Texas is defying a cease and desist order from the Department of Homeland Security to vacate Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, Texas and allow border patrol agents to use the park to process illegal aliens.
Texas Rangers and National Guard members seized the park after the federal government refused to enforce its own immigration laws. The Border Patrol was using the park as a way station, processing illegal aliens before releasing them into the interior of the U.S.
The DHS sent a cease and desist letter to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who had a ripe response for Washington.
“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,” Paxton wrote.
“Rather than addressing Texas’s urgent requests for protection, President Biden has authorized DHS to send a threatening letter through its lawyers,” Paxton added. “But Texas has lawyers, too, and I will continue to stand up for this State’s constitutional powers of self-defense.”
The credibility of the Biden administration and the border patrol took a huge hit when a lie was pushed about three migrants supposedly trying to cross the river near Shelby Park tragically drowning as Texas National Guardsmen blocked the border patrol from rescuing them.
“On Friday night, a woman and two children drowned near Eagle Pass, and Texas officials blocked U.S. Border Patrol from attempting to provide emergency assistance. While we continue to gather facts about the circumstances of these tragic deaths, one thing is clear: Governor Abbott’s political stunts are cruel, inhumane, and dangerous,” a spokesperson said. “U.S. Border Patrol must have access to the border to enforce our laws.”
That was a load of crap.
CBS News (emphasis added):
Over the weekend, federal officials and a Texas congressman said Texas National Guard soldiers barred Border Patrol agents from attempting to render aid to a group of migrants in distress, including a woman and two children who drowned. Texas officials denied the allegation, and the Justice Department later clarified in a filing to the Supreme Court that the drownings had already occurred when Border Patrol agents asked for and were denied permission to enter Shelby Park to attempt to help other migrants in distress.
There were no other “migrants in distress,” and no one in the Biden administration apologized for the smear of Texas law enforcement.
Paxton said that any suggestion the state was responsible for the deaths “is vile and, as you now should be aware, completely inaccurate.”
More to the point: does Texas have a Constitutional leg to stand on in this matter? Isn’t the federal government the constitutionally designated government entity that determines immigration laws?
It’s a fraught question because while federal law is supreme according to some of the oldest constitutional precedents (Marbury v. Madison in 1802), Texas certainly has a right to enforce its own laws. It will probably take the Supreme Court to untangle the mess.
Meanwhile, an interesting confrontation is about to take place at the border. If Biden’s not careful, he may find himself with “Fort Sumter, Part 2” with the Feds firing on state law enforcement trying to enforce Texas law.