Rep. Sylvia Garcia was left horrified by the measures that the Republican governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, is taking to deter migrants at the southern border, she has told Newsweek.
Garcia, a Democrat who represents Texas' 29th congressional district, visited Eagle Pass earlier this month to see the floating barrier installed in the Rio Grande. A video she posted on social media showed circular blades in-between the wrecking ball-sized buoys of the barrier.
"I was able to witness firsthand Governor Abbott's cruel and inhumane anti-immigrant measures at the Texas border," Garcia said in a statement to Newsweek.
"On my trip to Eagle Pass, I learned that the razor wire in the Rio Grande is causing life-threatening injuries to migrants, straining local medical resources and forcing Eagle Pass residents to wait hours for emergency care."
She added: "These circular saws are meant to inflict physical harm to asylum seekers. This material was designed for war, not to help process asylum seekers at the border."
A spokesperson for Abbott, Andrew Mahaleris, said Democrats were "spreading absolute lies about Texas' strategic barriers."
The marine barriers in Eagle Pass "were tested extensively by U.S. Customs and Border Protection as an anti-climbing deterrent and were specifically designed to avoid injuries," he told Newsweek.
"The absence of concertina wire and other deterrence strategies encourages migrants to make the unsafe and illegal crossings between ports of entry, while making the job of Texas National Guard soldiers and DPS [Department of Public Safety] troopers more dangerous and difficult."
Earlier this month, Mexican authorities said two bodies had been recovered from the river, including one that was caught in the floating barrier.
Mexico has complained that most of the barrier is on its side of the Rio Grande and said it violates treaties regarding the use of the river and Mexico's sovereignty.
Mexican officials and others have warned of the risks posed by the barrier.
Every day that "the floating wall, saw blades and concertina wire are allowed to stay up, more migrants will be injured or killed and more wildlife will suffer," Laiken Jordahl, a Southwest conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity, previously told Newsweek.
"Governor Abbott is turning this beautiful river into a death trap for people and wildlife. Our wildlands and communities will not be turned into war zones. Abbott must be stopped."
Mahaleris denied that the barriers were causing deaths.
"These barriers help deter illegal river crossings, redirecting migrants to use one of the 29 international bridges on the Texas-Mexico border where they can safely and legally cross. No one drowns on a bridge," he said.
The U.S. Department of Justice is suing Abbott over the barrier, saying it violates federal law and raises humanitarian concerns.
The Republican governor has defended the barrier and said he is prepared to take the fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"Texas to Biden: We will see you at SCOTUS. We filled more than 300 pages in a legal brief explaining—in detail—why Texas can use the floating barriers that we have placed in the Rio Grande River," Abbott wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday.
The barrier was installed in the Rio Grande in July as part of Abbott's multibillion-dollar effort to secure the U.S. border, known as Operation Lone Star. Other tactics include razor-wire fencing and arresting migrants on trespassing charges.
The measures sparked fresh outrage after the Houston Chronicle reported details from a trooper's email to a superior, raising alarm that Texas was setting "traps" of razor wire-wrapped barrels in parts of the river with high water and low visibility, increasing the risks of drowning. According to his email, a pregnant woman having a miscarriage was found caught in the wire.
The email also said troopers were being ordered to push migrants back into the Rio Grande and deny them water in extreme heat. Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Travis Considine has denied the claims.
Update 08/17/23, 11:25 a.m. ET: This article has been updated to add comments from Andrew Mahaleris.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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