Border Floaties in Court
And, Kinney County Sued, Again
Good Morning, friends,
Today’s the day Governor Abbott’s Border Buoys get their first day in federal court as the Feds sue to try and get them removed.
This comes after Governor Abbott announced in Eagle Pass yesterday that the string of buoys has been moved backwards a number of feet, away from the Mexican side of the river.
He’s been quoted as saying it was done out of an abundance of caution.
The Center Square’s Bethany Blankley was in Eagle Pass for the news conference and was able to get an exclusive interview with Border Czar Mike Banks— who addressed recent claims that the buoys are dangerous or have killed people.
“The buoys don’t go forward” as some have claimed, suggesting doing so causes people to drown, Banks said. “They only go backwards. They work like a rachet system so if you try to climb on it, the buoy would spin backwards preventing you from getting over it. If you try to go over it, the buoy would lock in place.”
He also debunked claims that a hole can be poked in the buoys, causing them to sink. He showed how they are hard, designed to float. “There’s no way to poke a hole in it to have it sink,” he said.
Some have claimed the buoys have saws or knives on them, but Banks pointed out that a circular device in between the buoys is an anti-climb deterrent.
“It’s designed to prevent someone to get in-between the buoys,” he said.
He also leaned into the device to show that it doesn’t pierce or cut the skin.
Banks also addressed what he said was the misinformation being disseminated that people have already died from the buoys.
“One of the things you hear a lot is that two migrants have died trying to cross the buoys. Absolutely false," he said. "Not a single migrant has attempted to cross these buoys since they’ve been placed in the river.”
Both the Texas National Guard and Department of Public Safety troopers provide overwatch, he added, saying that illegal foreign nationals “go around them. They do not want to cross them.”
He said two people died near the buoys; one down river and one upriver. The body of the one who drowned upriver floated down the river and pushed up against the buoys.
“Any myth about these buoys being involved in a death is absolutely false,” he said.
—Reporter Bethany Blankley, in The Center Square
Our personal feeling is that the barriers are easily avoided.
And consequently, they could be wrapped up in broken glass and nitroglycerin in a bid to make people avoid them. If they send one person out of the water and around to the bridges or to some other location, that is by definition a lifesaving piece of equipment.
There should be some effort to track down where this ridiculous libel began. Names should be named. Just so they can be ridiculed.
What’s kind of nutty is that the Governor was down in Eagle Pass with 4 other Governors and we’re struggling to find one article online that bothers to mention in any great detail what the heck the point of their attending was.
There are several livestreams up, but it’s like no one has bothered to watch them.
Weird, no?
You’d think there was nothing at all newsworthy about the other Governors being present.
Let’s check. Pressing pause on Bruce Springsteen over here, and grumpy about it. “I’m on Fire” is one of those songs that transports us.
(Intermission)
Ok. Wow. Those were just the governors that were able to attend— the big announcement was basically focused on the contributions of additional law-enforcement and/or State Guard manpower not only by Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, who were all present— but also the Governors of Tennessee, Florida, Idaho, Arkansas, Ohio, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming, and North Dakota who were not.
This seems like it ought to be kind of a big deal. Including Texas, that amounts to 15 States that are willing to stick their necks out and buck the Federal Government to some degree over this ridiculous border crisis. That’s a third of the United States.
How long do you think it’ll be before additional others pile on?
Obviously, some of the contributions are bigger or smaller than the others. Some more notional, or ceremonial than others. Doesn’t matter. It’s a statement.
Oh— and we’re jumping the gun. Governor Abbott goes on to say that he has contributions from a total of 25 other states. That’s half of the Country, if you’re keeping score at home.
“The primary reason we’re having to do this, is because Joe Biden isn’t doing his job,” said Governor Abbott.
It really is that simple.
Is there a simple reason we can’t find a single article in a major national outlet going into this?
So strange.
It’s not until we get into local television station websites like WAVY in Virginia, that we find mention of Governor Abbott’s comments about 25 states contributing to Operation Lone Star.
Some might say that news is overshadowed by what they did cover— news of another lawsuit by the ACLU and others, with more of the same allegations against Operation Lone Star: that some of the migrants arrested early on spent too much time in lock up and should have been released earlier.
That’s news that’s worth reporting— but is it really bigger news than this 25-state commitment?
We might be biased.
Here’s the Texas Tribune’s coverage of that new lawsuit, by the way.
We can’t say too much about it ourselves— Kinney County Sheriff Brad Coe is named in the thing along with Val Verde County Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez as well as two Texas Prison Wardens.
