Los Angeles (USA), September 1 (EFE).- This Friday, Texas community groups and Texas residents demonstrated along the border with Mexico against Republican Governor Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star, which allows troops to be deployed along the dividing line and has already left one Mexican wounded. on the side.
Three protests were held this morning in El Paso, Brownsville and Farr, and two more are planned for the afternoon in San Juan and the Presidio area as part of The Frontera Texas Organizing Project (FTOP), an initiative calling for an end to the Abbott administration’s anti-immigrant border crackdown. About events.
Activists, residents and migrant advocates used the protest, which took place under the slogan “Border in Action: Resistance under Operation Lone Star”, to denounce the policy put in place by Republicans from March 2021 to protect the border from illegal immigration. Trafficking in people and drugs.
Fernando Garcia, executive director of the Border Network for Human Rights (BNHR), said at a news conference at the end of the El Paso border march that because of Governor Abbott’s policies, Texas has usurped federal authority and “created unnecessary chaos in our South. border.”
“Our border communities are now filled with barbed wire, physical barriers, buoys, prepared vehicles and hundreds of soldiers,” the activist warned.
Complaints from the groups have increased in recent days after reports emerged that a Texas National Guard soldier shot a Mexican man on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande last Saturday night.
The man, identified as Darwin Jose Garcia, 37, of Veracruz state, was injured in the leg.
The groups are asking the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate the incident.
This Friday, Texas Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro announced that, along with Democratic Congresswoman Veronica Escobar and nine other lawmakers, he has asked the Attorney General for a “full investigation” into the shooting of Merrick Garland.
“Whilst we are relieved that there were no casualties in the incident, we remain very concerned that if this is not taken seriously and those responsible are held accountable, it is only a matter of time before the next incident like this happens.” , or something much more deadly. “, the congressmen write in the letter.
For his part, Fernando Garcia considered the presence of soldiers on the border “illegal” and causing fear in the border communities of Texas. “The soldiers are not here,” he emphasized.
The protesters demanded the immediate withdrawal of the soldiers who arrived at the border in December 2022. They also called for the removal of buoys on the Rio Grande in the Eagle Pass sector, prompting protests from the Mexican government and a lawsuit. by the US Department of Justice
The migrant’s body was found stuck in flies last month.
Activists also pointed the finger at the costs and millions of dollars allocated to Operation Lone Star. “These funds should be invested in the community to improve education, public services,” said Alejandra Casas, El Paso resident and BNHR member.
There have also been calls for the Texas legislature to launch an investigation into the Texas National Guard and the Texas State Police (DPS), which thanks to the operation can now arrest migrants for trespassing.
They also requested that funds be withheld for future operations under this program pending the conclusion of the investigation.
“We are going to continue to fight and condemn this inhumane practice until this madness ends,” Garcia said.
Source: El Diario
