EAGLE PASS, Texas — As of Wednesday afternoon, Army National Guard troops remained stationed at a temporary gate installed at the entrance to a municipal park along the Rio Grande. The park was taken over by order of Texas Governor Greg Abbott, and Border Patrol was not allowed access without first coordinating with state law enforcement and the Texas Department of Military Affairs.
The state appears to be standing firm as the Biden administration's “end of the day” deadline approaches for states to remove gates and allow unimpeded access to Border Patrol agents. . General Counsel Jonathan Meyer, on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security, informed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton of the matter in a January 10 letter.
As reported by Breitbart Texas, the DHS letter to Paxton was released several days ago by Abbott under a Texas law aimed at law enforcement and disaster relief in the wake of the border crisis affecting the state. It was sent in response to the seizure of Shelby Park. DHS' letter to Paxton noted that Border Patrol agents are legally authorized to patrol private land within 40 miles of the border without a warrant. The letter warned that states were obstructing federal agents, including by seizing land and setting entry conditions for Border Patrol agents.
The DHS letter also claims that the site of the temporary park entrance gate installed by state officials is federal land. The federal government acquired the land in question after a bitter legal battle with the City of Eagle Pass over the right to erect a border fence required by the 2006 Secure Fence Act.
Biden was clearly wrong to blame Texas for the Rio Grande deaths.@KenPaxtonTX I have the receipt to prove it.
As a federal judge has already ruled, Biden and the Department of Homeland Security are “creating perverse incentives” for immigrants to make dangerous illegal crossings.
Biden is responsible for the drowning. pic.twitter.com/17KoAheUNj
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) January 17, 2024
A letter sent by a DHS attorney to Paxton detailed the drowning of three immigrant families, a mother and two minor children, in Rio Grande waters the day after the park takeover. Although the letter does not specifically blame the state for the drowning incident, the DHS general counsel alleges that the state prevented Border Patrol agents from entering the park on January 12 to carry out a rescue mission related to the incident. , said: In the most urgent situations, Border Patrol agents are not permitted to enter the border to conduct law enforcement or emergency response operations. ”
In response to Attorney Meyer's request that the Department of Homeland Security allow unimpeded access to the Border Patrol, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton responded: letter on wednesday. In his response to DHS, Paxton disputed the claims in the cease and desist letter, stating:
Texas allows immediate access to Shelby Park for U.S. Border Patrol agents responding to medical emergencies, and this access is not, as you say, “limited to boat ramp use.” there is no. TMD ordered security personnel not to interfere with life-saving efforts of foreign nationals illegally crossing the Rio Grande. To this end, TMD has installed gates that allow quick entry if federal personnel report the existence of a medical emergency.
Paxton went on to say:
President Biden has been admonished in a series of letters, including one handed out in El Paso, warning that his continued dereliction of duty in border security is illegal. By directing government agencies and others to ignore federal immigration law, he violated the guarantee in Article IV, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution that the federal government “shall protect each citizen.” It will be. [the States] against invasion. ”
The battle over park management now finds the city of Eagle Pass and the federal government on the same side of the issue, opposing the state takeover of Shelby Park. When the Secure Fence Act was passed in 2006, the city fought with the federal government over the construction of the border fence, but ultimately Shelby Park remained inside the border fence and was walled off from the city.
Then-President George W. Bush supported the bipartisan fence bill of 2006, which passed with the support of 80 senators, including then-senators and future presidents Joseph Biden and Barack Obama. signed. Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton also supported the bill. In the end, the city lost a bid to block construction of a 1.8-mile, 14-foot-tall border fence.
To allay the concerns of city officials at the time, a gate was constructed at the entrance to the park to ensure that public access was not impeded by the use of the park's recreational facilities. The federal land on which the fence was built is now part of a dispute between the Abbott and Biden administrations.
The agreement remained in place and residents were allowed access to the park until state authorities recently took over the park. A temporary entry gate set up by the Texas Department of Military Affairs is located on the property of a federal border fence that currently prevents public access to the park's soccer and baseball fields. Eagle Pass city officials say the city's public golf course, also located within the park, will remain open for public use.
While tensions continue to mount between Texas and the Biden administration over Border Patrol use and access to the park, the tensions appear to be less pronounced within the park itself. Compared to December, when a record 71,000 migrants crossed the Rio Grande into the Del Rio Border Patrol area, migrant crossings in the region have declined to almost negligible amounts, with most had chosen to cross at Eagle Pass.
CBP officials, who were not authorized to speak to the media, said the number of immigrant arrests in Eagle Pass has dropped from more than 2,000 per day in late December to about 500 per day.
“The battle is not between law enforcement officers on the ground here, but between Austin and Washington, D.C.,” the source told Breitbart of Texas. I'm just responding,” he said. Until that changes, we are caught in the middle. ”
Randy Clark He is a 32-year veteran of the U.S. Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as Division Chief of Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol stations within the Del Rio, Texas area. Follow him on Twitter @RandyClarkBBTX.
