DOJ Looking Into Concerns of Migrant Mistreatment After Trooper Alleges 'Inhumane' Policies
Summary from the AllSides News Team
The Justice Department is assessing a Texas state trooper's allegations that border officials are enforcing "inhumane" policies and putting migrants at risk of injury or death.
What the Trooper Said: According to the Houston Chronicle (Center bias), a Texas state trooper-medic who was working at the border expressed concern to his supervisor in a July 3 email about the treatment of migrants. "I believe we have stepped over a line into the inhumane," the trooper wrote, while describing graphic injuries he'd witnessed and attributing them to razor wire in the Rio Grande meant to deter crossings. The trooper also said he was once directed to "push people back into the water to go to Mexico" and to "not give people water."
What Officials Said: A Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman said there's no "directive or policy that instructs Troopers to withhold water from migrants or push them back into the river." Gov. Greg Abbott's (R) office said "No orders or directions have been given under Operation Lone Star that would compromise the lives of those attempting to cross the border illegally."
How the Media Covered It: Sources across the spectrum highlighted the trooper's claims of inhumane policies. Many right-rated sources also highlighted statements from Texas officials denying that such policies exist. Some left-rated sources mentioned those remarks, but tended to focus more on critics of Texas' border policies.
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Left
DOJ says it’s assessing the situation along the Texas-Mexico border amid ‘troubling reports’ over migrant treatment
The Justice Department is assessing the situation along the Texas-Mexico border following reports that Texas troopers were told to push back migrants into the Rio Grande and ordered not to give them water, calling those reports “troubling” in a statement to CNN.
The Justice Department’s statement is the first public acknowledgment that the department is assessing the situation but falls short of opening an investigation. An assessment could be the first step toward an investigation.
“The department is aware of the troubling reports, and we are working with DHS and other relevant...
From the Center
DOJ assessing Texas’ migrant treatment after trooper’s concerns
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is looking into allegations of mistreatment of migrants at the Texas-Mexico border in Eagle Pass and is actively working with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other agencies to assess the situation.
It stems from an email sent by a Texas DPS trooper to his superior, where he expressed concern about alleged orders to push migrants back into the Rio Grande River and deny them drinking water during extreme heat.
In response to the allegations, Texas lawmakers requested the DOJ investigate as soon as they...
From the Right
Texas trooper says Abbott border policies 'have stepped over the line into the inhumane'
The inspector general for the state’s Department of Public Safety has launched an investigation into a trooper’s alarming report that state-driven border security efforts have led to horrific repercussions for immigrants, the Washington Examiner has learned.
Internal DPS communications obtained by the Washington Examiner revealed how the department communicated for two weeks about how to handle one employee’s concerns, which were first brought to the department's attention on July 3. The complaint alleged that immigrants had been hurt, and even killed, as a direct result of the state's increasingly hostile barbed wire and water buoy barriers at the border....
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