The state of Texas is not backing down after President Joe Biden demanded that federal agents regain control of the border in Eagle Pass at a public park in the city.
Shelby Park is a 47-acre park that was used by federal agents to process illegal immigrants who were coming across the border. However, earlier this month, the state of Texas took full control over the area and sealed it off with concertina wire and Texas National Guardsmen. Disputes in the park began when federal agents began cutting the wire in order to gain access.
Yesterday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton told the Biden administration that the state was not going to allow federal agents back into the area.
He said in a letter to the Department of Homeland Security, in part,
Without clarifying both the metes and bounds of the federal government’s alleged “property rights,” and how its lawful access to such property has been in any way impeded, the State cannot
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meaningfully assess your demand. But to the extent your agency demands access in order to once again transform Shelby Park into “an unofficial and unlawful port of entry,” Texas v. DHS, 2023
WL 8285223, at *14 (W.D. Tex. Nov. 29, 2023) (Moses, C.J.), your request is hereby denied.
The latest development comes as the U.S. Supreme Court made it’s recent opinion, vacating an order from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals which said Texas had “sovereign immunity” in taking action to secure the border. However, the court also said Texas had to let federal agents remove the barriers in the event of a medical emergency.
The Biden administration then appealed to the Supreme Court arguing,
“if accepted, the court’s rationale would leave the United States at the mercy of States that could seek to force the federal government to conform the implementation of federal immigration law to varying state-law regimes.”
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In an order last week, the Supreme Court vacated the 5th Circuit’s decision stating,
The application to vacate injunction presented to Justice Alito and by him refered to the Court is granted. The December 19, 2023 order of the United States Supreme Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, case No. 23-50869, is vacated.
Justice Thomas, Justice Alito, Justice Gorsuch, and Justice Kavanaugh would deny the application to vacate injunction.
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However, since the Supreme Court’s order, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has maintained the wire and security used by the state.
Additionally, 25 states have now backed Texas Governor Greg Abbott on the border, with some states sending state troopers to help with security. Vermont Governor Phil Scott was the only Republican governor to refuse to sign the letter of support.
