AUSTIN, Texas — Despite a second letter from the federal government demanding that Texas stop blocking federal agents from reaching the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Gov. Greg Abbott was not backing down Wednesday, insisting that the state will continue working to deter undocumented immigrants from crossing the border.
Texas, Abbott insisted, has the right to defend itself from what he called record-smashing levels of illegal immigration.
“James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and the other visionaries who wrote the U.S. Constitution foresaw that States should not be left to the mercy of a lawless president who does nothing to stop external threats like cartels smuggling millions of illegal immigrants across the border,” Abbott wrote in a statement made public Wednesday.
Abbott’s statement accused President Joe Biden’s administration of breaking “the compact” between the federal government and individual states by failing to enforce federal immigration laws.
The ongoing friction between Texas and the federal government has intensified since the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday allowed Border Patrol agents to resume removing or cutting razor wire the state has installed along the Rio Grande to deter undocumented immigrants from crossing.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, citing the Supreme Court ruling, sent a second letter to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton demanding that Texas Military Department soldiers and Department of Public Safety troopers give Border Patrol agents “full access to the Shelby Park area currently obstructed by Texas,” wrote Jonathan E. Meyer, the agency’s general counsel.
Texas took control of the city-owned park and fenced it off Jan. 10, blocking Border Patrol agents from a popular crossing spot at the Rio Grande and the only nearby boat ramp from which to launch patrols.
Meyer previously sent Paxton a cease-and-desist letter saying the Biden administration would ask the Justice Department to intervene if the state did not stop blocking Border Patrol from the park by Jan. 17.
State officials rejected the demand, with Paxton telling the Department of Homeland Security that the “facts and law side with Texas.”
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to an inquiry Wednesday asking if legal action was contemplated against the state.
Shortly after the Supreme Court announced its razor wire decision – which vacated an injunction barring federal officials from removing or damaging the deterrent except in emergencies – several Texas Republican lawmakers urged Abbott to take the extraordinary step of ignoring the ruling.
“Sometimes disobedience is the best way to show leadership,” state Rep. Tom Oliverson, R-Cypress, said on social media.
The court’s order did not touch on the state’s takeover of Shelby Park or Abbott’s Operation Lone Star, the multibillion dollar border security initiative enforced by Texas National Guard soldiers and DPS troopers.
Ericka Miller, a DPS spokesperson, said Tuesday afternoon that troopers are not stopping federal agents from removing or cutting the razor wire.
Lt. Chris Olivarez, a spokesman for the DPS South Texas region, told right-wing radio host Glenn Beck on Wednesday that the state is installing more razor wire along the river bank.
“Texas is not backing down,” Olivarez said.
In response to a video of soldiers erecting more razor wire barriers, U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, on Tuesday urged Biden to federalize the Texas National Guard if Abbott takes steps to defy the Supreme Court ruling.
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