Current:Home > MarketsTexas attorney general refuses to grant federal agents full access to border park: "Your request is hereby denied" -Streamline Finance
Texas attorney general refuses to grant federal agents full access to border park: "Your request is hereby denied"
View
Date:2025-04-14 14:51:54
Eagle Pass, Texas — Texas' attorney general on Friday forcefully rejected a request from the Biden administration to grant federal immigration officials full access to a park along the southern border that the state National Guard has sealed off with razor wire, fencing and soldiers.
For three weeks, the federal government and Texas have clashed over Shelby Park, a city-owned public park in the border town of Eagle Pass that was once a busy area for illegal crossings by migrants. Texas National Guard soldiers deployed by Gov. Greg Abbott took control of Shelby Park earlier in January and have since prevented Border Patrol agents from processing migrants in the area, which once served as a makeshift migrant holding site for the federal agency.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Border Patrol, had given Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton until Friday to say the state would relent and allow federal agents inside Shelby Park. On Friday, however, Paxton rebuffed that demand, saying Texas state officials would not allow DHS to turn the area into an "unofficial and unlawful port of entry."
"Your request is hereby denied," Paxton wrote in his letter.
Paxton pledged to continue "Texas's efforts to protect its southern border against every effort by the Biden Administration to undermine the State's constitutional right of self-defense."
Inside Shelby Park, Texas guardsmen have been setting barriers to impede the passage of migrants hoping to cross into the U.S. illegally, and instructing them to return to Mexico across the Rio Grande. The Texas Department of Public Safety also recently started arresting some adult migrants who enter the park on state criminal trespassing charges.
Abbott and other Texas officials have argued the state's actions are designed to discourage migrants from entering the country illegally, faulting the federal government for not doing enough to deter unauthorized crossings. But the Biden administration said Texas is preventing Border Patrol agents from patrolling the Rio Grande, processing migrants and helping those who may be in distress.
Immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility. Texas state officials are not legally authorized nor trained to screen migrants for asylum, arrest them for immigration violations or deport them to a foreign country. However, Abbott signed a law last month that he hopes will allow Texas officials to arrest migrants on illegal entry state-level charges and force them to return to Mexico. The Justice Department is seeking to block that law before it takes effect in March.
The Supreme Court earlier this week allowed Border Patrol to cut the razor wire Texas has assembled near the riverbanks of the Rio Grande, pausing a lower court order that had barred the agency from doing so. The razor wire in Shelby Park has remained in place, however, since federal officials have not been granted full access to the area.
While the Supreme Court has not ruled on Texas' seizure of Shelby Park, that dispute could also end up being litigated in federal court if the Biden administration sues the state over the matter.
While the White House has called his policies inhumane and counterproductive, Abbott has argued he is defending his state from an "invasion," and his actions in Eagle Pass have received the support of other Republican governors across the country.
U.S. officials processed more than 302,000 migrants at and in between ports of entry along the southern border last month, an all-time high that shattered all previous records, according to official government data published Friday. Illegal border crossings have since plummeted, a trend U.S. officials have attributed to increased Mexican immigration enforcement and a historical lull after the holidays.
- In:
- Texas
- Ken Paxton
- Migrants
Camilo Montoya-Galvez is the immigration reporter at CBS News. Based in Washington, he covers immigration policy and politics.
TwitterveryGood! (54934)
Related
- Sam Taylor
- Entourage's Adrian Grenier Welcomes First Baby With Wife Jordan
- Trump EPA Targets More Coal Ash Rules for Rollback. Water Pollution Rules, Too.
- Judge Clears Exxon in Investor Fraud Case Over Climate Risk Disclosure
- Louvre will undergo expansion and restoration project, Macron says
- Leandro De Niro-Rodriguez, Robert De Niro's grandson, dies at age 19
- Why Hailey Bieber Says Her Viral Glazed Donut Skin Will Never Go Out of Style
- Emily Blunt Shares Insight into Family Life With Her and John Krasinski’s Daughters
- Biden administration makes final diplomatic push for stability across a turbulent Mideast
- Proposed rule on PFAS forever chemicals could cost companies $1 billion, but health experts say it still falls short
Ranking
- North Carolina justices rule for restaurants in COVID
- Plan to Burn Hurricane Debris Sparks Health Fears in U.S. Virgin Islands
- Melissa Rivers Shares What Saved Her After Mom Joan Rivers' Sudden Death
- Trump’s Power Plant Plan Can’t Save Coal from Market Forces
- The FTC says 'gamified' online job scams by WhatsApp and text on the rise. What to know.
- The Ultimatum’s Lexi Reveals New Romance After Rae Breakup
- Fearing for Its Future, a Big Utility Pushes ‘Renewable Gas,’ Urges Cities to Reject Electrification
- Blake Shelton Finally Congratulates The Voice's Niall Horan in the Most Classic Blake Shelton Way
Recommendation
Taylor Swift Eras Archive site launches on singer's 35th birthday. What is it?
Appalachia’s Strip-Mined Mountains Face a Growing Climate Risk: Flooding
Climate Change Will Hit Southern Poor Hardest, U.S. Economic Analysis Shows
Anna Marie Tendler Reflects on Her Mental Health “Breakdown” Amid Divorce From John Mulaney
Meta releases AI model to enhance Metaverse experience
Indiana police officer Heather Glenn and man killed as confrontation at hospital leads to gunfire
2 Courts Upheld State Nuclear Subsidies. Here’s Why It’s a Big Deal for Renewable Energy, Too.
Firework injuries send people to hospitals across U.S. as authorities issue warnings