Texas is again defying federal authorities demanding access to a portion of the Southern border that is currently under the control of the Texas National Guard. In a Wednesday letter, Ken Paxton, the attorney general of Texas, rejected a cease and desist from the Biden administration calling for an end to the “clearly unconstitutional” blockade. “Because the facts and law side with Texas,” wrote Paxton, “the State will continue utilizing its constitutional authority to defend her territory, and I will continue defending those lawful efforts in court.”
The Biden administration is seeking entry to a Texas park located on the US side of the Rio Grande, which has become a popular crossing point for undocumented migrants. State control of the park, which began last week under the order of Texas governor Greg Abbott, came to a head this past weekend when Border Patrol agents “were physically barred by Texas officials” from attempting to help a group of migrants struggling to cross the river. Among them were a woman and two children who ultimately drowned, according to the Justice Department. Texas officials denied any wrongdoing in the deaths, and the Justice Department has since clarified to the Supreme Court that the drownings occurred before Border Patrol agents were denied entry. (A Texas Public Radio report, however, found that at least two other migrants remained in distress at the time federal agents arrived.)
In any case, the Justice Department’s clarification has done little to cool tensions between Texas and the Biden administration. “It is impossible to say what might have happened if Border Patrol had had its former access to the area—including through its surveillance trucks that assisted in monitoring the area,” US solicitor general Elizabeth Prelogar wrote Monday. “At the very least, however, Border Patrol would have had the opportunity to take any available steps to fulfill its responsibilities and assist its counterparts in the Mexican government with undertaking the rescue mission. Texas made that impossible.”
In the cease and desist, DHS general counsel Jonathan Meyer said Texas had until Wednesday to end its blockade or the matter would be referred to the Department of Justice for “appropriate action.”
It remains to be seen whether the Biden administration will seek legal recourse over control of the park. The White House has described Abbott’s immigration policies as “inhumane and dangerous.” Paxton, for his part, has remained stalwart, vowing in his letter to “continue to stand up for this State’s constitutional powers of self-defense.” The Texas Department of Public Safety has likewise said that state law enforcement officials “are enforcing criminal trespass on single adult men & women” who cross the Rio Grande into Shelby Park.
It’s not the first time the Lone Star State has been at loggerheads with Joe Biden over the border. Last year, Texas sued the DOJ over its removal of razor wire that state officials have deployed as a deterrent along the Rio Grande. After a lower court ruled largely in Texas’s favor, the Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to intervene.
Meanwhile, in Washington, bipartisan talks have resumed around a funding package that would merge military aid for Ukraine—a top Democratic priority—with border security enhancements and the reinstatement of Trump-era anti-migration policies that Republicans have long called for. Seeking a funding compromise along those lines, Biden held a Wednesday meeting with House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and other top lawmakers. But the sides remain at odds. After leaving the meeting, Johnson said he still had questions about the “strategy and endgame” of US support for Ukraine and demanded unfeasible concessions on immigration from the Democrat-controlled Senate.
