Officers working for Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security initiative have been ordered to push small children and nursing babies back into the Rio Grande, and have been told not to give water to asylum seekers even in extreme heat, according to an email from a Department of Public Safety trooper who described the actions as “inhumane.”
The July 3 account, reviewed by Hearst Newspapers, discloses several previously unreported incidents the trooper witnessed in Eagle Pass, where the state of Texas has strung miles of razor wire and deployed a wall of buoys in the Rio Grande.
According to the email, a pregnant woman having a miscarriage was found late last month caught in the wire, doubled over in pain. A four-year-old girl passed out from heat exhaustion after she tried to go through it and was pushed back by Texas National Guard soldiers. A teenager broke his leg trying to navigate the water around the wire and had to be carried by his father.
The email, which the trooper sent to a superior, suggests that Texas has set “traps” of razor wire-wrapped barrels in parts of the river with high water and low visibility. And it says the wire has increased the risk of drownings by forcing migrants into deeper stretches of the river.
The trooper called for a series of rigorous policy changes to improve safety for migrants, including removing the barrels and revoking the directive on withholding water.
“Due to the extreme heat, the order to not give people water needs to be immediately reversed as well,” the trooper wrote, later adding: “I believe we have stepped over a line into the inhumane.”
Department of Public Safety spokesman Travis Considine did not comment on all the contents of the trooper’s email, but said there is no policy against giving water to migrants.
Considine also provided an email from DPS Director Steven McCraw on Saturday calling for an audit to determine if more can be done to minimize the risk to migrants. McCraw wrote troopers should warn migrants not to cross the wire, redirect them to ports of entry and to closely watch for anyone who needs medical attention.
In another email, McCraw acknowledged that there has been an increase in injuries from the wire, including seven incidents reported by Border Patrol where migrants needed “elevated medical attention” from July 4 to July 13. Those were in addition to the incidents detailed by the trooper.
“The purpose of the wire is to deter smuggling between the ports of entry and not to injure migrants,” McCraw wrote. “The smugglers care not if the migrants are injured, but we do, and we must take all necessary measures to mitigate the risk to them including injuries from trying to cross over the concertina wire, drownings and dehydration.”
The incidents detailed in the email come as Abbott has stepped up efforts in recent weeks to physically bar migrants from entering the country through his Operation Lone Star initiative, escalating tensions between state and federal officials and drawing increased scrutiny from humanitarian groups who say the state is endangering asylum seekers. The most aggressive initiatives have been targeted at Eagle Pass.
The state has also now deployed a wall of floating buoys in the Rio Grande, which triggered complaints over the weekend from Mexico.
Federal Border Patrol officials have issued internal warnings that the razor wire is preventing their agents from reaching at-risk migrants and increasing the risk of drownings in the Rio Grande, Hearst Newspapers reported last week.
The DPS trooper expressed similar concerns, writing that the placement of the wire along the river “forces people to cross in other areas that are deeper and not as safe for people carrying kids and bags.”
The trooper’s email sheds new light on a series of previously reported drownings in the river during a one-week stretch earlier this month, including a mother and at least one of her two children, who federal Border Patrol agents spotted struggling to cross the Rio Grande on July 1.
According to the email, a DPS boat found the mother and one of the children, who went under the water for a minute.
They were pulled from the river and given medical care before being transferred to EMS, but were later declared deceased at the hospital. The second child was never found, the email said.
The Governor has said he is taking necessary steps to secure the border and accused federal officials of refusing to do so.
“Texas is deploying every tool and strategy to deter and repel illegal crossings between ports of entry as President Biden’s dangerous open border policies entice migrants from over 150 countries to risk their lives entering the country illegally," said Andrew Mahaleris, Abbott’s press secretary. "President Biden has unleashed a chaos on the border that’s unsustainable, and we have a constitutional duty to respond to this unprecedented crisis.”
The DPS trooper’s email details four incidents in just one day in which migrants were caught in the wire or injured trying to get around it.
On June 30, troopers found a group of people along the wire, including a 4-year-old girl who tried to cross the wire and was pressed back by Texas Guard soldiers “due to the orders given to them,” the email says. The DPS trooper wrote that the temperature was “well over 100 degrees” and the girl passed out from exhaustion.
“We provided treatment to the unresponsive patient and transferred care to EMS,” the trooper wrote. A spokesperson for the Texas National Guard did not respond to a request for comment.
In another instance, troopers found a 19-year-old woman “in obvious pain” stuck in the wire. She was cut free and given a medical assessment, which determined she was pregnant and having a miscarriage. She was then transferred to EMS.
