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

From an aerial view the Mexican and American flags fly over the Rio Grande at the U.S.-Mexico border on September 18, 2024 in El Paso, Texas. (Credit: John Moore/Getty Images)

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.