Sylvia Garcia

Texas Rep. Sylvia Garcia was left horrified by the measures that Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is taking to deter migrants at the southern border, she told Newsweek.

Garcia, a Democrat representing Texas' 29th congressional district, visited Eagle Pass earlier this month to see the floating barrier installed in the Rio Grande. A video she posted on social media showed circular blades in-between the wrecking ball-sized buoys of the barrier.

"I was able to witness firsthand Governor Abbott's cruel and inhumane anti-immigrant measures at the Texas border," Garcia said in a statement to Newsweek.

"On my trip to Eagle Pass, I learned that the razor wire in the Rio Grande is causing life-threatening injuries to migrants, straining local medical resources and forcing Eagle Pass residents to wait hours for emergency care."

Migrants walk after crossing the Grand River into the United States in Eagle Pass, Texas as seen from Piedras Negras, Coahuila state, Mexico on August 4, 2023. Guillermo Arias/AFP via Getty Images

She added: "These circular saws are meant to inflict physical harm to asylum seekers. This material was designed for war, not to help process asylum seekers at the border."

Earlier this month, Mexican authorities said two bodies had been recovered from the river, including one that was caught in the floating barrier.

Mexico has complained that most of the barrier is on its side of the Rio Grande, and said it violates treaties regarding the use of the river and Mexico's sovereignty.

Mexican officials and others have warned of the risks posed by the barrier.

Every day that "the floating wall, saw blades and concertina wire are allowed to stay up, more migrants will be injured or killed and more wildlife will suffer," Laiken Jordahl, a Southwest conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity, previously told Newsweek. "Governor Abbott is turning this beautiful river into a death trap for people and wildlife. Our wildlands and communities will not be turned into war zones. Abbott must be stopped."

An Abbott spokesperson has previously denied that the barriers were causing deaths.

Mexican authorities and Democrats "spreading false information that Texas' marine barriers caused any death are flat-out wrong," Andrew Mahaleris told Newsweek.

"These marine barriers help deter illegal river crossings, redirecting migrants to use one of the 29 international bridges on the Texas-Mexico border where they can safely and legally cross. No one drowns on a bridge." Mahaleris has been contacted for further comment via email.

The U.S. Department of Justice is suing Abbott over the barrier, saying it violates federal law and raises humanitarian concerns.

Abbott has defended the barrier and said he is prepared to take the fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"Texas to Biden: We will see you at SCOTUS. We filled more than 300 pages in a legal brief explaining -- in detail -- why Texas can use the floating barriers that we have placed in the Rio Grande River," Abbott wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday.

The barrier was installed in the Rio Grande in July as part of Abbott's multibillion-dollar effort, known as Operation Lone Star, to secure the U.S. border with Mexico. Other efforts include razor-wire fencing and arresting migrants on trespassing charges.

The measures sparked fresh outrage after the Houston Chronicle reported details from a trooper's email to a superior raising alarm that Texas was setting "traps" of razor wire-wrapped barrels in parts of the river with high water and low visibility, increasing the risks of drowning. According to his email, a pregnant woman having a miscarriage was found caught in the wire.

The trooper's email also said that troopers were being ordered to push migrants back into the Rio Grande and deny them water in extreme heat. Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Travis Considine has denied the claims.