Last July, Texas governor Greg Abbott defied federal law and installed wrecking-ball-size orange buoys with circular saw blades separating them as a floating barrier across the Rio Grande River. This in addition to the miles of razor wire fence ostensibly erected to deter irregular immigration. The Communist Party USA denounces these acts and asks our members, friends and the public to work for the immediate removal of the barrier and the cessation of Governor Abbott’s cruel and illegal “Operation Lone Star” attack on migrants.

The cruelty is the point: dead bodies caught in the buoys; children’s bodies slashed by razor wire; and a pregnant woman having a miscarriage while ensnared in the barrier. In addition to these deadly contraptions, state troopers were told not to give migrants water to drink, and ordered to push migrants back into the water as they attempted to reach U.S. soil and exercise their legal right to claim asylum.

None of this is surprising nor unanticipated. There has been ample evidence since the failed policy of Operation Gatekeeper in the 1990s that “prevention through deterrence” does not deter. Instead, it pushes desperate migrants to try ever more dangerous and deadly avenues to reach the U.S. Such deterrence policies are directly responsible for the concurrent increase in deaths and injuries.

The Communist Party USA condemns these acts and all acts using migrants’ lives as political pawns, such as the bussing of migrants to Democratic Party–controlled cities like Los Angeles or NYC, particularly during hurricane conditions and amid a homelessness emergency.

Finally, we renew our call for full legalization with a quick pathway to citizenship for the undocumented, and for an end to the economic, political and military imperialism which lies at the root of the so-called “migrant crisis.”

Image: Operation Lone Star [Image 2 of 6]. Concertina wire barrier on the banks of the Rio Grande River by DVIDS (public domain)

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