. They warned that migrants could potentially get snagged or tangled up in the floating buoys and concertina wire installed on the river and drown. Their dire predictions have been confirmed with the death of the first migrant at the floating marine buoys in Eagle Pass.
On Tuesday, August 1, 2023, the Eagle Pass City Council unanimously (4-0) approved to rescind a controversial Criminal Trespass Affidavit signed by Mayor Rolando Salinas, Jr. that designated the city-owned Shelby Park as “private property” and authorized DPS to file misdemeanor criminal trespass charges against migrants crossing the Rio Grande from Mexico into the United States through the public park.
The Eagle Pass City Council’s rescission of the Criminal Trespass Affidavit signed by Mayor Salinas is a blow to Governor Abbott’s Operation Lone Star as DPS had taken over control and possession of the public park and its boat ramp as the staging and command center of Operation Lone Star and installation of the lethal floating marine buoys.
The rescission of the Criminal Trespass Affidavit also raises legal questions regarding the validity of over 400 migrants charged, arrested, and detained in state jails for trespassing the public Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, as well as potential liability of the State of Texas and the City of Eagle Pass for violating their legal and constitutional rights.
Members of the Eagle Pass Border Coalition and friends of the Rio Grande protested against DPS’ bulldozing of river islands and building security posts on the Rio Grande, closure of the city-owned Shelby Park to local citizens, installation of concertina wire and the floating marine buoys, militarization of the United States-Mexico border by Operation Lone Star, damages caused to private and public properties, and the cruel and inhumane treatment of migrants by DPS and Texas National Guard soldiers working on Operation Lone Star.
Eagle Pass resident and business owner, Jessie F. Fuentes, filed a lawsuit against Governor Abbott and the State of Texas in state district court in Travis County, Texas, challenging the validity of Operation Lone Star and the installation of the buoys in the Rio Grande, which Abbott and the state have removed to federal district court.
The United States Department of Justice also filed a lawsuit against Abbott and the state of Texas in federal district court in Austin, Texas, seeking an injunction against the floating marine buoys for violating the Rivers and Navigable Act.
