(StraightNews.org) – Turkish authorities are investigating after eight bodies washed ashore in the Mediterranean province of Antalya. Officials say one of the bodies is a Turkish citizen who recently went missing, and the others are believed to be migrants from a boat that vanished near the Syrian coast last month.
Around 90 people were onboard the boat that disappeared on December 11, and Turkish officials say currents and winds make it probable that the dead migrants drifted toward Antalya.
The migrant vessel’s disappearance is one of several such incidents in recent months as record numbers of illegal immigrants attempt to make their way to Europe. In December, a boat overturned in the English Channel, sending dozens of people into the water and killing four.
British coast guards rescued most of the migrants, who later said they paid around $6,000 to people smugglers to help them cross the Channel on small inflatable dinghies.
In January, the US Department of Homeland Security blamed the Texas Military Department and Texas National Guard when three migrants drowned near Eagle Pass. Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar blamed the two agencies for the deaths, saying they had prevented border patrol agents from entering the area to rescue the migrants. “This is a tragedy, and the State bears responsibility,” Cuellar said.
Texas is increasingly at odds with the federal government over immigration enforcement and recently passed laws allowing the state to remove people from the US – a move condemned as unconstitutional by pro-migration activists.
Tensions increased again recently when the US Supreme Court ruled that federal immigration officials can remove razor wire placed along sections of the border by Texas. The Court overturned a decision by a previous lower court that prevented the federal government from dismantling the structure, part of which is located at Eagle Pass.
Chief Justice John Roberts, along with Amy Coney Barrett, Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ketanji Brown-Jackson, ruled in favor of the federal government in a 5-4 decision.
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