Two people, one reportedly a child, have been found dead in the section of the Rio Grande where Texas has installed oversized buoys to discourage migrants from crossing the border into the United States.
The Mexican foreign affairs secretary said late Wednesday that Texas officials confirmed that a body was found stuck on the buoys installed at Gov. Greg Abbott’s order amid international controversy. The buoys have brought condemnation from President Joe Biden’s administration, which has sued to force Texas to remove them.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador expressed outrage after the discovery of the bodies. “This is inhumane and no person should be treated like this,” he told reporters in his country Thursday.
The two casualties could mark a significant escalation in tensions along the border since Texas installed its barrier of buoys and razor wire to discourage unlawful crossings. The barriers sparked outrage and heightened tensions between Mexico, the Biden administration and Abbott’s office.
Discovery of the bodies comes just two weeks after USA TODAY documented how migrants, including young children, have been ensnared and slashed by razor wire along the border. An internal e-mail from a Texas state trooper raised the alarm that the state’s efforts had become “inhumane.”
The White House was not immediately available for comment.
U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, laid blame for the deaths at the feet of Abbott for ordering the buoys to be placed in the river last month near Eagle Pass.
“The Texas Governor is knowingly trying to injure, maim and kill migrants seeking asylum in the United States with razor wire and drowning devices,” Castro said in a post on platform X, formerly Twitter.
The Justice Department sued Texas last month after Abbott refused to remove the floating barrier, which the Biden administration says was unlawfully put in place. The White House has called Abbott’s actions dangerous.
