(The Center Square) – The border crisis continues to worsen as the Mexican government dries out south Texas farmers, those in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley argue. The situation has become so dire that state Democratic lawmakers have called on the Biden administration and Gov. Greg Abbott to take immediate action.
Democratic members of Congress also have called on the Biden administration to enforce a 1944-era water treaty to no avail.
Mexico is not upholding its end of a 1944 Treaty of Utilization of Waters, the lawmakers argue. The treaty governs water usage between the U.S. and Mexico including from two international reservoirs: Lake Amistad and Falcon Lake in Texas along the international border. Mexico has historically released water storage from Lake Amistad to Mexican growers, not to Texas growers, and the U.S. federal government hasn’t stepped in to enforce the terms of the treaty. Recently, Mexican officials killed any agreements to release water to Texans, even running ads in Mexico City to protest compliance with the treaty, according to news reports.
South Texas sugar growers said that without the State Department’s support, “all attempts to negotiate timely water releases for Mexico have failed.”
Last month, Texas’ last sugar mill announced it was shutting down as a result. Because Mexico wasn’t releasing water as required by the treaty, south Texas growers didn’t have enough water to grow their crops, forcing more than 100 sugar growers out of business, 500 workers out of jobs and the Rio Grande Valley to lose an initial $100 million in economic losses.
On Tuesday, primarily Democratic state lawmakers urged U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to enforce the treaty, saying the water shortage wasn’t just devastating the agricultural community but also “in our fast-growing region, development is beginning to slow.”
In a joint letter led by Democratic state Rep. Terry Canales, they expressed “deep concern” about “ongoing challenges related to water delivery and the apparent noncompliance” with the treaty. “We are disappointed to observe a persistent shortfall in the delivery of water to our region, specifically an average of 350,000 acre-feet annually,” as stipulated in the treaty. “The scarcity of water in our region has far-reaching implications for agriculture, ecosystems, and communities on both sides of the border” and “strongly urged” the State Department “to take immediate and effective action to rectify the situation.”
Joining Canales were state senators Judith Zaffirini, Juan Hinojosa and Morgan LaMantia, and state Reps. Ryan Guillen, Armando Martinez, and Sergio Muñoz, Jr. All are Democrats except for Guillen, who recently switched parties and was most recently reelected as a Republican.
In a separate letter sent before the Easter holiday, Canales called on Abbott to declare a state of emergency, saying the “critical water challenges” were “creating an imminent threat to our residents and farmers.”
By declaring a state of emergency, the governor could provide additional state resources to “prevent additional economic losses and job layoffs,” he said.
In the lower Rio Grande Valley, “farmers are running out of vital irrigation water,” Canales said. “Compounding this issue is the alarming delay by Mexico in fulfilling its obligations” under the treaty “exacerbating the water shortage for our local farmers.”
“We must find a means of applying pressure on Mexico to comply with the treaty and release the water owed to the United States,” he said, asking Abbott to urge the State Department to enforce the treaty.
Neither the governor’s office nor the attorney general’s office responded to requests for comment. It remains unclear what legal recourse the state has or the extent to which the governor or state legislature could act to provide the amount of water needed to the region.
The agricultural industry in the Rio Grande Valley contributes roughly $1 billion annually to the economy and provides roughly 8,400 full-time jobs, Canales said. But it’s not just the agricultural community that’s in jeopardy, he added. Mission’s city council members are planning to impose a moratorium on all new residential and commercial developments built on over five acres of land citing the water shortage. Other communities are also facing similar challenges, he said.
Without water, “we are perilously close to losing a crucial economic pillar and immediate action is imperative.
“If we don’t start turning the ship now, the Rio Grande Valley ultimately faces the threat of the taps running dry,” he warned.
While the State Department hasn’t acted, Canales expressed confidence that Abbott would.
With the governor’s support, “we can pave the way for a sustainable and secure water future for our community,” Canales said. The governor’s “swift action will make a significant difference in preserving the livelihoods of our residents and the economic well-being of our region.”
Democratic members of Congress also have called on the Biden administration to enforce a 1944-era water treaty to no avail.
Is this failure to enforce the 1944-era water treaty surprising from the treasonous Joe Beijing OBiden administration?
Ask yourself; what has this treasonous Democrat Party and their corrupt, demented sock-puppet president Joe Beijing OBiden done during their deliberate destructive rule since the election of 2020 (with of their exception of the LGBTQ+’s) to benefit the U.S. or our citizens?
Ask yourself; what has this treasonous Democrat Party and their corrupt, demented sock-puppet president Joe Beijing OBiden done during their deliberate destructive rule since the election of 2020 to deliberately harm the the U.S., our citizens, our economy, our national security, the supporting of the illegal immigrant invasion and totally supporting the illegal immigrants with U.S. taxpayers money??
OF COURSE biden won’t enforce anything.. HE HAS NO BALLS TO DO SO.
What is now happening with U. S.& Mexico, Water Treaties is a sign that Mexico no longer fears the United States as a world Leader thati it use to be. MExico, now atuned to and concerned with what Russia and China and Muslim- led Countrys say and do than they are about America especially since leftist, Socialist, democrat President, Joe Biden has became president. A Deocrat President, Rooseelt, once said, “Speak softly, But Carry A Big Stick.” to perhaps paraphrase what Roosevelt said when he was President.Mexico like other Countries, realize America is no longer a world Power that it once was and no longer to be fespected.
AND what their own cartels tell them to do.
This corrupt Mexican government needs a good lesson in American “Manifest Destiny”. Perhaps when we last went to the halls of Montezuma we should have stayed and kept the entire nation in a state of true Democrat run prosperity, run by clear minds not duped or directed with illegal drugs and mind-bending illusions that their current corruption within their criminally run society is not the main force that drives their people to flee to the freedoms, prosperity and opportunites gleaned when living in the good old USA but denied to them in Mexico. Cutting off Texas RIO Grande water rights should become a prelude to cutting off the heads of the snakes that currently run that country, and replacing their government with people capable of self-governing and keeping their own criminals at home, and releasing our Texas water to remain in Texas so we can grow our own food, and deplete the tax and profit revenues stolen by Mexican leaders who only seek to dump their surplus slave wage grown produce into the USA to make us as economically dependent upon their corrupt leaders for illegal drugs and cheap food, as we are now on China for needed basic legal medical supplies, car parts, and others.
According to An article once on GOPUSA, site titled,” Shocking NEW POLL, ” IS AMERICA WORTH DEFENDING, DEMOCRATS SAY NO.”
1915 Speech given before the Knights of Columbus bu Theodore Roosrvelt
” The one absolutely certain way of bringing this Nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a Nation at all, would be to permitit to become A Tangle of Squabbling Natoonalities…”From A Speech titled ” No Room For Hypanated Americans.”
Correction, A Speech by Theodore Roosevelt” No Room For Hyphenated Americanism.”
I remember that poll, AND the shock i got when i first saw it.
This is the result of WEAK Leadership. This would never happen under a Trump Admin.
Since when does a 3rd world schiff hole dictate to the worlds premier superpower.
I agree. THIS IS WHY WE Need don back in the white house.
If Bidet and his cronies weren’t such a bunch of vaginas, this wouldn’t be an issue
Stop all trade with Mexico, I can do without tomatoes and avocados from Mexico. We will grow are own.
I agree. AND CUT OFF all aid of any sort, to mexico. VISAS too!