On Tuesday, in an updated Supreme Court filing, the Biden administration accused the Texas Military Department of refusing to assist in life-saving measures to aid a group of migrants who were in distress as they crossed the Rio Grande River on January 12. The Department of Homeland Security says that they requested assistance to locate the migrants, but TMD physically barred and refused Border Patrol access to boat launches located in Shelby Park, which is under TMD's control. However, there is just one small problem in the DHS's supplemental filing: Biden's own Department of Justice admits just an hour before their request, the Mexican government had notified them that they had already recovered the bodies of the three drowning victims. 

The Biden administration once again pushed a false narrative at the border, now refuted by their own DOJ.

White House claim: “On Friday night, a woman and two children drowned near Eagle Pass, and Texas officials blocked U.S. Border Patrol from attempting to provide emergency… pic.twitter.com/B8bsP13Mxv

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) January 16, 2024

White House claim: “On Friday night, a woman and two children drowned near Eagle Pass, and Texas officials blocked U.S. Border Patrol from attempting to provide emergency assistance.” 

DOJ filing: The migrants had already drowned at 8pm, and Border Patrol didn’t inform Texas until an hour later at 9pm.  

This, like the horseback patrol “whipping” claims - took off as a false narrative, generating headlines that claimed Texas blocked a federal rescue effort, leading to the drownings of three migrants. The DOJ now confirms, those migrants had been deceased for an hour before Texas was even alerted about it.

This is just the latest update to the January 12 incident, when the Biden administration and several Democratic politicians and liberal media pundits first started to accuse Texas Governor Gregg Abbott (R) and his Texas National Guardsmen of misconduct. This is very reminiscent of the infamous Border Patrol "whipping" scandal, where Biden, through his then press secretary, Jen Psaki, falsely accused Border Patrol agents of whipping illegal immigrants with their horse reins, even after photographic evidence showed that accusation was not true. 

In what looks like an apparent effort to demonize Governor Abbott and the Texas National Guard, Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) started the firestorm when he posted an official statement on X essentially blaming the deaths of the migrants on Abbott's recent order directing the state's National Guard to seize control of Shelby Park, which is a city adjacent to the location of the incident in Eagle Pass, Texas. 

See below my statement on the recent death of three migrants - a female adult and two children - near Shelby Park in Eagle Pass ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/0Fz878fnDg

— Rep. Henry Cuellar (@RepCuellar) January 13, 2024

However, according to the Texas Military Department, that could not be further from the truth. The subsequent firestorm caused by Rep. Cuellar and his fellow liberals led to the Department issuing the following statement:

AUSTIN, Texas (Jan. 13, 2024) – The Texas Military Department is aware of a social media post concerning the drownings of three migrants.

TMD was contacted by Border Patrol at approximately 9 p.m. on Friday in reference to a migrant distress situation. TMD had a unit in the vicinity of the boat ramp and actively searched the river with lights and night vision goggles. No migrants were observed.

At approximately 9:45 p.m., TMD observed a group of Mexican authorities responding to an incident on the Mexico side of the river bank. TMD reported their observations back to Border Patrol, and they confirmed that the Mexican authorities required no additional assistance. At that time, TMD ceased search operations.

At no time did TMD security personnel along the river observe any distressed migrants, nor did TMD turn back any illegal immigrants from the US during this period. Also, at no point was TMD made aware of any bodies in the area of Shelby Park, nor was TMD made aware of any bodies being discovered on the U.S. side of the border regarding this situation.

TMD maintains water rescue equipment and actively works with local EMS to aid migrants needing medical care.

In an updated statement, the TMD reaffirmed what really happened and strongly denied any wrongdoing:

AUSTIN, Texas (Jan. 14, 2024) – The Texas Military Department has continued a thorough review of the circumstances surrounding the drowning of migrants in the Rio Grande. Claims of Border Patrol requesting access to save distressed migrants are inaccurate.

Claims that TMD prevented Border Patrol from saving the lives of drowning migrants are wholly inaccurate. At the time that Border Patrol requested access, the drownings had occurred, Mexican Authorities were recovering the bodies, and Border Patrol expressed these facts to the TMD personnel on site.

TMD Soldiers were in direct communication with Border Patrol on the evening of 12 January when Border Patrol requested access to Shelby Park. Soldiers confirmed that when Border Patrol requested access to the park they stated that Mexican Authorities had already recovered the bodies of two drowned migrants.

Border Patrol specifically requested access to the park to secure two additional migrants that were presumed to have traveled with the deceased, though had crossed to the boat ramp. Two migrants were apprehended by TMD, with one turned over to DPS and the other transferred to EMS in response to initial hypothermic conditions. Additionally, TMD remained engaged with lights, night vision goggles, and thermals to ensure that no additional migrants were in the river or in distress.

Again, the information provided by the Texas Military Department was confirmed by the Biden Department of Justice when they submitted their supplemental memo to the brief already filed with the Supreme Court. But that hasn't stopped the expected liberal outrage and it hasn't stopped the Biden administration from continuing to push the lie, just like they did with the "whipping" incident. President Biden and his administration are showing more anger at Texas for their proactive approach to securing their borders than they are about their failures to secure it and the nation's boundaries as a whole. 

Biden, along with this DOJ and the entire administration, will continue to peddle this falsehood in order to distract America from their abject failure at securing our southern border with Mexico. In fact, they only care about the deaths of illegal immigrants when it suits or fits their narratives. Make no mistake, President Biden's policies are not just putting our national sovereignty and safety at risk, they are directly responsible for the conditions that caused these illegal immigrants and hundreds of others just like them to die. Since Biden took office, over 1,000 illegal immigrants have died trying to illegally enter the United States, and there will undoubtedly be more before it gets any better.