Tipsheet

There's Been An Update on the Kind of Men TX National Guardsman Went Missing in Rio Grande to Save

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  April 23, 2022 7:00 PM

On Friday, Julio covered the sad news on the Rio Grande, where a Texas National Guard soldier had gone missing trying to save illegal immigrants who were drowning. Fox News' Bill Melugin, who first covered the news, provided another update on Saturday. 

Citing a statement from the Texas Military Department, Melugin reported that Texas Rangers "have determined that the two migrants were involved in illicit transnational narcotics trafficking." Both illegal immigrants are in the custody of the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP). 

The soldier appears to still be missing, though Melugin reported information about the soldier, including his name, will be released at a later date. While the search for him had to pause on Friday night, due to the river's strong current, it has since resumed.

"The search for the missing TMD soldier will continue until we have exhausted all available resources," the statement said also said. "The Texas Military Department is thankful to all interagency partners for their continued support in this operation to locate our missing soldier. Our thoughts and prayers remain with the family of the soldier."

About the soldier, Melguin noted that he "was assigned to Operation Lone Star, Texas' operation to surge resources to combat the crisis at the southern border."

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Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) during his Friday night appearance on Fox News' "The Story," as highlighted by Ian Hanchett at Breitbart, shared that "the situation on the border is very similar to war." The congressman had served 20 years in the military, including in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

The "crisis at the southern border," as Melugin aptly termed it, is also surely going to get worse, with the Biden administration stubbornly refusing to reverse course when it comes to ending Title 42 a month from now, on May 23. As Julio has extensively reported though, the situation at the border is already further deteriorating ahead of time. 

In an interview with CNN from last month, Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz told the outlet that he is getting ready for 8,000 apprehensions, daily. 

Even fellow Democrats have come out against ending Title 42, which Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is also worried about, as Julio noted. 

As Spencer reported earlier on Friday, the bipartisan House Problem Solvers Caucus has introduced a bill to suspend such action on Title 42, with there also being a companion bill in the Senate. 

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is also suing the Biden administration over Title 42. 

President Joe Biden has an approval rating of 34.3 percent on immigration and a 58.3 percent disapproval rating, according to data from RealClearPolitics (RCP) from March 23-April 17. 

Under the Biden administration, the southern border has already seen a significant surge in illegal immigrant crossings. As Julio reported at the time, the fiscal year from October 2020 to September 2021 saw a historic amount of illegal immigrants at the southern border.