Three migrants, including two children, drown at Texas border amid row over patrols

Three migrants drowned in the Rio Grande near the Texas border with Mexico amid Governor Greg Abbott's attempt to wrestle control of immigration enforcement away from the government.

Federal officials claim the migrants may not have died if they were not barred from conducting their patrols by Texas National Guardsmen.

Mr Abbott directed the guardsmen to seize a park in the border town of Eagle Pass, Texas, where the US Border Patrol had been processing migrants who crossed into the US. The guardsmen were instructed to refuse entry to federal officials who patrolled the border in the area.

Mexico's National Institute of Migration identified the migrants who died on Monday. The victims are Victerma de la Sancha Cerros, 33; Yorlei Rubi, 10; and Jonathan Agustín Briones de la Sancha, 8, according to CNN, citing the Mexican agency.

Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar of Texas said the migrants were a mother and her children, according to Mother Jones.

Mr Abbott passed a law last month that made illegal migrant crossings into Texas a state crime, which he argues allows state law enforcement the right to arrest undocumented migrants anywhere in the state.

Federal officials have maintained that enforcing immigration is solely done by the US government, not the state.

Shelby Park in Eagle Pass has been a site of frequent friction between Mr Abbott and the federal government. The state previously seized the park after the town's mayor, under the direction of the Texas Department of Public Safety, claimed it as private property.

Mr Abbott used the park as an operations centre for his «Operation Lone Star,» which uses Texas National Guard troops to enforce illegal immigration into the state.

The programme was criticised