A Texas National Guard member reportedly shot and wounded a man along the U.S.-Mexico near El Paso this week, according to The Washington Post.
Reportedly, the soldier was deployed as part of Operation Lone Star, which is Texas’ response to the ongoing border crisis. Since President Joe Biden took office, the border crisis has worsened, putting a strain on the states at the front lines.
The Texas Military Department said Monday that a soldier at the border had “discharged a weapon” and that the incident was under investigation.
“More information will be made available as the investigation progresses,” the Department said in a statement.
Erika Miller, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Public Safety, said the Texas Rangers, the state’s investigative police agency, will also look into the incident.
The soldier reportedly shot into Mexican territory (via WaPo):
News accounts in Mexico identified the wounded man as a Mexican migrant who was attempting to reach the United States from Ciudad Juárez when he was struck by gunfire from U.S. authorities. The man is in stable condition, according to the accounts.
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According to one of the CBP officials, who was briefed on what happened, the Texas Guard member opened fire after three men on the Mexican side of the border started attacking a group of migrants with a knife as the migrants attempted to cross the river.
“One of the bandits was trying to stab the migrants, and that’s when the National Guard fired,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the incident. The official said details are hazy.
While it is extremely unusual for U.S. personnel to fire a weapon into Mexico, the soldier’s use of force would probably be justified if the lives of the migrants were in immediate danger, the official said. Criminal gangs typically charge hundreds of dollars to migrants seeking to cross into the United States, and the gangsters enforce their toll collection system with lethal violence.
A report from The Texas Tribune claimed that the soldier was placed on paid leave after the incident. According to the Tribune, the migrant who was shot in Cuidad Juarez is 37-year-old.
"The service member has been placed on paid administrative leave until the conclusion of the investigation," a spokesperson for the Texas Military department said in an email to the outlet. In addition, Mexico's Foreign Ministry told the outlet that the Consulate General of Mexico in El Paso met with senior officials from Texas DPS to investigate the shooting.
The Post noted that this is the second time this year that Texas National Guard personnel assigned to the southern border have shot someone. The other incident reportedly occurred in the lower Rio Grande Valley of South Texas on Jan. 15 where soldiers confronted a group of migrants inside an abandoned house. After a struggle, one man sustained injuries from a gunshot wound.
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