Texas Governor Greg Abbott warns migrants against attempting to enter the US via alligator-infested Rio Grande: ‘Cross at your own risk’

Gregg Abbott has warned migrants trying to enter his state that if the razor wire and border guards don’t stop them, the alligators might.

Texas’ governor posted disturbing images of a 15-foot alligator sunning itself in the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass, a hotspot for the wave of migrants heading to the US.

Thousands of alligators are believed to live in the river that meanders for hundreds of miles between Texas and Mexico and is already a deadly obstacle for those trying to cross.

The footage was filmed by an Eagle Pass resident and attracted more than 8,000 likes when it was retweeted by the governor on Sunday.

“Alligators are in the Rio Grande,” he wrote. ‘For your information: there are warning signs in some sectors. Cross at your own risk.’

Migrants attempting to ford the stretch of river have already had to overcome miles of barbed wire and install a 300-foot floating barrier of buoys under the governor’s orders

The governor (incumbent) hosted a visit by Donald Trump to the Shelby Park flashpoint in February

About 130,000 southern border crossings were recorded in April, compared to an all-time high of 302,000 in December.

Border crossings in Texas have fallen by half as smuggling cartels turn their attention to Arizona and New Mexico, and Abbott hailed the numbers as vindication for Operation Lone Star, his crackdown effort to strengthen border security in the state.

“Texas stepped up to do President Biden’s job: secure our border,” he tweeted Friday.

‘Our strong resistance is working. Texas is building its own border wall, erecting miles of razor wire and seizing over 476 MILLION doses of deadly fentanyl.”

The governor is embroiled in legal troubles with the federal government over his attempt to give Texas police the right to arrest and deport migrants, and over his installation of a 1,000-foot floating barrier of buoys across the river in an effort to block crossings to discourage.

He is also being challenged after strung miles of razor wire across a 29-mile stretch of the border around Eagle Pass and completely blocking Border Patrol agents from a 2.5-mile stretch of the city’s Shelby Park.

There have been no fatal alligator attacks recorded in the river in the past decade, but it is not the first time Abbott has warned of the danger.

Last May, he tweeted images of a huge adult man surveilling members of the Texas National Guard as he hovered next to their patrol boat outside Eagle Pass.

In April, approximately 130,000 migrant crossings of the southern border were recorded

But since Joe Biden became president in January 2021, illegal border crossings have averaged more than two million per year

Millions have waded into the waters of the Rio Grande to reach the US and 2,700 people are believed to have drowned since 1997

Texas Parks and Wildlife says alligators have always been common in the waters of the southern United States, but their danger is increasing.

“As human populations in Texas continue to expand, encounters between humans and alligators are on the rise,” the website explains.

Last month’s fact checkers debunked a few AI created images posted on TikTok, showing that U.S. Border Patrol agents placed alligators in the Texas section of the river as a security measure.

But the post quickly went viral with many voicing their support for the idea.

No agency counts the number of people who die trying to cross the river, but Stephanie Leutert of the Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas estimates that at least 2,700 migrants drowned in it between 1997 and 2022.

The human impact of the crisis was highlighted in 2019 when the body of Salvadoran migrant Oscar Ramirez was pictured washed up on shore, hugging his deceased infant daughter Valeria outside Brownsville.

And in January this year, Victerma de la Sancha Cerros, 33, died along with two children Yorlei Rubi, 10, and Jonathan Agustín Briones de la Sancha, eight, in Shelby Park, just days after Abbott denied entry to the U.S. Border Patrol closed.

Illegal immigration has reached an all-time high under Joe Biden’s presidency, but the Senate earlier this month rejected articles of impeachment brought by House Democrats against DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

The dangers of the crossing were vividly highlighted in 2019 when the body of Salvadoran migrant Oscar Ramirez was pictured washed up on the shore, hugging his deceased infant daughter Valeria outside Brownsville.

In January this year, Yorlei Rubi, 10, and Jonathan Agustín Briones de la Sancha, eight, along with Victerma de la Sancha Cerros, 33, died in the waters of Shelby Park just days after Abbott denied entry to the U.S. Border Patrol closed.

Congress has failed to pass a deal limiting migration, and it appears the issue will be central to the campaigns ahead of November’s general election.

Biden is currently considering using an executive order from former President Donald Trump to limit the number of migrants who can seek asylum at the southern border.

“We’re looking into whether I have that power or not,” Biden told Univision’s Enrique Acevedo in an interview recorded in early April.

“Some suggest I should just try,” the president said in a conversation with the Spanish-language broadcaster. “And if I’m shut down by the court, I’ll be shut down by the court.”