Abuses against migrants increased due to the special operation of the Texas government

Jessica Xantomila

The newspaper La Jornada
Sunday, July 21, 2024, p. 4

Since the launch of Operation Lone Star in 2021, in which Texas Governor Greg Abbott deployed elements of the National Guard and the Department of Public Safety of that state on the United States-Mexico border to contain the crossing of migrants, abuses against these people in El Paso-Ciudad Juárez by agents have increased, warned the organizations Hope Border Institute and Derechos Humanos Integrales en Acción.

In the report Suffering as a strategyHope indicated that between May and June of this year he treated 25 people, mostly men, with injuries caused by pepper spray and rubber bullets. fired by the Texas National Guard. During that period, he also treated eight people with injuries caused by barbed wire placed in the border area on the banks of the Rio Grande.

He also stated that in those two months he treated two women and the same number of children with psychological and emotional trauma after being separated from other members of their family, as well as Numerous cases of severe dehydration and malnutrition due to denial of care by Texas agents.

The organizations pointed out that based on testimonies and monitoring, it has been documented that the security elements They exert psychological violence and deny care in informal camps.

They described that when migrants cross the banks of the Rio Grande from Ciudad Juarez in search of asylum in the United States, They encounter a wall of barbed wire and concertina wire, illegally installed on U.S. federal land by the Texas National Guard. There, agents yell at them to go back to Mexico or cajole them into moving from one part of the border wall gate to another..

As a result, they said, people are often forced to walk miles along the border wall and cross barbed wire to exercise their legitimate right to seek asylum.

In the document, Hope and DHIA said that Texas agents claim to resort to using pepper spray and rubber bullets when people try to cut or cross the barbed wire. However, the organizations have documented cases of such incidents in informal camps.

They also warned that in the El Paso-Ciudad Juárez region many migrants They are in a dangerous state of limbo, unable to access safety in either the United States or Mexico..