Texas escalates feud with federal government, telling ranchers SCOTUS ruling on razor wire not final, offering to give ranchers razor wire as migrants are now sneaking into US through private property
Texas is upping the ante again, looking for ways to expand the use of razor wire — this time on private property — following a controversial Supreme Court ruling.
Texas Border Czar Mike Banks told ranchers Wednesday that the state can install razor wire on their private property for free, the state official told a packed room of ranchers meeting just outside Eagle Pass, Texas.
This comes after the United States Supreme Court ruled on Monday that US Border Patrol agents reporting to President Joe Biden could cut the razor wire if they saw fit.
The barrier was installed at the behest of Republican Governor Greg Abbott.
In the past, federal agents have stopped operations when they believed migrants were in danger of drowning in the river that divides Texas from Mexico.
Texas Border Czar Mike Banks (center, with Texas Governor Greg Abbott) defied the federal government when he told ranchers they could have razor wire installed on their properties for free
A group of migrants from Colombia, Honduras and Guatemala successfully scale a border fence into the United States south of Eagle Pass, Texas
The barbed wire is deployed in several cities and areas on the Texas border, including Eagle Pass.
With just 28,000 residents, the city has become a major migrant hotspot since President Joe Biden took office in 2021, currently the second-busiest place along the southern border behind Lukeville, Arizona.
The small town has also become a political flashpoint.
About two weeks ago, the Lone Star State took control of Shelby Park – owned by the city of Eagle Pass – claiming the move was necessary because it is a popular place for illegal immigrants to enter the country and then seek asylum . – a move that would all but ensure their release in the US while their case is heard in court.
Under Governor Abbott’s orders, Border Patrol agents were also kicked out of the park, setting off a standoff between Abbott and the Biden administration over who has the authority to secure the border.
The FBI has warned Texas that only the federal government has the authority to enforce immigration law and that the Justice Department is exploring all options to force Texas to let Border Patrol agents do their jobs.
Abbott’s acquisition of Shelby Park has also had other unintended consequences.
Instead of migrants surrendering to a Border Patrol agent in the vast open space of a public park, asylum seekers usually avoid the area.
They have moved north and south of the park, illegally entering the U.S. through the farms and other properties that line the border.
“Now they’re on my property,” Luis Valderrama, owner of a 400-acre ranch west of Eagle Pass.
Officials continue to struggle to stem the influx of migrants flooding the US-Mexico border, with a record 302,000 crossing attempts in December
Razor and concertina wire, installed by the Texas National Guard, is placed at Shelby Park on the U.S.-Mexico border in Eagle Pass, Texas, U.S., January 16, 2024
Since the state took over the park, Valderrama has seen groups of up to 200 people come to his country every day, because it is located right on the international border.
He has now allowed border patrol agents into his country so they can arrest the migrants.
Most migrants on his land are apprehended, but sometimes they run from border police. They become so-called “escapees,” migrants who Border Patrol knows entered the U.S. illegally but have not been arrested.
At least 96,000 “escapees” have crossed the southern border since Oct. 1, Customs and Border Protection sources told Fox News.
“I have a fence 2.5 meters high and at the very top I have barbed wire,” Valderrama explained what measures he previously took on his own property to keep migrants out.
He also previously allowed the Texas National Guard onto his property to add rows of concertina wire meant to keep migrants out.
“I watch these (migrants) crossing and I think, ‘Wait until they meet each other. They won’t know what to do.’ No, they came up and just jumped over it like deer. I could not believe it.’
That’s why he declined the state’s latest offer to add more wire.
‘You don’t actually do anything. If migrants know when they cross the border and turn themselves in, they will simply be processed and released, there will be no stopping them,” the rancher and retired Border Patrol agent added.
Other farmers told DailyMail.com they considered the state’s offer of barbed wire, but also felt barbed wire could be inhumane.
A Border Patrol agent inspects a shoe hanging in barbed wire set up to impede the crossing of migrants into the US
Speaking to ranchers, Texas Congressman Chip Roy, whose district is hours from the border outside Austin, admitted that the fight over Shelby Park is not actually about Shelby Park.
“Part of it, though, is for the governor to choose the battle to fight the legal battle,” admitted Chip, who tried to help former President Donald Trump overturn Biden’s 2020 election victory.
“Part of it is to demonstrate that Texas is going to do what it needs to do. So part of it was a strategy to say, “We’re going to conquer that country and we’re going to fight that battle.”
While Valderrama is not happy that the state of Texas has made migrant crossings a problem for private citizens, he also believes the Biden administration is not doing its job to secure the border.
“If the federal government isn’t going to do it, someone has to do it,” he said.
When asked how and when the standoff between the state and the federal government would end, Valderrama responded:
“When there’s a new president.”