The Texas park at the center of Biden and Greg Abbott’s border war: Inside the 2.5 mile crossing full of razor wire and a nine-hole golf course that’s still open that is now off-limits for federal immigration agents

Two weeks after a standoff between Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and the Biden administration over control of a park along the border where migrants are illegally flowing into the U.S., Border Patrol agents are banned, but not golfers.

All day Thursday, golf carts could be seen cruising the fairway of Shelby Park’s nine-hole golf course in Eagle Pass, Texas.

The trail is just steps from where U.S. Border Patrol has been apprehending migrants entering the U.S. and entering the park, which straddles the international border with Mexico, for the past three years.

Texas took control of the park on Jan. 10, claiming the federal government has not done enough to stem the flow of migrants that has made Eagle Pass the second-busiest border crossing in the U.S. — just behind Lukeville, Arizona.

Polo-clad golfers enjoyed a sunny day at the park on the eve of a Friday deadline given to Texas by the Biden administration, with the state demanding that the Border Patrol be given full access to the 2.5-mile (4.1-kilometer) stretch of land.

Border Patrol agents are not allowed in the same area where golfers enjoyed sunny weather Thursday afternoon

Despite miles of fencing and barbed wire in Shelby Park, ordinary citizens were still allowed to enter the grounds

Border Patrol agents, federal law enforcement officers who report to the Biden administration and are charged with apprehending migrants and securing the border, were kicked out.

“It’s a powder keg,” U.S. Congressman Tony Gonzales, who represents Eagle Pass, told Fox News.

“I support the governor. You’ve got Americans supporting Texas saying, ‘Hey look, we’ve got to hold on, we’ve got to make sure that those who come over illegally have some repercussions for this.’

For years, golfers and Border Patrol agents have coexisted on the green – showcasing the complex reality of border towns – where migrants crawl through barbed wire that tears at their flesh just feet away from where Americans play a rich man’s sport to play. .

Since 2021, Texas communities at the border have watched as nearly four million migrants crossed the border — risking their lives and everything they own to reach America, according to federal statistics.

A group of Venezuelans used cardboard on their backs to avoid being cut as they crawled under a barbed wire barrier erected to prevent migrants from entering El Paso, Texas.

Migrants seeking asylum in the US gather near barbed wire set up to impede the crossing of migrants into the US as they attempt to be processed by US Border Patrol in El Paso, Texas, seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico on January 23. 2024

Clara Morales and her daughter Yuridia, migrants from Guatemala seeking asylum in the US, embrace in front of barbed wire set up to hinder the crossing of migrants into the US, seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

In Eagle Pass and other migrant hotspots in the Lone Star State, authorities have strung together miles of concertina and razor wire in an effort to deal with the border crisis.

But it hasn’t stopped them at all.

Instead, migrants have climbed over it, crawled under it and dragged themselves, and sometimes babies and children, through the barbed wire for a chance to surrender to Border Patrol agents and seek asylum.

By law, migrants seeking asylum must be given the opportunity to argue their case in court – a process that can take years.

In the meantime, asylum seekers are being released into the US while they await their court hearings, even if they entered the country illegally.

The continued waves of migrants have taken their toll on Eagle Pass, a town of just 28,000 residents.

Texas took control of Shelby Park (pictured above) on January 10. Since then, Border Patrol agents have not had full access to the park

The Supreme Court did not rule that the fencing Texas installed was illegal. The Supreme Court said only that federal agents could cut or move it if necessary

Texas placed razor wire in Shelby Park, in the migrant hotspot of Eagle Pass, Texas, for more than a year

Last month, 22,000 migrants crossed the river that separates the US from Mexico to Eagle Pass in one week.

Now the city park in Eagle Pass, Texas, is at the center of a political and legal battle over whether Texas can decide on its own that the federal government isn’t doing enough to secure the border.

On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that Border Patrol agents can cut Texas’ razor wire if they see fit.

The Biden administration asked Texas to resign, but Abbott has responded by claiming Texas is being invaded by migrants.

The governor also added that his state has the authority to defy federal law because the federal government has broken its compact with states by not stopping migrants.

“There is no support in our history, there is no support in any other material for the idea that states can decide for themselves whether to be attacked,” Stephen Vladeck, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law, told me. PBS.

“In our constitutional system, for better or for worse, federal law takes precedence over state law, even if we don’t like how the federal government does or doesn’t enforce those federal laws. The remedies for these disagreements are not to give each state the opportunity to go out on its own and pursue its own policies.”