'Hard To See Them Drown': Texas Fisherman Sees Migrants Die As Border Police Stay Idle

'Hard to See Them Drown': Texas Fisherman Sees Migrants Die as Border Police Stay Idle

A local fisherman in the southern Texas border town of Laredo which sits nestled along the Rio Grande river that splits the US-Mexico frontier across the state has a difficult time sleeping at night after he witnessed a group of migrants consumed by water after a grim struggle to cross turbulent border river as the police simply let them drown

EL PASO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th March, 2021) A local fisherman in the southern Texas border town of Laredo which sits nestled along the Rio Grande river that splits the US-Mexico frontier across the state has a difficult time sleeping at night after he witnessed a group of migrants consumed by water after a grim struggle to cross turbulent border river as the police simply let them drown

Jesus Vargas, 50, shared with Sputnik video and photos documenting the incident that occurred on the afternoon of March 16, not far from a spot where he fishes.

The materials appear to show Vargas frustrated that several US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents on the scene watched the migrants drown and failed to make a rescue attempt. Some photos show a graphic image of the body of a deceased migrant floating in the river.

Sputnik was not able to interdependently verify the authenticity of the footage. The incident, however, comes as the US is on the path to face the greatest influx of undocumented migrants at the border with Mexico in the past 20 years.

"It's hard to see them drown. I have never seen anybody die and nobody did shit," Vargas said. "That's why I was pissed off because nobody had a life jacket for me or something. If they didn't want to go in the river, I would go."

'NO ONE HAD ANYTHING' FOR RESCUE

Vargas usually fishes Alligator gar that weigh more than 100 Pounds and March 16 was no different: he was on his way to his usual fishing spot on the river when he witnessed the CBP responding to a smuggling attempt in his area. He said he grabbed his fishing rod and cast the fishing line to a migrant child who was drowning and pulled him to shore.

"How can a firefighter, police officer, or whoever, be saving animals but they don't want to save a human?" Vargas said. "No firefighters arrived, no ambulances arrived, nothing arrived. Not even the [border patrol] boat. I fish everyday and one of their boats - if you call saying there's a shooting, they're there in seconds."

Another thing that frustrated the Laredo resident is that the border agents who were at the scene lacked even the most primitive rescue devices at hand.

"My frustration was that no one had anything. Long before, [border patrol] had a throw rope, some footballs, they always had something with them, even life jackets," Vargas said. "A friend, I won't tell you who, told me that when [then-President Donald] Trump came in he got rid of all that."

"I stayed traumatized with that video, I'm not lying, I still can't sleep," Vargas confessed. "I lay down and close my eyes, it's ugly to see that."

The US Border Patrol Laredo Sector shared its own account of the March 16 events on the same day, saying that its agents had foiled a human smuggling attempt at the end of a road near the Rio Grande riverbanks.

"Agents witnessed several individuals exit a vehicle and attempt to swim across the Rio Grande river into Mexico," the statement said. "Several individuals were apprehended in the vehicle at encounter. Some individuals entered the river and safely made it to the Mexican riverbanks. One individual was rescued by a local fisherman and rendered first aid by agents. Two individuals succumbed to the dangerous currents of the Rio Grande river and perished."

The lifelong resident of Laredo said he has been fishing the Rio Grande river for about 48 years and has experienced the dangerous current that tumbles below the surface of the water.

"Below it's ugly, there's a current. Although on top you don't see anything, you can feel the current is moving you below," Vargas said.

The river has been the scene of many tragic events throughout Vargas' life, from illegal immigration to drug trafficking, he said.

"If they [migrants] find work, good, but if not - well there's no work. I know how it is in Mexico. Mexico has murderers, everything," Vargas said. "I've lived here nearby where they kill people right there on the edge of the river [Mexico side], they shoot them, cut their hands. I've seen it all here on the river my whole live. I'm not lying."

When asked how many undocumented migrants pass by his house on a daily basis, he said, "A bunch of them, man. I live about a block, block-and-a-half, and the river is right there."

Vargas said he's also witnessed about 17 migrants in an underground tunnel used for smuggling and also saw a car full of migrants fall in the river, killing everyone.

"I've found them drowned, tied, handcuffed. I've taken bodies out with their boots, belt, shirt, holes in their chest," Vargas said. "They've fallen off the train [near the river], their kids fall off...or they die."

Vargas suggested that President Joe Biden could allow migrants to come into the US through the ports of entry as a way to prevent tragic events, like the drowning, from happening, and to end human smuggling.

"Right now they're saying that a lot of migrants are coming to the United States, that's fine, but that's always happened. I've lived here all my life. People from different countries come at any time. That's always happened," Vargas said. "I would fish [the river] since I was eight years old, people would cross, no one would bother you."

The current US apprehension numbers are on pace to beat the previous mass migration flow that happened in fiscal year 2019, which saw a total of 977,509 apprehensions, setting the country on a path to experience the greatest influx of illegal immigration in the past 20 years.

This fiscal year, which started in October, a total of 396,958 migrants have been apprehended at the southern border, according to the latest CBP data. Of them, about 317,590 migrants have been "expelled," turned away immediately at the border under a public health-related policy known as Title 42.

The majority of undocumented asylum-seeking migrants come from Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico, fleeing violence and poverty. The inflow is overwhelming border patrol stations and processing facilities.

The migrant crisis comes as the Biden administration reviews asylum processing at the border with Mexico, undoing some of Trump's restrictive policies that targeted illegal immigration.

In his first formal presser on Thursday, Biden reaffirmed that the vast majority of migrants illegally entering the US border with Mexico are being sent back home. The president added that he was trying to "determine the best way to keep people from coming" to the southern border. He also appointed Vice President Kamala Harris to lead the efforts with Mexico and Central America nations to stem the inflow of migrants.