TEXAS — An email from a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper-medic working along the Texas-Mexico border and obtained by CNN is calling into question just how far efforts have gone to stop border crossings.

According to the email from the medic to a supervisor, troopers have crossed the line into the “inhumane.”

What You Need To Know

  • An email obtained by CNN and first reported on by the Houston Chronicle from a trooper-medic to a supervisor expresses concern about the tactics being used to stop crossings at the Texas-Mexico border

  • Among other things, the email states that Texas Department of Public Safety troopers were ordered to push migrants back into the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass and deny them water 

  • The trooper also stated that migrants are being injured by razor wire placed along the river 

  • Texas DPS in an email said there is no policy or directive that instructs troopers to withhold water from migrants or push them into the river

The email was first reported on by the Houston Chronicle and is part of a weekly report detailing operations events and weekly concerns for June 24 to July 1.

CNN reported the trooper wrote in the email that they were made to “push people back into the water,” referencing the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Texas. Troopers, the email states, were also ordered not to give water to migrants.

DPS troopers are stationed along the border as part of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s multibillion-dollar Operation Lone Star border enforcement program.

According to CNN, the trooper reported medics aided a 4-year-old girl who passed out in 100-degree heat after members of the Texas National Guard pushed her group back toward Mexico, a man who badly cut his leg while trying to rescue his child from razor wire, a 15-year-old boy with a broken leg and a 19-year-old woman who was trapped in razor wire while she was having a miscarriage.

The email further claims that medics located about 120 people who were camping out in temperatures over 100 degrees. The email states that they questioned an order to push them back toward the Rio Grande for fear some migrants would drown. The medics said they were then told to leave the area.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Tuesday that the trooper's account, if true, was “abhorrent" and “dangerous.” Democrats in the Texas Capitol said they planned to investigate.

“We are talking about the bedrock values of who we are as a country and the human indecency that we are seeing,” Jean-Pierre said. “If this is true, it is just completely, completely wrong.”

Spectrum News on Tuesday reached out to DPS for comment and received the following reply from Travis Considine, communications director for the department:

“The Office of the Inspector General is investigating the allegations made in the email in question. There is not a directive or policy that instructs Troopers to withhold water from migrants or push them back into the river.”

DPS provided Spectrum News with a series of photos detailing injuries sustained by migrants caused by razor wire at the Rio Grande. It also includes an email from DPS Director Steve McCraw stating that the wire is intended as a deterrent.

“The purpose of the wire is to deter smuggling between the ports of entry and not to injure migrants. Crossing through the concertina wire without protective gear is no doubt likely to result in an injury,” McCraw wrote. “This is self evident, but we need to ensure that migrants are reminded of this by signage and continued verbal warnings perhaps using LRADs.”

Spectrum News additionally reached out to the office of Gov. Abbott and received the following statement from spokesperson Andrew Mahaleris:

“Texas is deploying every tool and strategy to deter and repel illegal crossings between ports of entry as President Biden’s dangerous open border policies entice migrants from over 150 countries to risk their lives entering the country illegally.

“The absence of razor wire and other deterrence strategies encourages migrants to make unsafe and illegal crossings between ports of entry, while making the job of Texas National Guard soldiers and DPS troopers more dangerous and difficult. President Biden has unleashed a chaos on the border that’s unsustainable, and we have a constitutional duty to respond to this unprecedented crisis.”

The email chain with the trooper included a log showing 38 encounters between June 25 and July 1 with migrants in need of medical assistance, ranging from weakness to lacerations, broken limbs and drownings in which life-saving measures were required. A dozen were under a year old.