The Department of Homeland Security is demanding that Texas relinquish control of a border park that the Texas National Guard occupied last week as part of the state’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
In a cease-and-desist letter to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton provided by NBC News, the DHS said that the Texas National Guard needs to cede control of Shelby Park in Eagle Pass back to the Border Patrol. There have been surges of illegal immigrants coming into Texas through Shelby Park and Texas has argued that federal officials have only exacerbated the crisis leading the state to block off access to the area to federal agents.
“The recent actions by the State of Texas have impeded operations of the Border Patrol. Those actions conflict with the authority and duties of Border Patrol under federal law and are preempted under the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution. Texas’s actions also improperly seek to regulate the federal government,” DHS General Counsel Jonathan Meyer wrote to Paxton.
“While Texas has claimed that it has re-opened the use of Shelby Park to the public, it continues to prevent Border Patrol from entering, and from using the area under the adjacent port of entry where Border Patrol has certain property stored for use when migrants are apprehended,” the letter added.
The DHS wants Texas to remove all barriers to access they have put up in the park and give the federal government access to the area. It said it would consider all options to end Texas control of the area if Texas does not follow the DHS’s request.
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The letter also suggested that Texas was partially responsible for the death of three migrants who were attempting to cross the Rio Grande near the park. The letter claimed that Texas “refused” to help the two migrants, a claim that the Texas Military Department has disputed.
“TMD had a unit in the vicinity of the boat ramp and actively searched the river with lights and night vision goggles. No migrants were observed,” the Texas Military Department said. “At approximately 9:45pm TMD observed a group of Mexican authorities responding to an incident on the Mexico-side of the river bank. TMD reported their observations back to Border Patrol and they confirmed that the Mexican authorities required no additional assistance.”
The letter is part of the ongoing feud between Texas and the Biden administration over the southern border. Texas has argued that President Joe Biden’s policies have encouraged record surges at the border and that the federal government has not done its duty to secure the border.