EAGLE PASS, TX — The effort from Texas authorities to prevent illegal border crossings in Shelby Park in Eagle Pass appears to be effective, but border crossings have persisted in surrounding areas.
The Texas National Guard and Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) have successfully maintained control of Shelby Park, a 47-acre park in Eagle Pass, Texas along the Rio Grande, despite attempts from Border Patrol to retake control of the park.
Members of the Texas National Guard, who work alongside DPS to secure the border, told The Daily Wire that their strategy can be summarized with the acronym “PDI,” which stands for “prevent, deter, interdict.” The Texas authorities have fortified the border with shipping containers, triple strand concertina wire, and razor wire. Footage gathered by The Daily Wire shows Texas National Guard engineers fortifying existing border barriers with additional razor wire on Thursday night.
When illegal aliens do manage to make their way through the wire and scale the shipping containers, those who enter the park are apprehended and often charged with trespassing. The Daily Wire obtained video of Texas authorities handcuffing illegal immigrants.
WATCH: Footage obtained by The Daily Wire's @SpencerLndqst shows Texas National Guard Soldiers assisting the state's Department of Public Safety apprehend a group of illegal border crossers early this morning. pic.twitter.com/79Qx61UHCg
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) January 26, 2024
While the Texas National Guard told The Daily Wire that illegal border crossings at the park, which was previously a major thoroughfare for illegal immigrants, have drastically decreased since they took control of the park, foreign nationals have still been able to enter the country through other nearby locations under the control of federal authorities.
Footage gathered by The Daily Wire on Saturday shows a man who stated that he was from Peru entering the United States from a different location roughly 5 miles from Shelby Park. The single adult male, who was wearing a life jacket and had just crossed the Rio Grande, boarded a bus, which likely took him to the federal processing facility in Eagle Pass. Authorities at the site would not say where the bus was headed.
WATCH: An adult male from Peru entered the United States just miles south of Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, TX.
He walked past National Guard and Border Patrol agents and boarded a bus for processing.
Follow along with my on the ground reporting for @realDailyWire : pic.twitter.com/aA2tPTlsGz
— Spencer Lindquist 🇺🇸 (@SpencerLndqst) January 27, 2024
Another video captured by The Daily Wire shows three foreign nationals who stated that they were from Guatemala boarding a similar bus from the same location. The area along the border is lined with piles of trash from illegal immigrants who crossed the Rio Grande into the United States.
The endless stream of illegal immigrants into the United States has turned the border into a literal dump, with piles of trash lining the Del Rio Border Patrol Sector.
Video taken today from reporter @SpencerLndqst: pic.twitter.com/Xwd1IGrCcc
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) January 28, 2024
Shelby Park is the focal point of an ongoing dispute between the state of Texas and the Biden administration, with Texas authorities preventing Border Patrol from taking control of the area despite the federal government claiming that they have the right to access the park.
While the Texas National Guard and DPS maintain complete control over Shelby Park, areas along the border such as the location where migrants were put on buses are staffed largely by federal Border Patrol agents, who take foreign nationals to processing centers, where many are ultimately released into the interior of the United States.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton denied the Biden administration’s request to be given full access to Shelby Park after the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government is allowed to cut razor wire placed by the Texas National Guard.
The dispute over Shelby Park comes as the United States has faced an unprecedented crisis, with over 10 million crossing the border since Joe Biden took office.