TIn recent weeks, tensions between the Texas government and the administration of President Joe Biden have intensified. Officials will be able to charge migrants with a state crime if they arrive unlawfully according to a new immigration law the state passed. If it goes into effect, authorities would be granted the power to deport some migrants, a power only the federal government holds.
When Texas stopped allowing the Border Patrol to enter a public park in Eagle Pass, which was used to guard the border, tensions rose. The Biden administration issued a letter to the state requesting that it stop, but Texas has refused to budge.
Fight Over Shelby Park
Located at Eagle Pass, the park overlooks the Rio Grande River. From its boat docks, the Border Patrol frequently launched into the river. When thousands of migrants crossed into the United States, the park served as a staging location. From there, the US would process them.
Park management was taken over by state officials on January 10th, which Abbott closely monitored. They did not approve of the movement, and local leaders spoke out against it.
The US government filed a motion with the Supreme Court asking the justices to force Texas to stop blocking access. Abbott refused, saying it was within the state’s rights to “control ingress and egress into” and location in the state. He went on to say the “authority is being asserted” in regard to the park.
Cease and Desist
The letter from Homeland Security to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was sent on January 14. The federal government claimed that the state was hindering Border Patrol agents’ efforts to legally seize, process, and inspect foreign nationals who had entered the nation.
Homeland Security General Counsel Jonathan E. Meyer demanded the state immediately remove barriers by the end of the day on January 17. If the state refused, he said they would refer the issue to the Department of Justice for further action.
Texas Responds
Paxton responded to the letter on January 17. The attorney general said the state will not “surrender to President Biden’s open-border policies” and told Meyer to “stop wasting scarce time and resources suing Texas.” Instead, he pressed Homeland Security to begin enforcing the laws on the books.
The Republican attorney general claimed he was going to debunk other talking points by the administration, like the one accusing state officials of allowing two children and a woman to drown in the river by the park on January 12. He insisted Mexican officials had already recovered the bodies of those individuals and said there was no evidence those migrants made it to Texas.
Paxton concludes his letter telling federal authorities “to do their job and follow the law.”
