The Patriot Post® · The Waste of a Young Guardsman's Life

What a waste.

That was our first thought upon hearing Friday that a young Texas National Guardsman, Bishop Evans, 22, had been swept away by the dangerous Rio Grande currents while trying to rescue a pair of illegal immigrants who appeared to be drowning. Not that Evans’s act was anything other than heroic — only that the act itself shouldn’t have been necessary. And now, with Evans’s body having been recovered, and with information that those he was trying to help were known drug dealers, the frustration only mounts.

What a waste. What must this young man’s parents be thinking in this moment of profound grief?

Evans was there as part of Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s border security mission, Operation Lone Star, which has succeeded in stopping tens of thousands of illegal immigrants so far.

Impeachment can’t come soon enough for our nation’s derelict commander-in-chief, Joe Biden, and his Homeland Security head, Alejandro Mayorkas, who have time and again shown themselves to be unwilling to secure the southern border of the United States. Faced with the reality of this appalling and intentional dereliction, can-do Texans have taken it upon themselves.

“The service member selflessly attempted to help two migrants who appeared to be drowning as they illegally crossed the river from Mexico to the United States,” said the Texas Military Department in a statement on Saturday. “Initial reports from the Texas Rangers have determined that the two migrants were involved in illicit transnational narcotics trafficking. They remain in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.”

“Our National Guard soldiers risk their lives every day to serve and protect others and we are eternally grateful for the way SPC Evans heroically served his state and country,” said Abbott. “I ask that Texans join Cecilia and me in praying for the family and friends of SPC Evans as they grieve this heartbreaking loss.”

Asked by Fox News’s Jacqui Heinrich whether her boss feels any responsibility for the death of Bishop Evans, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki could do no better than this disgraceful bit of blameshifting:

Well, of course, we are mourning the loss of his life and we are grateful for the work of every National Guardsman. I would note that the National Guard worked for the states, and so he is an employee of the Texas National Guard, and his efforts and his operation were directed by there. … We’ve, we’ve long stated that our immigration system is broken. There needs to be more done to invest in smarter security, to have a more effective asylum processing system. … If we just dial it back a few years to, kind of, what we inherited here — the former president invested billions of dollars in a border wall that was never going to work or be effective, instead of working towards comprehensive immigration reform.

Got that? The death of Bishop Evans is all Donald Trump’s fault. And Trump’s border wall — the kind of wall that has worked remarkably well throughout history, and that continues to work well on borders all around the world today, and whose completion has been resisted by Democrats at every turn — was “never going to work.”

Despicable.

The death of Bishop Evans is just one tragedy, though, in an ever-expanding litany of deaths, many of which are lost to history. According to a report by the Government Accountability Office, the Border Patrol has been undercounting migrant deaths along the U.S.-Mexico boundary for years, sometimes by as much as 50%. Last year, the Border Patrol recorded 557 fatalities along the southern border, blowing away its previous grim record of 293 deaths in 2005.

Again, what a waste.