AUSTIN, Texas – Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador blasted the treatment of migrants following reporting earlier this week that officials received orders to push those crossing at the Texas border back into the Rio Grande and also were told not to give them water.
The president said he did not believe that Texas officials would physically push migrants back into the Rio Grande, saying it would be too “barbaric.” But he does believe that they would deny them water.
The Department of Justice said Wednesday it is assessing the situation.
“The department is aware of the troubling reports, and we are working with DHS and other relevant agencies to assess the situation,” said spokesperson Xochitl Hinojosa.
At his daily press conference in Mexico City, López Obrador again blasted Texas’ tactics.
“It’s inhumane,” he said. “We’re going to keep defending our citizens and the general mistreatment of immigrants.”
Earlier this week, The Dallas Morning News reported that a trooper with the Texas Department of Public Safety sent an email this month raising concerns that supervisors ordered migrants pushed back into water, and wanted to deny them water. Some crossing the river received lacerations as a result of the razor wire fencing installed as part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star.
A 19-year-old pregnant woman was caught in razor wiring, the email said, while she was undergoing a miscarriage. The Houston Chronicle first reported the email’s existence.
Travis Considine, a spokesman for DPS, has said the agency’s inspector general is investigating to see if any department policies were violated. Considine also said DPS does not have a policy to deny migrants water.
The Mexican president is the latest official to condemn Texas and Abbott for the tactics. On Tuesday, the White House said the treatment was despicable and dangerous. Texas Democrats in Congress called the razor wire “barbaric” and some said the state’s border measures violated international human rights laws.
Abbott’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on López Obrador’s reaction.
At the White House, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said she isn’t sure what conversations have taken place with Mexican officials about the Texas border barriers.
She called those barriers “shameful,” “inhumane” and “atrocious,” but also said she’s not sure what the federal government can or will do to remove them, as Mexico has demanded.
“That is something the Department of Justice is going to certainly look into,” Jean-Pierre said.
Jean-Pierre rejected the idea that by allowing the state’s barrier to remain in place, the federal government has effectively ceded some control over an international boundary.
”Absolutely not,” she said, emphasizing that the Justice and Homeland Security departments are looking into options.
But she indicated that no steps have been taken so far to remove the razor wire, referring questions to Justice and Homeland Security about what, if anything, the federal government has done to address concerns raised by Mexico, Border Patrol agents and migrant advocates.
López Obrador did not accuse Texas of breaking any laws Wednesday in his press conference but said the latest policies – implementing a razor wire fence and installing floating border buoys – are nothing more than propaganda that’s meant for photos.
“It’s to get votes,” López Obrador said, “or to try and get votes because I don’t think the people of Texas view the policies in a positive light.”
López Obrador previously criticized Abbott and other conservative lawmakers for their immigration policies. Last year, ahead of the midterms, he asked Mexican Americans in the United States not to vote for candidates who had “anti-immigration” policies.
On Wednesday, the Mexican president said he would not meet with Abbott. López Obrador noted that he previously met with Arizona’s Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs this year.
“We are going to keep condemning all the anti-immigrant and anti-Mexican politicians,” he said.
Mexican officials increasingly are condemning Abbott’s policies to combat illegal immigration, such as Operation Lone Star, Abbott’s multi-billion dollar border security effort that began in 2021. The operation uses Texas National Guard members and DPS officers at the border.
In Texas’ recent legislative session, lawmakers appropriated $5.3 billion for the endeavor for the next two-year cycle, up from $4.6 billion from the previous cycle.
Last month, Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Secretary Alicia Barcena sent a diplomatic note to the federal officials saying the razor wire fencing and floating buoys violate two international treaties both countries signed in 1944 and 1970.
U.S. State Department officials said Texas leaders are ignoring federal permitting requirements when it comes to installing any barriers near or on waterways along the U.S.-Mexico border.
