Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has defied orders from federal officials to turn over control of a public park along the border to the federal government after the Texas National Guard soldiers seized it last week.
Shelby Park in the city of Eagle Pass was ordered for seizure by Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R), who has accused the federal government of “perpetuating illegal crossings” amid record-breaking amounts of migrant encounters. In response, the federal government filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court, accusing the state of overstepping its authority on immigration law enforcement.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had been using the park as a holding area for migrants, where they would screen them before allowing them to enter the country further. When Border Patrol was ousted, the DHS admonished Texas and asked them to reverse the decision.
DHS senior lawyer Jonathan Meyer further threatened over the weekend that it would push the matter up to the Department of Justice if Texas did not give in.
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Attorney General Paxton replied to Meyer with a harsh rebuke, denying the Biden administration’s characterization of Texas’ actions as “clearly unconstitutional.”
“Your letter betrays a lack of on-the-ground understanding of what is happening in Shelby Park,” Paxton wrote. “Your letter misstates both the facts and the law in demanding that Texas surrender to President Biden’s open-border policies. Because the facts and law side with Texas, the State will continue utilizing its constitutional authority to defend her territory, and I will continue defending those lawful efforts in court.”
Following Paxton’s letter, the Texas Department of Public Safety announced in a post on X that Texas troopers were making arrests at the migrant site in Shelby Park. “Troopers are enforcing criminal trespass on single adult men & women,” they said.
Under the authority of Gov. @GregAbbott_TX’s Border Disaster Declaration, @TxDPS Troopers are arresting illegal immigrants for criminal trespass at #ShelbyPark in Eagle Pass. Troopers are enforcing criminal trespass on single adult men & women. The State of #Texas will maintain a… pic.twitter.com/EuRhYDNYLH
The struggle between the federal and Texas governments heightened over the weekend when Mexican authorities announced they had discovered the corpses of three migrants in the Rio Grande just outside Eagle Pass. The federal government’s DOJ has acknowledged in a public filing that the migrants died before Border Patrol agents put up a fight to gain access to the park.
Read Paxton’s full letter below:
Shane Devine is a writer covering politics, economics, and culture for Valuetainment. Follow Shane on X (Twitter).
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