Inside Edition Digital has reached out to the Texas Department of Safety for comment and has not heard back.
A Texas trooper is alleging that he was told to deny migrants water and push children into the Rio Grande, according to reports.
Texas troopers employed by Governor Greg Abbott’s border patrol initiative were instructed to push children into the Rio Grande and deny migrants water in extreme heat, according to emails sent by a state employee later identified as Nicholas Wingate, The Guardian reported.
The emails were initially obtained by the Houston Chronicle.
Wingate, a trooper-medic from the Texas Department of Safety expressed concern over “inhumane” actions towards migrants in an email dated July 3 to supervisors, according to the Houston Chronicle.
Wingate also revealed other unreported incidents involving migrants, according to The Guardian.
Wingate told a supervisor in the July 3 email that upon encountering a group of 120 migrants on June 25 — including young children and mothers nursing babies — in Maverick County, a rural Texas border county, he and another trooper were ordered to "push the people back into the water to go to Mexico,” NBC News reported.
Inside Edition Digital has reached out to the Texas Department of Safety for comment and has not heard back.
In an email to Inside Edition Digital, a spokesperson with the Texas Military Dept. says, "The Texas National Guard mission is to work alongside our Texas law enforcement partners to prevent, deter and interdict transnational criminal activity between ports of entry. There is no order or directive instructing Service Members to push illegal immigrants back into the river or deny them drinking water. "
However, Travis Considine, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Safety, told NBC News the accounts provided by the trooper were under internal investigation. He added the department has no directive or policy that instructs troopers to withhold water from migrants or push them back into the river, NBC News reported.
Wingate and other troopers reportedly contacted their superiors while on duty and again in writing, calling for changes to the latest Operation Lone Star policies brought in by Abbott, CNN reported.
“I believe we have stepped over a line into the in humane [sic]. We need to operate it correctly in the eyes of God,” Wingate reportedly wrote. “We need to recognize that these are people who are made in the image of God and need to be treated as such.”
In the email, Wingate also voiced concerns over the casualty wire, CNN reported.
“The casualty wire needs to provide protection to the state and provide a safe means of travel on solid land to proper collection points. The wire also needs to be manned and patrolled constantly to provide security for these families who are seeking refuge. The wire on the shore needs to be lighted at night so people can see the wire and not stumble into it as a trap. The wire and barrels in the river (need) to be taken out as this is nothing but a in humane [sic] trap in high water and low visibility,” the trooper wrote.
Following the allegations, Abbott's office issued a statement that said no orders have been given “that would compromise the lives of those attempting to cross the border illegally.”
The statement made to CNN, however, did not address Wingate’s specific accounts and defended the border mission overall.
The statement also said the razor wire “snags clothing” but did not address the specific allegations of migrants being cut and bloodied by the barrier.
“The absence of these tools and strategies—including concertina wire that snags clothing—encourages migrants to make potentially life-threatening and illegal crossings. Through Operation Lone Star, Texas continues stepping up to respond to the unprecedented humanitarian crisis at our southern border,” the statement read.
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