Recent months have seen headlines filled with stories surrounding the legal disputes between the state of Texas and the U.S government over a controversial border policy that has become a national conversation.
In an effort to stop what Texas Governor Greg Abbott has called an “invasion” of illegal migrants, drug traffickers and criminals, Texas state authorities have erected a nearly 30-mile long wall of razor sharp concertina wire and steel barricades in a public park in Eagle Pass previously used by Border Patrol agents to process migrants crossing the Rio Grande.
Texas state officials argue Texas has a constitutional right to defend itself from such an invasion and the Supreme Court has yet to say otherwise.
However, the defensive border fortification is little more than a gross, vicious political statement engineered by Gov. Abbott that does not discriminate between criminals and people who are trying to cross the border legitimately.
Gov. Abbott’s political game is causing harm to real people, who often get overlooked in debates about the issue.
Last month, CNN reported on the deaths of three migrants from Mexico. One woman and two children drowned while attempting to cross the Rio Grande at Eagle Pass on Jan. 16. This incident was the latest among dozens of reports of injuries or death sustained at the border by migrants crossing in Eagle Pass, some from children as young as 5 years old.
Historically, it was the job of U.S. Border Patrol agents to detain and process migrants who crossed the border to determine their intentions and asylum seeking status. However, under Abbotts border policy, federal agents have been largely deterred from doing their duty at the border.
This has gone so far that despite a Supreme Court ruling that allowed federal border patrol employees to cut down sections of the wire fence, Texas has persisted and continues to replace the cut-down wire almost as quickly as agents can cut it down.
The Biden administration has argued that Abott’s decisions have made it difficult for border agents on the front lines to do their jobs. This has created a seperate conversation completely removed from the obvious ethical and moral concerns that this situation presents.
On Jan. 16, U.S. Border Patrol agents were alerted to the situation of the woman and her children by Mexican authorities, however they were denied access by the Texas National Guard to the section of the border where the migrants were trapped.
While the report goes on to say that it is unclear whether the migrants would have survived had border patrol agents been able to help, it is worrying that the Texas National Guard was able to deny access to federal agents in such an emergency.
For nothing more than the sake of making the president look bad, Gov. Abbott has created a situation that endangers men, women, and children who are trying to come across the border for perfectly legitimate reasons.
Razor wire does not discriminate between innocent and criminal.
Any political ground gained with Gov. Abbotts border stunt will be stained by the blood of the people he harmed along the way.
Categories: Opinion
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