McALLEN, Texas — The Justice Department on Friday asked the Supreme Court to order Texas to stop blocking Border Patrol agents in a section of the U.S.-Mexico border where large numbers of migrants have crossed in recent months, sparking a new confrontation between Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and the Biden administration on immigration enforcement.
The request comes as Texas erected a fence to take control of a nearly 50-acre public park along the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, which was a crossroads for thousands of migrants entering from Mexico last year. Although a similar power struggle played out in the same region more than a year ago, the area Texas closed off this week prevents federal agents from accessing a larger and more visible border crossing.
Along one stretch, armed members of the Texas National Guard and their vehicles are preventing Border Patrol agents from entering the river, the Justice Department said in a lawsuit. The Texas National Guard also reportedly used a military Humvee to keep Border Patrol agents off an entry route.
“Because Border Patrol can no longer enter or view this portion of the border, Texas has effectively prevented Border Patrol from patrolling the border,” the Justice Department wrote in a filing.
Abbott told reporters that Texas has the authority to control access to any geographic location in the state.
“That authority is upheld,” Abbott said.
The closure of Shelby Park was an escalation of the governor’s border enforcement efforts known as Operation Lone Star. State and federal governments are involved in multiple legal disputes over actions Texas has taken since 2023, including the use of buoys in the middle of the International River, the installation of razor wire and an upcoming law that will allow police to arrest migrants to arrest.
Abbott defended the park’s closure as he faced backlash from Democrats for telling conservative radio host Dana Loesch last week that Texas has done everything it can to curb illegal crossings, short of shooting people. Loesch had asked Abbott how far Texas could go on the border before someone would arrest him.
“The one thing we don’t do is we don’t shoot people crossing the border because of course the Biden administration would charge us with murder,” he said while discussing a lawsuit in New York City against charter bus companies he has used to transport migrants from Texas transported.
Mexico’s foreign minister denounced Abbott’s comments, saying they could lead to violence and are inhumane to migrants.
On Friday, Abbott said he was drawing a distinction between what Texas can and cannot do at the border. “I was asked to point out where the line is drawn on what would be illegal, and I pointed out something that is clearly illegal,” he said.
Texas notified the Eagle Pass government Wednesday that the Department of Public Safety would close public access to Shelby Park.
Concern grew when Border Patrol noted that access to the park, which agents use to launch boats in the Rio Grande, had also been lost. The area also served as a staging area where federal agents took into custody and processed migrants. Border Patrol access to the site for surveillance was similarly restricted.
The Justice Department’s emergency request to the Supreme Court says agents will no longer have access to a 2.5-mile stretch of border in the region. The filing was filed as part of the U.S. government’s lawsuit over the concertina wire that the state built along about 30 miles (48 kilometers) near Eagle Pass.
The union for border patrol officers, the National Border Patrol Council, praised the state’s move.
“By taking control of an area where so many illegal aliens simply surrender, he gives BP officers the freedom to patrol areas with large numbers of illegal aliens trying to escape arrest,” the union said in a message on X, formerly known as Twitter. .
In 2022, a Texas pecan farm became embroiled in a similar dispute between Abbott and the Biden administration when the Texas Department of Public Safety moved in without the landowner’s consent and revoked a lease between the landowner and Border Patrol.
The state’s policies have been questioned not only by outside critics, but also internally, when a soldier’s story of being denied water and emergency medical care made headlines in July.
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Associated Press reporter Acacia Coronado contributed from Austin, Texas.