Democrats Accuse Texas Governor of Installing Anti-Migrant Buoys With 'Circular Saws'
Evy Kwong VICE
Two people have died since Greg Abbott ordered the floating barriers deployed in the Rio Grande.
Videos posted by Democrat Reps. Joaquin Castro and Sylvia Garcia show a close up look at the floating barriers, which were dubbed “barbaric” by Castro.
Appalled by the ongoing cruel and inhumane tactics employed by @GovAbbott at the Texas border. The situation's reality is unsettling as these buoys' true danger and brutality come to light. We must stop this NOW! pic.twitter.com/XPc4C8Tnl0
— Rep. Sylvia Garcia (@RepSylviaGarcia) August 8, 2023
Everyone needs to see what I saw in Eagle Pass today.
— Joaquin Castro (@JoaquinCastrotx) August 8, 2023
Clothing stuck on razor wire where families got trapped. Chainsaw devices in the middle of buoys. Land seized from US citizens.
Operation Lone Star is barbaric — and @GovAbbott is making border communities collateral damage. pic.twitter.com/PzKyZGWfds
Since the barriers were installed in July as a way to ward off migrants, two people have died in or near the buoys, Mexican authorities said. One migrant was found dead after getting trapped in the buoys, while another body was located floating three miles upriver.
The U.S. Justice Department is also suing Abbott for blocking waterways.
“The situation's reality is unsettling as these buoys' true danger and brutality come to light. We must stop this NOW!,” Garcia wrote on social media.
Garcia’s video has been seen over ten million times. Abbott has not made any public statements about it.
Last September, Abbott sent over 100 migrants, including children, from Texas on a bus to Kamala Harris’s residence in Washington D.C. in protest over President Joe Biden’s border policies.
This June, he sent 42 more migrants from his state to California.
Abbott has been widely criticized for using migrants as political pawns, with the White House previously calling the tactic a “cruel, dangerous, and shameful stunt."