Bevan Hurley
Thu, August 3, 2023
A body has been found stuck to buoys that were installed by Texas authorities in the Rio Grande along the US-Mexican border to deter migrants, Mexican officials say.
A person was found dead in the southern part of the floating barrier near Eagle Pass on Wednesday afternoon, Mexican Foreign Affairs Secretary Alicia Barcena said in a statement.
Search teams from Mexico’s National Institute of Migration are trying to recover the body, whose nationality and cause of death has not yet been confirmed.
The body of a second unidentified person was found floating about 3 miles (5kms) upriver near the buoys earlier in the week, Mexican officials said.
It’s unclear if the deaths are connected.
The 1,000 foot floating barrier was erected in July at the orders of Texas Governor Greg Abbott despite warnings they posed a grave danger to migrants.
The Justice Department is suing the state of Texas over the buoys, arguing they flout federal law, pose a public safety threat and risk damaging US-Mexican relations.
Buoys placed in the Rio Grande by Texas officials have been roundly condemned as a human rights violation (Associated Press)
The Mexican foreign ministry again condemned the barrier as a “violation” of their sovereignty.
“We express our concern about the impact on the human rights and personal safety of migrants that these state policies will have, which run counter to the close collaboration between our country and the federal government of the United States.
“We made clear our concern about the impact on migrants’ safety and human rights that these state policies would have,” officials said in a statement.
The buoys are part of a military-style buildup along the border by Mr Abbott’s administration that includes razor wire and hundreds of national guard troops.
Hundreds of migrants drown along the Rio Grande every year.
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