A dead body was found Wednesday afternoon stuck in the controversial orange buoys Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) ordered tethered to the bottom of the Rio Grande to deter migrants from crossing the river into Eagle Pass, Mexican Foreign Affairs Secretary Alicia Bárcena said Wednesday evening.
The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), which is deployed in the area as part of Abbott's Operation Lone Star border initiative, found the body and informed Mexico, Bárcena said. Authorities are working to determine the cause of death and nationality of the dead person. DPS and Abbott's office had not responded to a request for comment from The Dallas Morning News as of late Wednesday night.
Texas installed miles of razor wire coils along the Texas side of the Rio Grande in June, then installed about a quarter mile of uncrossable barrel-shaped buoys in the middle of the river in July. In early July, a DPS officer complained to a supervisor that the razor wire and buoys were an "inhumane trap" that had ensnared children and pregnant women. The Justice Department sued Texas in late July to compel it to remove the buoys, calling them an unauthorized hazard.
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A local business in Eagle Pass also sued Abbott, as ABC News documented Wednesday night.
Texas DPS officers have also separated at least 26 migrant families that crossed into Eagle Pass this summer, the Houston Chronicle reported Wednesday, citing spouses of the men arrested on state charges and attorneys representing the migrants. Kristin Etter, a lawyer at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, called the arrests "nothing short of state-sponsored family separation." They also appear to be a change in policy, the Chronicle said.
DPS Director Steve McCraw told state lawmakers several times, including in June, that the standard policy is to keep families together. "We don't want to mess with children, and frankly there's low value in that," he testified during a May hearing. "We think it's the best way to do it — just keep the family unit together, and refer them to Border Patrol."
DPS spokesman Travis Considine told the Chronicle on Tuesday night that the agency has arrested fathers traveling with their families, but he insisted the state hasn't separated migrant children from their mothers.
