The White House and Department of Homeland Security said responsibility for the deaths of three immigrants at the Texas border this weekend lies squarely on the shoulders of Gov. Greg Abbott for “blocking” federal agents from conducting life-saving emergency rescues.

“On Friday night, a woman and two children drowned near Eagle Pass, and Texas officials blocked U.S. Border Patrol from attempting to provide emergency assistance,” White House Assistant press secretary Angelo Fernández Hernández wrote in an email Sunday morning. “While we continue to gather facts about the circumstances of these tragic deaths, one thing is clear: Governor Abbott’s political stunts are cruel, inhumane, and dangerous. U.S. Border Patrol must have access to the border to enforce our laws.”

Last Wednesday and Thursday, Texas sealed off city parkland and a city-owned golf course in Eagle Pass from federal employees, including law enforcement. Eagle Pass leaders described it as an unforeseen “takeover” of city land to fence out federal law enforcement from the international boundary, where state personnel have struggled to turn away illegal border crossers because Border Patrol agents cut state-laid concertina wire into order to take people into custody. Many illegal immigrants are then released into the U.S. after being arrested rather than removed from the country, infuriating Republicans like Abbott.

The Biden Justice Department responded to the city land seizure by filing a new memo Friday morning that said Abbott was barring federal agents from doing their jobs and warned that they would not be able to respond to emergency situations as immigrants tread the rough Rio Grande to cross. Border Patrol agents nationwide rescue tens of thousands of immigrants crossing the border each year, according to federal data.

Photos taken by the DOJ and included in the memo show Texas National Guard members guarding entrances to the land where Border Patrol agents would normally pass through to apprehend immigrants who come across the Rio Grande and onto the riverbank.

Abbott spokeswoman Renae Eze defended the state in an email to the Washington Examiner on Friday, hours before a woman and two children would die trying to cross the river.

“Texas is holding the line at our southern border with miles of additional razor wire and anti-climb barriers to deter and repel the record-high levels of illegal immigration invited by President Biden’s reckless open border policies,” said Eze. “Instead of enforcing federal immigration laws, the Biden Administration allows unfettered access for Mexican cartels to smuggle people into our country. Texas will continue to deploy Texas National Guard soldiers, DPS troopers, and more barriers, utilizing every tool and strategy to respond to President Biden’s ongoing border crisis.”

On Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection told the Washington Examiner in separate statements that its Border Patrol agents had learned of the drowning from Mexican authorities and tried to respond, but Texas authorities refused to let federal police into the seized city land.

Around 9 p.m. CT Friday, a group of six migrants attempted to wade across the river from Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, into Eagle Pass when they went into distress, according to Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX).

Border Patrol agents in the area were aware of the immigrants in distress despite being fenced out from the area since Wednesday, and agents tried to contact the Texas officials inside the fenced area to alert state authorities.

When agents could not reach the Texas Military Department, the Texas National Guard, or the Texas Department of Public Safety command post by phone, they went to a vehicle entry point outside Shelby Park, where Abbott had seized city land and kicked out federal employees this week.

“However, Texas Military Department soldiers stated they would not grant access to the migrants, even in the event of an emergency, and that they would send a soldier to investigate the situation,” Cuellar said in a statement.

Cuellar was notified Saturday morning that three of the six had drowned and that Mexican authorities on the border had recovered the bodies.

A Department of Homeland Security official confirmed the incident in a statement late Saturday.

“Tragically, a woman and two children drowned last night in the Shelby Park area of Eagle Pass, which was commandeered by the State of Texas earlier this week,” the DHS official wrote in an email.

“In responding to a distress call from the Mexican government, Border Patrol agents were physically barred by Texas officials from entering the area,” DHS said. “The Texas governor’s policies are cruel, dangerous, and inhumane, and Texas’s blatant disregard for federal authority over immigration poses grave risks. The State of Texas should stop interfering with the U.S. Border Patrol’s enforcement of U.S. law.” 

CBP, which oversees the Border Patrol, said it was “gravely concerned by actions that prevent the U.S. Border Patrol from performing their essential missions of arresting individuals who enter the United States unlawfully and providing humanitarian response to individuals in need.” 

The governor’s office has declined to comment on the drownings and referred the Washington Examiner to the Texas Military Department Saturday afternoon, which has not responded to an email.

Prior to the drownings, House Freedom Caucus member Chip Roy (R-TX) and the National Border Patrol Council, the union that represents agents, each said they backed Abbott’s decision to lock out all federal law enforcement from accessing the border.

“Shout out to Governor Abbott for enhancing Border Patrol operations!” the Border Patrol union said in a statement. “By taking control of an area where so many illegal aliens are simply surrendering, he’s freeing up BP agents to patrol areas with high numbers of illegal aliens who attempt to escape arrest.”

Democrats, including Cuellar, San Antonio Rep. Joaquin Castro, and former El Paso Rep. Beto O’Rourke, each issued blistering rebukes of Abbott.

“This is a tragedy, and the state bears responsibility,” Cuellar said.

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“The President must take control or this crisis will get worse. Abbott has already illegally deployed drowning devices & DPS has been ordered to push women, babies into the river,” O’Rourke said Friday. “Yesterday he said he wants to shoot migrants. Now he’s stopping Border Patrol from doing its job.”

Abbott said in a radio interview with conservative commentator Dana Loesch on Thursday that the “only thing we’re not doing is shooting people” who come over the border because “the Biden administration would charge us with murder.”