Three migrants drown in Texas near an area where US agents are denied access

A Texas congressman said Saturday that three people, including two children, who were seeking asylum in the US drowned while trying to reach the US near the border city of Eagle Pass, where the Biden administration says Texas has begun denying access to border patrol agents.

Congressman Henry Cuellar, a Texas Democrat, accused the state of failing to act amid escalating tensions between Texas and the US government over immigration enforcement. On Friday, the Justice Department told the US supreme court that Texas had taken control of an area known as Shelby park and were not letting border patrol agents enter.

The park is in Eagle Pass, which is a major crossing point for migrants entering from Mexico and is the center of Republican Governor Greg Abbott’s aggressive attempts to stop illegal crossings, known as Operation Lone Star. People crossing the river in that area have been killed when swept away by currents of the Rio Grande.

An Abbott spokesperson referred questions to the Texas Military Department, which did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Saturday.

Cuellar, whose district includes the Texas border, said Mexican authorities alerted border patrol of three people in distress struggling in the river late Friday. He said federal agents attempted to call and relay the information to Texas National Guard members at Shelby Park with no success. Agents then visited the entrance to the park but were turned away, according to the congressman, who said the agents were told a guard member would be sent to investigate the situation.

“This is a tragedy, and the state bears responsibility,” read a statement from Cuellar, who is the top Democrat on the House appropriations committee’s subcommittee on homeland