The trooper also treated a man with a “significant laceration” in his left leg, who said he had cut it while trying to free his child who was “stuck on a trap in the water,” describing a barrel with razor wire “all over it.” And the trooper treated a 15-year-old boy who broke his right leg walking in the river because the razor wire was “laid out in a manner that it forced him into the river where it is unsafe to travel.”
In another instance, on June 25, troopers came across a group of 120 people camped out along a fence set up along the river. The group included several small children and babies who were nursing, the trooper wrote. The entire group was exhausted, hungry and tired, the trooper wrote. The shift officer in command ordered the troopers to “push the people back into the water to go to Mexico,” the email says.
The trooper wrote that the troopers decided it was not the right thing to do “with the very real potential of exhausted people drowning.” They called command again and expressed their concerns and were given the order to “tell them to go to Mexico and get into our vehicle and leave,” the trooper wrote. After they left, other troopers worked with Border Patrol to provide care to the migrants, the email said.
The trooper did not respond to a request for comment Monday. His email was shared by a confidential source with knowledge of border operations. It was unclear whether the trooper received a response from the sergeant he’d messaged.
Considine acknowledged that DPS was aware of the email and provided the additional agency emails in response. Those emails detail seven other incidents reported by federal border agents in which migrants were injured on the wires, including a child who was taken to the hospital on Thursday with cuts on his left arm, a mother and child who were taken to the hospital on Wednesday with “minor lacerations” on their “lower extremities,” and another migrant taken to San Antonio on July 4 to receive treatment for “several lacerations” that required staples.
Victor Escalon, a DPS director who oversees South Texas, wrote in an email Friday to other agency officials that troopers “may need to open the wire to aid individuals in medical distress, maintain the peace, and/or to make an arrest for criminal trespass, criminal mischief, acts of violence, or other State crimes.”
“Our DPS medical unit is assigned to this operation to address medical concerns for everyone involved,” Escalon wrote. “As we enforce State law, we may need to aid those in medical distress and provide water as necessary.”
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All I see is Y/N being at their mercy once they recognize the poor janitor. What if they just assume they're being a good listerner by not talking. Like if one of em is having a bad day they just snatch Y/n mid task for cuddles and to vent.
Ah this is about the rlgl au right?
Well that would be a super dangerous game to play because the staff is strictly forbidden contact to the bots or the clients, so if they ever got caught doing that y/n would definetly be fired, even if they werent at fault. Fazbear policy
This also means that if y/n wants to keep their job they cant openly help sun or moon if anything happens at work, and they cant be spotted with sun or moon while off the clock or that little oversight of management (overlapping adresses of staff and bots) could be discovered
lets see how long y/n will be able to keep the distance to the celestial twins befor those idiots worm their way into y/n s heart
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"obligation"
Image: A simple emoji-yellow figure looking at a list posted on the wall.
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imagine not being able to be critical of the push towards transition by medical professionals who profit from it or the gender stereotypes and homophobia that give place to that social transition WITHOUT being an absolute freak towards trans people who are quite literally just living their life. deranged.
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god that “if you work in customer service, what’s something you never thought you’d have to explain to an adult” tiktok reminded me of when i used to work at a skydiving dropzone and a guy called in who was very upset about our prices. he asked if we could attach three people to one parachute so he would only have to pay for one. when told that this would kill everyone involved, he paused and then said “okay, how about two?”
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how to make 19 year old boy who came of age during the pandemic and never had a real real job before now realize he needs to Chill The Fuck Out and be Less eagar about working for free holy shit he is impossible to wrangle
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"but why can't you just"
No means no, lady!
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Getting any documentation done in California is like going to subway, but instead of just writing the prices of all the sandwiches on the board and letting you decide what you can and can't afford, the guy tells you specifically that your sandwich will cost X amount.
But it doesn't.
What he's doing is telling you how much the bread cost. If you want a sandwich (you know, that thing you came in for) then he'll gladly let you pick out the meats and salads and sauces, and then tell you how much it actually costs at the till.
That may not seem like a big deal to most people, but it offends me in a way I can't seem to properly articulate. Why would I walk into a subway for bread? I can buy that anywhere. Why did you tell me a baguette was a sandwich? It's not. The bread does not make the sandwich. All the pieces when assembled make the sandwich.
What you gave me were the bare bones of the product you were selling, and when I was already committed to playing out this farce, you then hit me with hidden fees that added up to the real price of the sandwich.
