Texas Border Policies Blamed for Migrant and Citizen Deaths as State Increases Enforcement

Civil rights advocates are voicing concerns over Texas' increased border control enforcement, saying the state's harsher tactics, which include more troops and razor wire along large portions of the Rio Grande, are leading to an increase in migrant and citizen injuries and deaths.

Texas National Guard troops, stationed along more than 1,000 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border, are reportedly preventing migrants from surrendering to federal Border Patrol agents. Many asylum-seekers have been injured trying to cross, Dylan Corbett, executive director of Hope Border Institute, told Border Report.

Activists are urging the federal government to reassess its role in enforcing immigration laws, saying Texas' approach — including barriers and high-speed chases led by Department of Public Safety (DPS) officers under "Operation Lone Star" — has increasingly dangerous consequences.

Operation Lone Star, launched by Texas Governor Greg Abbott in 2021 in response to what he described as inadequate federal enforcement, has already cost the state $11 billion, with a proposed $3 billion in additional funding up for consideration next year.

Speaking during a seminar hosted by the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), Corbett highlighted that high-speed chases linked to migrant smuggling have become "the number one cause of casualties" in El Paso. "Last year, seven people died, and this year there have been serious injuries and some people have died," he said. Similarly, Amerika Garcia Grewal from the Eagle Pass Border Coalition reported fatalities in her area, affecting both migrants and U.S. citizens.

Other advocates said Texas' "militarization" of the border security has forced migrants into remote and dangerous areas where smugglers operate, exposing them to risky desert, mountain, and river crossings. The El Paso Border Patrol reported a record 176 migrant deaths this year, and activists say the final toll has reached 180.

The groups are urging the federal government to take stronger action to reassert its sole authority over immigration enforcement. Last year, the Biden administration sued Texas over a 1,000-foot buoy barrier installed in the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass. Although a federal judge initially issued an injunction against the state, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals later overturned the order.

Bob Libal of Human Rights Watch criticized Texas' selective use of trespassing laws to detain migrants. "If I was arrested for trespassing, I'd be out the next day. (Migrants) are spending up to a year in jail," he said, emphasizing t the unprecedented deployment of non-federal forces on the border, including game wardens and highway patrol officers.

Nearly four years since President Joe Biden terminated all contracts that allowed the construction of the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, the state of Texas made a big purchase this week by acquiring a 1,400-acre ranch along the Rio Grande that, according to officials, has seen a high number of reports of human trafficking and smuggling of weapons and drug. It is the second purchase along the border in Starr County, which encompasses more than 4,000 acres.