(UnitedVoice.com) – The war between President Joe Biden’s administration and Texas has escalated in recent weeks. The state passed an immigration law that will allow officials to charge migrants with a state crime if they enter illegally. If it goes into effect, authorities would be granted the power to deport some migrants, a power only the federal government holds.
The tension grew when Texas closed a public park in Eagle Pass and refused to let Border Patrol enter to guard the frontier. The Biden administration sent the state a cease and desist letter, but Texas is not backing down.
Fight Over Shelby Park
The park in Eagle Pass sits along the Rio Grande River. Border Patrol often used its boat docks to launch into the river. The park was also used as a staging area when hordes of migrants crossed the border into the US. From there, the US would process them.
On January 10, Abbott oversaw state officials take over the park. Local officials spoke out against the movement, saying they did not agree to the move.
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
On January 14, Homeland Security sent Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton a cease-and-desist letter. The administration accused the state of impeding Border Patrol agents trying to apprehend, process, and inspect noncitizens who have entered the country, in accordance with federal law.
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.”
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