Texas soldiers have fired pepper spray guns at a group of 45 migrants who illegally crossed the Mexican border into the U.S.
Footage shared on social media by NewsNation reporter Ali Bradley shows soldiers deploying the guns, which launch pepper balls that disperse on impact, at the undocumented citizens after they crossed the Rio Grande.
The migrants can can be seen covering their mouths and noses with their clothes to escape the irritants, at Shelby Park in Eagle Pass.
Newsweek has contacted the Texas National Guard for comment outside of normal office hours.
Immigration and border security are among the top concerns for voters in the upcoming election.In a poll from October by Redfield & Wilton Strategies on behalf of Newsweek, 68 percent of Americans say the federal government should adopt a more hardline approach on immigration.
Happening now: @TXMilitary deploying pepper balls after a group of 45 just crossed the Rio Grande illegally into Eagle Pass near Shelby Park.
They warned the group several times that they would be deploying the irritant if the migrants did not turn around and walk back to… pic.twitter.com/SAN1i6mGfx
The migrants were reportedly instructed to return to Mexico but ignored orders and continued toward the U.S. side of the border, according to Bradley.
In response, soldiers aimed pepper balls at the ground, creating an irritant cloud to prevent them from unlawfully entering.
The group continued along a fence line until U.S. Border Patrol apprehended them.
Amy Fischer, director of refugee and migrant rights at Amnesty International USA, told Newsweek: "We have long known that deterrence policies don't work to stop people from coming to seek safety; instead, they force people to take more dangerous, and often deadly, routes."
The pepperball launchers, designed to fire munitions that contain a pepper substance that irritates the eyes, nose, and throat, are a recent addition to the arsenal.
These weapons resemble paintball guns and are powered by a carbon dioxide cartridge, with a capacity of approximately 180 rounds.
Under their own guidelines, Texas National Guard officers should not fire the pepper balls directly at people and should use only as much force as is strictly necessary.
It comes members of the Texas National Guard allegedly fired pepper spray projectiles—ball-shaped and filled with irritants—at arriving migrants, including women and children, who were not engaged in any threatening behavior, according to a report by Human Rights Watch in September.
Democratic State Senator Royce West previously told Newsweek: "This is a human rights issue, plain and simple. State dollars cannot fund this type of conduct. I will not, and hopefully, my colleagues won't sit idly by while state taxpayer dollars fund cruelty and human rights abuses.
The National Guard's presence at the southern border is part of Operation Lone Star, a Texas border policing initiative that began in 2021 and is aimed at curbing illegal immigration.
It involves deploying state resources, including the National Guard and law enforcement, to the Texas-Mexico border.
Reports emerged in August that immigrants trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas are being shoved into razor wire and fired at with pepper balls by law enforcement officials deployed under Operation Lone Star, according to Human Rights Watch.
The $11 billion program, enforced in 2021, was the brainchild of Governor Greg Abbott, who has said he was left with no choice because of the Biden-Harris administration's lax response to illegal migration and border security.
A slight majority of respondents back Trump's flagship border wall policy from his tenure at the White House, as 53 percent support significantly expanding the construction of walls along the U.S.-Mexico border, up 13 points since 2019, according to a poll by Gallup.
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