Guardsman who died in rescue effort on Rio Grande was not wearing safety gear, lawmakers told

AUSTIN — The Texas National Guard soldier who died last week attempting to help two migrants who struggled to cross the Rio Grande was not equipped with a flotation device and had not been trained in water rescue techniques, the state's top military commander told a legislative panel Wednesday.

Maj. Gen. Thomas Suelzer, who was appointed last month by Gov. Greg Abbott to lead the Texas Military Department, said the state has only received 43 of the first 150 flotation devices needed for troops assigned to patrol the border with Mexico as part of Operation Lone Star. And, the general added, soldiers who are not specifically assigned to water teams are instructed not to enter the Rio Grande as part of their mission.

The body of National Guard Spc. Bishop Evans, 22, of Arlington, was found Monday about 2 miles up river from Eagle Pass after a four-day search that started when he did not resurface in his effort to assist the migrants in distress. Suelzer said Evans has been posthumously promoted to sergeant.

Suelzer and Brig. Gen. Monie Ulis, the Texas Guard's deputy adjutant general, said Evans likely made a split-second decision to put his life at risk once he saw the two people struggling to cross the wide and fast-moving section of the Rio Grande.

More: Texas' top general says Operation Lone Star needs another $531 million to keep going

"Sgt. Evans was a human being and he saw a human being drowning," Ulis said during a joint hearing of the House committees on public safety and military affairs. "And he jumped in the water."

The Army Times and the Texas Tribune, in a collaborative report Wednesday, first reported that several items needed to protect soldiers assigned to Operation Lone Star from hazards on the river have been ordered but not yet delivered.

At the hearing, Suelzer said the backlogs are largely due to lack of availability because the items have not yet been manufactured. State Rep. Eddie Morales, a Democrat whose district includes the region where Evans died, questioned whether the 150 flotation devices first ordered, and the additional 150 ordered later and not yet delivered, are sufficient for the operation that has more than 6,100 troops assigned at the border and nearly 4,000 others serving in support roles.

Ulis said not every soldier needs a flotation device or the hundreds of rescue ropes and ring buoys also on order because most of them are assigned to land-based duties. Instead, the equipment will be assigned to teams serving at the water's end, he said.

More: House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy at the border: Biden should not lift Title 42

Morales also pressed the generals on whether the Guard members fully understand the protocols for when water rescue efforts are appropriate.

"Do you have a process or protocol or procedure in place that all soldiers need to follow whenever they see a migrant on the river struggle?" Morales asked.

"We conduct safety briefings for risk mitigation," Suelzer replied. "We tell our soldiers and airmen, don't go into the water."

Operation Lone Star was launched by Abbott last year to support federal border and immigration efforts in South Texas that the governor has said are inadequate in the face of record unauthorized crossings between the designated points of entry from Mexico.

Suelzer and Steve McCraw, who leads the Texas Department of Public Safety and its role in Abbott's initiative, said their state agencies are preparing for an even greater number of crossings if the COVID-19 safety initiative called Title 42 that was implemented during the Trump administration is lifted. President Joe Biden has said he plans to roll back the policy that allows federal authorities to immediately expel migrants crossing the border without authorization on May 23, but a federal judge in Louisiana temporarily blocked the administration's plan.

Abbott and other Republicans around the nation have slammed the planned ending of Title 42, and some Texas Democrats have done so as well. State Rep. Richard Raymond Peña, a Laredo Democrat who chairs the defense panel, is among them.

He noted that several high-profile political figures — including Vice President Kamala Harris, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and former President Barack Obama — have recently tested positive for COVID-19 despite each being fully vaccinated. It's doubtful, Raymond Peña said, that many migrants crossing into Texas are vaccinated.

"This is not the time to lift Title 42," he said.

Suelzer and Ulis also told the committee they have addressed and remedied many of the complaints some Guard members have leveled in media reports regarding gaps in payroll and inadequate supplies. Suelzer encouraged state lawmakers to reduce or eliminate inequities among Guard members who are activated by the state and those activated as part of a federal emergency.

For instance, federally activated members receive military health care and disability payments if they are injured on duty. State-activated members are covered by a less generous workers' compensation program, he said.

Had Evans, who served in a Guard field artillery unit and was mobilized in 2020 to Operation Spartan Shield in Kuwait, been on federal duty when he died, his family would have received a $100,000 death benefit.

Because he was acting essentially as a state employee, that benefit is 75% of his state salary, Suelzer said.

State Rep. Tony Tinderholt, an Arlington Republican who served 21 years in the military and represents the district where Evans had lived, said the Legislature when it next convenes in January 2023 will begin addressing some of the inequities.

"We are going to make it so that Texas military forces and the soldiers and airmen are taken care of," Tinderholt said. "I just wanted to assure you that I'm working on that."

John C. Moritz covers Texas government and politics for the USA Today Network in Austin. Contact him at jmoritz@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @JohnnieMo.

This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: LIfe-saving gear for troops at border is on order but not delivered