The Texas National Guard is blocking federal agents with the Border Patrol from entering a staging area that’s recently been used to hold migrants.
Under Governor Greg Abbott’s direction, Texas state officials blocked Customs Border and Protection (CBP) officials from entering and patrolling a park at the United States-Mexico border this week. The Texas National Guard has taken control of Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, where the nation’s immigration crisis has engulfed the border town.
Newsweek reached out to CBP and the Texas National Guard via email for comment.
Eagle Pass Mayor Rolando Salinas announced Wednesday night that officials from the Texas Department of Public Safety had taken “full control” of the park to deter migrants from illegally crossing the Rio Grande, despite the city’s wishes for the state to refrain from taking over what has been a staging area for authorities.
Salinas said the decision was made as part of Abbott’s emergency declaration, which he renewed last month.
“That is not a decision that we agreed to,” Salinas said in a Facebook video. “This is not something that we wanted. This is not something that we asked for as a city, I want to make that clear.”
It’s the latest development in the ongoing conflict between Abbott’s administration and the federal government over the border crisis. The move is likely to heighten tensions as the governor continues to take action on the record-breaking number of migrants who have arrived at the southern border.
The Department of Justice described the standoff in an overnight filing to the Supreme Court early Friday. Using testimony from local officers and photos, the DOJ said Texas was using armed Guardsmen and vehicles to block off Border Patrol access to roughly 2.3 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border.
In the filing, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar said that hours after the federal government filed its response in the case against Texas, “Border Patrol learned that Texas National Guard members had begun erecting new concertina wire barriers.”
“Border Patrol agents in a vehicle towing a boat to launch on the boat ramp requested access to Shelby Park, but the Texas National Guard refused to permit them to access the area,” the filing reads. “Border Patrol agents likewise requested access to the staging area and Texas National Guard refused.”
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“Because Border Patrol can no longer access or view this stretch of the border, Texas has effectively prevented Border Patrol from monitoring the border to determine whether a migrant requires the emergency aid that the court of appeals expressly excepted from the injunction,” the Justice Department said.
Earlier this month, the Biden administration had asked the Supreme Court to allow CBP agents to cut the razor wire erected at Abbott’s direction at the southern border. The governor hit back, saying the state would “continue to deploy National Guard to build border barriers & repel illegal immigrants.”
National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd defended Abbott’s actions on Thursday, telling Fox News that the governor was not harming operations but instead “enhancing them.”
“His seizing control of Shelby Park allows our agents to deploy to troubled spots that experience high numbers of gotaways,” the union president said. “Governor Abbott’s actions should be seen as a force multiplier.”
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.