Texas Republican: Newly reported tactics of state troopers at border ‘not acceptable’

Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) said Sunday the newly reported tactics of state troopers at the floating barriers in the Rio Grande River in Texas are “not acceptable,” while noting the other obstacles the state faces at the border.

“Everything that is happening along the border is just adding fuel to the fire because … you’re having people at the very top say one thing and the people down at the ground do another,” Gonzales told CBS’s Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation.” “[Gov. Greg Abbott (R)] no doubt is doing everything he can to secure the border.”

Abbott began implementing floating barriers in the Rio Grande River in Eagle Pass, Texas earlier this month to prevent people from crossing the border from Mexico. In an email first reported by The Houston Chronicle, a Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) trooper expressed his concern over a series of incidents in which migrants were injured or killed by the floating barriers, which include razor wire. The trooper also alleged he and his team were told to deny the migrants water amid dangerously hot temperatures and push them back into the river.

Gonzales noted Sunday the floating barriers are placed in a “very small, little portion of the river.”

“I don’t think the buoys are the problem,” he said. “Honestly, Margaret, this has been happening every single week. We’ve seen people drown last year, there were hundreds of migrants that are drowning.”

Gonzales also said he is worried about what is happening at all state, local and federal levels, claiming he sees a “disconnect.”

“I see distrust. I see Republicans blaming Democrats, Democrats blaming Republicans, and round and around we go with nothing getting accomplished,” Gonzales said.

“To me, Congress has to solve this because we’ve been waiting on a president for decades to solve this and it’s not going to be solved,” Gonzales said, noting his introduction of the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act, which focuses on legal immigration and extends work visas from one to three years.

“What do we do with the millions of people that are already here? What do we do with the millions of people that are coming here illegally? How do we prevent them from taking these dangerous trucks? One of those options is through work visas,” Gonzales said.

“I don’t want to see one person step one foot in the water,” he said. “More or less have us talk about the discussion of some of these inhumane situations that they’re put in.”

Updated at 11:26 a.m.