Sheriff Coe was out-of-town Monday, and we’re pretty certain he hasn’t had a chance to review the lawsuit’s particulars.
We haven’t either— all of what follows here is based on what we’ve read in the press about the suit— we’ll have to find the actual paperwork at the Courthouse later today.
But it’s been pretty standard for Kinney County to have no comment on pending litigation in any case. We will say that it seems to highlight some issue of where federal law ends, and DHS and ICE policies begin. That is to say— we wonder if there was some hang up by ICE in coming and taking custody of these prisoners.
The argument seems to be that the state should’ve just cut them loose. Debatable? We’ll see what the judges think, because we doubt either side is going to stop without appealing.
All in all, don’t see much to quibble with in the Tribune’s coverage of the suit. Seems like reporter Uriel J. Garcia has done a perfectly fine job of summarizing things— including what may be hyperbole from the attorneys bringing it. We’ll have to see what happens next just like everyone else.
While we’re visiting the Texas Tribune, an article by Jolie McCullough caught our eye. So, we read the whole thing.
Un-airconditioned Texas Prisons may be contributing to the deaths of prisoners during the high heat of the summer.
At least 41 people have died in stifling, uncooled prisons of either heart-related or unknown causes during Texas’ relentless and record-breaking heat wave this summer, according to a Texas Tribune analysis.
Relatives of those who died and prison rights advocates insist at least some of those deaths were caused by the heat. More than a dozen of the prisoners were in their 20s or 30s, with at least four people 35 and under reportedly dying of cardiac arrest or heart failure. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice says no prisoner has died from the brutal heat in its facilities since 2012, around the time the agency began being bombarded with wrongful death and civil rights lawsuits over the heat.
On Monday, Democrats on the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability implored Republican Chair James Comer to launch an investigation into conditions at prisons enduring sweltering temperatures, especially in Texas. The request follows the Republican committee members’ investigation into conditions for defendants jailed on charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
—Reporter Jolie McCullough, The Texas Tribune
Hardcore conservatives may wonder if these truly are statistically significant numbers when compared to other years and other heatwaves. Others may wonder about covid-19 vaccinations contributing to heart attacks and other ailments.
McCullough’s piece draws attention to the lack of political will to air condition Texas Prisons— part of the “get tough on crime,” attitude, the piece argues.
That’s fair, one supposes. Far be it for us to urge anyone to treat convicts with the softest of kid gloves. But— maybe there’s an argument to be made that it’s not fair to the prison guards, having to work in sweat-hog conditions.
Would it really cost too much to update conditions in Texas prisons?
We’re reminded of an awkward conversation we once had with a young tweaker on the streets of San Antonio, years ago, after we told him we were visiting from Lubbock, TX.
“Lubbock County! That’s the Caddilac, bro!”
Confused, we asked him what he meant.
“The air conditioning in Lubbock County is so dang cold, you need two blankets, bro! It’s great!”
He was talking about how he’d enjoyed his stay in the Lubbock County Jail. Since then, we’ve been told that it’s not uncommon in some correctional facilities to run the A/C at full blast. To make it almost uncomfortably cool. Idea goes that it encourages the inmates to huddle up to stay warm. Keeps them from being unruly.
Dunno. Air Conditioning seems like a win-win for the guards, for the admins, and yes, also the convicts. Would that be the worst thing in the world?
There may be a hundred other things we could spend taxes on, one supposes.
Like border security, since the Feds aren’t holding up their end.
Oh— and we also appreciate McCullough making note that this push comes on the heels of Republicans calling for an investigation into the conditions Jan 6. prisoners are enduring.
It suggests a tit-for-tat kind of a situation prevails in Washington, which is unfortunate. In the end, it seems to us that the Jan 6 prisoners deserve better. And so do Texas inmates, whether it’s the heat, bad vaccines, or something else that’s killing them.
We’ll be back again soon— still hacking away at things this week. We talk a lot about publishing more frequently when events compel it. Reckon events this week have been fairly compelling.
25 States, friends.
Doesn’t seem all that long ago, when it was just Kinney County and a handful of others declaring a state of emergency and later invasion over all of this.
It’s been a long road, and it’s shameful that it’s been such a struggle just to get people to admit there’s a problem, but we find ourselves very hopeful that more positive developments await.
Have a great morning, we’ll see you again real soon.
As always, this newsletter is an independent work product, and should not be mistaken for any kind of an official communication by Kinney County. It predates our employment with the County and is put out into the world without oversight or review by County officials. We make mention of this in the spirit of full disclosure, and to remain in keeping with County policies re: social media.