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my knuckles are literally BRUISED bro
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Ron DeSantis Says He'll End Birthright Citizenship As President | Miami Herald
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday unveiled a sweeping plan to overhaul the nation’s immigration system and ramp up border enforcement, vowing to “repel the invasion” at the U.S. southern border, end birthright citizenship and to use the “levers at our disposal” to ensure cooperation from Mexico.
The plan, which was unveiled during a campaign trip to the border town of Eagle Pass, Texas, ushered in the beginning of a new, policy-focused phase of DeSantis’ presidential bid that his campaign has billed as a more direct effort to challenge President Joe Biden.
But the rollout also doubled as an attempt to criticize former President Donald Trump, the heavy frontrunner for the GOP’s 2024 White House nomination whose political brand was built in large part on his hardline – and often inflammatory – rhetoric on immigration and border security.
“The reason why I’m really motivated to bring this issue to a conclusion is because I have listened to people in DC for years and years and years,” DeSantis told supporters on Monday. “Republicans and Democrats always chirping about this and never actually bringing the issue to a conclusion, never actually getting the job done.”
DeSantis pledged to end “catch and release” – the policy that allows migrants to be released into the U.S. while they await their asylum hearing – reimpose the so-called “Remain in Mexico” policy and finish Trump’s long-promised, though still incomplete, border wall.
And DeSantis vowed to charge forward on his own whenever possible.
“When we go in on day one we’re gonna marshal every bit of authority that we have, will work with Congress when we need to, we’ll take executive action when we can, and it will be a day one priority, and you’re gonna see a big change very, very quickly,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis’s proposals went even further, calling for the end of birthright citizenship, cut hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to so-called “sanctuary jurisdictions” that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration law and deputize state and local governments to enforce immigration law.
“I think the states have a role to play,” DeSantis said. “I can tell you, as a President, we are fully going to deputize all state and local governments to be able to enforce immigration law, you will be able to have that authority.”
As Governor, DeSantis has signed legislation that requires all Florida law enforcement officials that operate a county detention center to participate in a federal immigration program, known as the 287(g), designed to identify undocumented immigrants in county jail after they are arrested. Officers are deputized to work under the supervision of ICE and the training is paid for by Florida taxpayers.
The program is among a series of state actions DeSantis has taken as Governor to have a role in enforcing federal immigration law. Some of the actions have been done with the help of the Republican-led Legislature, but others have been done through executive orders and emergency rules.
In his first term, DeSantis has spent at least $1.6 million to send state law enforcement officers to Texas to help secure the border, cracked down on Florida migrant shelters that care for migrant kids, asked the Florida Supreme Court to impanel a statewide grand jury to investigate immigration-related crimes and launched a strike force that mirrors a broader partisan effort promoted by national Republican groups.
Most prominently, DeSantis created a state-funded program that has allowed him to relocate migrants from Texas to other parts of the country, including Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts and Sacramento, California. The program has led to several lawsuits, including from migrants who say they were tricked into getting on the planes to Martha’s Vineyard, and a criminal investigation by the Bexar County sheriff in Texas.
Addressing supporters in Texas on Monday, DeSantis pledged that, if elected President, he would look to enact at the federal level a version of a sweeping immigration bill Florida lawmakers passed last month that requires businesses with more than 25 employees to use E-Verify, a federal electronic system, to check the immigration status of new hires. The state law he signed exempts independent contractors and those who hire people to do house work, such as housekeepers, maids and gardeners.
Among his other proposals: raising pay for Border Patrol agents, restricting visas of countries that don’t accept deportees and defunding nongovernmental organizations and other groups “engaged in facilitating illegal alien processing, human smuggling, and encouraging mass migration.”
DeSantis also used the policy announcement to pivot to foreign policy, saying that as President of the United States he would use all the “levers at our disposal” to “ensure better behavior” from Mexico.
“I think there is a lot of leverage we have over Mexico that a lot of Presidents have not been willing to use,” he said. “I think that they think that somehow that will be bad politically. I don’t think so at all. I think you’ve got to do it.”
While DeSantis did not provide too many specifics on his plans, he seemed to agree with a supporter in the crowd who suggested that Mexico is committing an “act of war” because they are not doing enough to stop migrants from coming into the country.
“I think we should act,” DeSantis said. “I view taking action that is very forward-facing in terms of that because it’s violating our sovereignty and it’s killing Americans.”
DeSantis added that when he is President, he would give Texas law enforcement the authority to deport individuals.
