Barrels of drinking water for migrants walking through Texas have disappeared

[Judi Lynn]

As the heat rises in Texas, law enforcement is working to untangle a mystery involving the disappearance of a life-saving measure for migrants traveling through an arid region

By VALERIE GONZALEZ - Associated Press Aug 12, 2023 Updated 36 min ago



By VALERIE GONZALEZ - Associated Press

HEBBRONVILLE, Texas (AP) — As one of the worst heat waves on record set in across much of the southern United States this summer, authorities and activists in South Texas found themselves embroiled in a mystery in this arid region near the border with Mexico.

Barrels of life-saving water that a human rights group had strategically placed for wayward migrants traveling on foot had vanished.

Usually, they are hard to miss. Labeled with the word “AGUA” painted in white, capital letters and standing about waist-high, the 55-gallon (208-liter), blue drums stand out against the scrub and grass, turned from green to a sundried brown.

The stakes of solving this mystery are high.

Summer temperatures can climb to 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 degrees Celsius) in Texas' sparsely populated Jim Hogg County, with its vast, inhospitable ranchlands. Migrants — and sometimes human smugglers — take a route through this county to try to circumvent a Border Patrol checkpoint on a busier highway about 30 miles (48 kilometers) to the east. More than 60 miles (96 kilometers) from the U.S.-Mexico border, it can take several days to walk there for migrants who may have already spent weeks crossing mountains and desert and avoiding cartel violence.

More:
https://scnow.com/ap/national/barrels-of-drinking-water-for-migrants-walking-through-texas-have-disappeared/article_63100d26-8c87-5122-a723-a0bb150352ad.html

[calimary]

1. Sheesh - cruelty really is the point.

Kinda makes me feel ashamed.

I don’t like feeling ashamed about my country. But I sure as hell don’t like what it’s becoming.

[callous taoboy]

2. I camped at a campground near Uvalde a good while back:

This huge property was owned by a Y2Ker, a retired sheriff. He had built himself a huge house that had thick iron shutters over all of the doors and windows that he could bolt from the inside. He showed us a secret room located behind a linen closet in the main bathroom. This room had a hatch that he opened using a keypad. We filed down this ladder to his underground bunker that had lots of food and water, a marine toilet, boxes of ammo and an assortment of 20 to 30 weapons on the wall. I was thinking that this guy was pretty loony, and if I hadn’t have been with a group of big guys I might’ve worried about his intentions. All of that was mollified when he took us on a hike back to a small cabin out in the thicket. It was stocked with a stove, food, water, beds and clothing “for the illegals,” as he explained. His property was a well-known route for undocumented families. I was flummoxed by the contrast between his armed fortress and his obvious empathy for the plight of these families.

[ratchiweenie]

3. Wow. Interesting story.

[stuck in the middle]

4. Footage of Border Patrol Vandalism of Humanitarian Aid, 2010-2017