Search continues for Texas Guardsman missing after border rescue attempt

EAGLE PASS, Texas (AP) – Authorities have launched the identify of a Texas Nationwide Guard member who stays lacking after going into the river alongside the U.S.-Mexico border to assist two migrants who seemed to be drowning.

The Texas Navy Division on Sunday recognized the lacking Guard member as Specialist Bishop E. Evans, from Arlington. He’s assigned to A Battery, 4-133 Subject Artillery Regiment in New Braunfels.

The 22-year-old Evans went lacking on Friday as he jumped into the Rio Grande close to Eagle Go alongside the U.S.-Mexico border. He was making an attempt to rescue two migrants at a bit of the river recognized for robust currents.

Dive groups had stopped their operations Saturday night because of the river’s robust present. Three airboats from the Texas Division of Public Security helped with the search on Sunday.

Maverick County Sheriff Tom Schmerber stated Evans took off his jacket and left his radio earlier than going into the water round 8:30 a.m. Friday.

“He jumped within the river,” Schmerber stated. “They by no means noticed him come out.”

The 2 migrants had been taken into custody by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol. Based on the navy division, authorities consider the migrants had been concerned in drug smuggling.

Migrant rescues are frequent within the river alongside the Texas border, and the tried crossings are additionally typically lethal. Schmerber stated the our bodies of as many as two migrants every week are typically discovered alongside his county’s part of the river.

Schmerber, a former Border Patrol officer, stated Guard members don’t normally enter the water to try rescues and this was the primary incident he might recall. He estimated the portion of the river the place the tried rescue occurred was roughly 70 to 80 yards (64 to 73 meters) vast.

“That river may be very harmful. It’s robust currents,” Schmerber stated. “It’s dangerous to cross the river like that.”

Evans was assigned to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s sprawling border safety mission, often called Operation Lone Star, which has deployed 1000’s of Guard members throughout Texas’ 1,200-mile (1,920-kilometer) southern border since launching final yr. The multibillion-dollar operation additionally features a heavy presence of state troopers and authorizes Guard members to assist make arrests.

The mission has come underneath scrutiny over migrants sitting in border jails for months on trespassing prices and low morale amongst Guard members over dwelling situations, lengthy deployments and little to do.

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