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Texas National Guard members are facing backlash after ignoring a woman’s pleas for assistance at the Texas-Mexico border.
Texas Public Radio obtained the video conveying a distressed woman holding her baby while attempting to stay above water. She is begging the members for help, as she is in danger of drowning in the Rio Grande.
Moreover, witnesses claimed that both the mother and child had shown signs of struggling. Both of them went under for some time, before resurfacing again.
The woman says in Spanish, “I can’t walk anymore. I’m begging you, please help me. I really can’t anymore.”
The Texas National Guardsmen were watching her struggle and listening to her desperate pleas for help. At the same time, the woman and her baby began crying, while a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) airboat sped past in disregard.
Witnesses were in disbelief by the Texas National Guard members
According to witnesses, the woman and her child eventually reached the southern banks of the river in Mexico by themselves.
Justice Advocacy Coordinator for Latino Justice PRLDEF, Priscilla Lugo, filmed the incident on December 12 at almost 11:00 a.m. The video was recorded between Shelby Park and the Kickapoo Tribal Reservation in Eagle Pass.
“About 500 feet before the buoys, which are right around the beginning of the Urbina Property, that’s when we see a group of three adults and one child crossing the river,” Lugo said. “Two of the adults successfully cross the river, and that’s when we see mom carrying a baby. They get stuck, too tired to walk. Mom gets too tired to walk and she’s crying, screaming, begging for help.”
According to Lugo, there were two guardsmen on each one of the rafts. They were approximately “four to six feet away” and the woman began screaming, asking if they could come closer.
Lugo said she was disappointed in the Texas National Guard.
People “are fed this lie and this performance that these people are here to keep us safe and that they’re here doing a public safety measure,” Lugo said.
Ari Sawyer, Border Researcher for the U.S. program at Human Rights Watch (HRW), claimed that their actions pose threats to individuals traveling through Eagle Pass.
“They are endangering lives at the border at a place where hundreds of people have drowned, often to seek protection, reunite with family, or search for a better quality of life.”
