Texas soldiers deployed to the Mexico border have started using pepper ball guns to deter migrants from illegally entering the United States.
Texas National Guard soldiers stationed on the state’s southern border as part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R-TX) border security initiative have shot pepper balls out of paintball gun-like machines on occasions recently when migrants attempted to climb over barriers.
The action represents an escalation in the state’s effort to prevent people from coming over fencing, but the move has angered some immigrant rights groups that accuse the state of blocking migrants who have the right to seek asylum in the U.S.
Texas National Guard Maj. Gen. Thomas M. Suelzer divulged during a Texas Senate committee hearing on June 11 that it was in the process of teaching soldiers how to operate the pepper ball guns.
Soldiers were being instructed to “hit an inanimate object” in order to rupture the pepper ball rather than strike people.
“We specifically train them: Do not shoot directly at an individual because if hit in the wrong place, it can cause serious bodily injury,” Suelzer told the senators. “It is primarily used to stop a breaching of the barrier so there’s already been an illegal crossing, people are now crawling through the concertina wire field and we are saying go back and they are not doing it.”
However, some migrants told the Texas Tribune that soldiers had shot in their direction unprovoked, including when they were not attempting to cross over barriers.
In one instance in May, migrants reported being camped out for days on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande near El Paso, south of the border barrier. Soldiers shot pepper balls toward the group, according to the Texas Tribune.
The pepper ball munitions are the same as pepper spray used by police during conflict and are not lethal. The chemical used causes the eyes, nose, and throat to tear up and burn.
The new defense strategy is meant to protect soldiers in situations like what happened in March, when migrants rushed across the border and attempted to break through.
Progress Texas, an organization that opposes incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in the November Senate election, issued a statement in an attempt to shame Abbott.
“Operation Lone Star troops have taken to firing mace-laced ‘pepper balls’ at migrants crossing the border. The cruelty, as always, is the point,” Progress Texas posted on X.
Abbott spokesman Andrew Mahaleris did not comment on the use of pepper ball guns but said the state is “utilizing every tool and strategy to respond to this ongoing border crisis.”
“The cartels continue to take advantage of the President’s wide open borders to smuggle people and drugs across the border, and Texas is doing everything we can to stop them,” Mahaleris said in an email. “Under our historic border mission, Texas has allocated more than $11 billion of Texas taxpayer money to secure the border, deploying thousands of Texas National Guard soldiers and DPS troopers, setting up a military base on the border, installing strategic barriers, and building our own border wall. Because of Texas’ efforts to secure the border, illegal crossings have decreased into the state by 74% while it’s gone up 33% in states like California and Arizona.”
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One immigrant rights group based in El Paso, Border Network for Human Rights, said in a statement that it was “really concerned” the state’s Operation Lone Star border security initiative was “escalating” based on the pepper ball gun development.
The Texas Military Department did not respond to requests for comment.