“As President, under Article II of the Constitution, you have a responsibility and a duty to protect the country, and we are going to do that and we are going to do that robustly,” DeSantis said.
Little more than a month into his 2024 presidential campaign, DeSantis has struggled to close a yawning polling gap with Trump. The Governor’s policy announcement on Monday – the first major rollout of his White House bid – seized on an issue that Republicans, particularly Trump, have used for years to energize their conservative voter base.
Yet DeSantis still faces tough competition on the immigration front, most notably from Trump, who has sought to elevate the issue in his own presidential bid. Speaking at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s annual conference in Washington, D.C. over the weekend, Trump pledged to “carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history” and finish building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
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I had a lot of things lined up to upload on my patreon. These included teen aspirations, a variety of other aspirations, a complex zodiac mod, the entirety of my likes and dislikes mod as a collection. Patreon and early access was, and is, my only source of income.
I have an autoimmune disease and I am on immunosuppressants. My autoimmune disease means I am in pain daily, and so getting a job that requires me to leave the house would be extremely difficult. Furthermore, I have severe depression, anxiety and agoraphobia, so leaving the house is near on impossible for me anyway.
Of course, this is not EA’s fault or responsibility! 😂 I am not complaining, because the sims have a right to set out whatever policies they want for a game they own. But, I am concerned. I enjoy making mods, but I’m not sure it will be feasible for me to continue if early access isn’t allowed anymore. I would continue to make mods every now and then, I’m sure, because I enjoy it, but I wouldn’t have the time to dedicate myself to it the way I do now, if I have to look for another way to get some income. I really hope the sims team give some clarification on this.
In the meantime, I will keep working on the mods I already have in progress. Thank you for all the love, as always 💖
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Thoughts on EA's policy change on "obscene content" and Pay Content
This probably won't be of interest to people other than simmers who are very involved in the community so keep that in mind before you read but...
While the drama that is resulting from the policy change is funny, I do wonder what the long-term consequences will be. I also wonder how likely they are to act on the policy? Is it entirely for show? Is it going to be enforced only when they're pressured?
I'm also curious what EA's definition of "obscene" is. Turbodriver, the developer of WickedWhims, seems nervous enough about it that he's already updated his mod to exclude teenagers from sexual activities (as well as some other changes) but will that be enough, I wonder?
Since people can be reported by community members it also makes me wonder is going to rely primarily on the community to report things. Also will the retroactively impact older games?
I doubt that this is going to make any major impacts overnight but I do wonder if it will change the economy of CC creators. While I suspect many will just move to alternative under the table forms of payment if this IS enforced, it will make some leave. That will likely mean less CC for the TS4 community overall, but it will also mean being less inundated with shoveled out 3D models hastily converted to TS4.
Those who work on commission will be a lot better off since it's a lot easier to pay a single creator for a piece of content and hide that but since many patreon creators were simply flipping 3D models, that would be difficult to do.
I mean, this could lead to nothing. It could be that this policy change is just on paper as it has been before but with a way to report users and Turbodriver being nervous enough to change core parts of his mod, it makes me wonder.
This does make me wonder if we'll move back to an environment of passive income based on website ads? Many websites that make pretty massive income (think MTS) are completely free but make good money allegedly.
I guess only time will tell. While this won't end either paying for mods or mods that are considered "obscene" EA can't really control the player base so it mostly means that much of this sort of content will just be shared under the table and will make pirating it easier to do.
If they DO enforce the policy they may decide that any explicit sexual content is obscene and send C&Ds to TurboDriver and functionally drive WickedWhims and sexual mods underground. That would be quite a turn of events.
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i need you all to know i almost got into a physical altercation at wingstop. but i got my wings so it's good.
ps: if you're a person who yells at customer service workers i hope you get into a car accident and i mean it from the bottom of my dead heart.
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fellow pipino here 😔✊
i wake up everyday coated in sweat and feeling delirious, idk what we did for us to land in this fiery ass country when we got colonized, not once, not twice, but three times, but at least i'm having training for when i die and go to hell 🤷♀️
GIRL THIS ISTG!!! i have asthma that's triggered by heat and every time i get out of the house my whole chest feels tight af and i'm fighting for my life everyday 😭😭😭 who stole the mf magestone again my free trial lungs are getting expired
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also surprised to learn there are US stadiums that ban bringing in water?? NFL stadiums tend to have the same entrance policies and, as I mentioned, Soldier Field didn’t ban bringing in water
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might be going full time soon 👀 healthcare is within my grasp
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