Border Patrol Union Head Praises Greg Abbott After Military Blocks Agents

National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd praised Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for blocking off part of the southern border to allow "us to deploy our resources to other areas." It came after federal officials said agents were prevented from responding to a distress call from Mexico.

Last week, the Texas National Guard and state troopers sealed Shelby Park with razor wire and fencing, preventing the U.S. Border Patrol from accessing a 2.5-mile stretch of the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass.

According to a court filing by the Justice Department, which has been going after Abbott on a number of his migrant deterrent policies, the park has a boat ramp that Border Patrol agents routinely used to launch their river patrols. There is also a staging area at the park that agents use to inspect migrants who have been apprehended nearby, the filing says.

Abbott's new effort to stop the surge of illegal migrant crossings at the southern border received criticism from federal officials after a woman and two children drowned in the Rio Grande river in Eagle Pass on Friday night.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement that border agents were prevented from responding to the migrants because the area was blocked off.

"In responding to a distress call from the Mexican government, Border Patrol agents were physically barred by Texas officials from entering the area," the DHS said.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) spokesperson told Newsweek via email on Tuesday: "We are saddened by tragic migrant drownings in Eagle Pass. We remain gravely concerned by actions that prevent the U.S. Border Patrol from performing their essential missions of arresting individuals who enter the United States unlawfully and providing humanitarian response to individuals in need."

Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Texas Democrat, said in a statement that border agents "made physical contact with the Texas Military Department (TMD) and the Texas National Guard at the Shelby Park Entrance Gate," but were told "they would not grant access to the migrants—even in the event of an emergency—and that they would send a soldier to investigate the situation."

The TMD, however, said in a statement, "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."

Newsweek reached out to the TMD on Monday via email for clarification.

Meanwhile, in a post on X, formerly Twitter, Abbott wrote: "Turns out @RepCuellar (& some media) were so eager to point finger at Texas for drowning of migrants they forgot to get the facts. When BP requested access to river the drownings had already occurred & found in MX. The fact is the deaths are b/c of Biden's Open Border magnet."

National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd praised Abbott on Fox Business Network's Mornings with Maria.

Judd said of Abbott in the interview posted online on Monday, "He's absolutely correct and everything that we see from DHS right now, it's propaganda."

He continued: "What we know about this is that even if we would've had access to the river, we wouldn't have been able to get there on time. We do not have boats that operate at night and if we tried to deploy our boats to that river at that time, those people would've already drowned. So, there's nothing we could have done, even if we had access to Shelby Park. And I'm telling you, we don't need access to Shelby Park."

Judd defended Abbott's decision to block off Shelby Park.

"I'm glad for what Gov. Abbott is doing, because what it's allowing us to do, we're able to deploy our resources to other areas that we haven't been able to patrol for several years now. And so, that's allowing us to go after the gotaways—that segment of the people that cause a great deal of problem here in the United States," he said.

"What he is doing is operating as a force multiplier. It is very good what he is doing for the American people. It's something that President [Joe] Biden should be doing but he refuses to do because, again, he cares more about his base than he does about the American people."

Meanwhile, the White House said Abbott's actions are just "political stunts."

Referring to the migrant deaths on Friday, a White House spokesperson said: "While we continue to gather facts about the circumstances of these tragic deaths, one thing is clear: Gov. Abbott's political stunts are cruel, inhumane, and dangerous," adding, "U.S. Border Patrol must have access to the border to enforce our laws."

Newsweek has reached out to the White House, DHS, and Abbott's office via email for comment.

Update: 1/17/24 9:13 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from CBP.