Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has responded to a cease-and-desist letter sent by the Biden administration’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) demanding state authorities stop “barring” federal Border Patrol agents from accessing a roughly 2.5-mile portion of the U.S.-Mexico border.
In his responding letter to DHS on Jan. 17, Mr. Paxton said Texas had “seized and secured” the Shelby Park area, in a legal manner, despite the Biden administration’s claims it had illegally done so.
“Because the facts and law side with Texas, the State will continue utilizing its constitutional authority to defend her territory, and I will continue defending those lawful efforts in court,” Mr. Paxton wrote.
The attorney general added that DHS should “stop wasting scarce time and resources suing Texas, and start enforcing the immigration laws Congress already has on the books.”
“Rather than addressing Texas’s urgent requests for protection, President Biden has authorized DHS to send a threatening letter through its lawyers. But Texas has lawyers, too, and I will continue to stand up for this State’s constitutional powers of self-defense,” he wrote. “Instead of running to the U.S. Department of Justice in hopes of winning an injunction, you should advise your clients at DHS to do their job and follow the law.”
Illegal Immigrant Deaths
That letter came after Texas state authorities earlier this month took control of Shelby Park in an effort to combat unprecedented illegal border crossings. The area, next to the Rio Grande, is at the center of an illegal immigration crisis.
Signed off by Jonathan Meyer, general counsel for the DHS, the letter to Mr. Paxton claimed that these actions have “impeded operations of Border Patrol,” in “conflict with the authority and duties of Border Patrol under federal law” and preempted under the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
“Texas’s actions also improperly seek to regulate the federal government,” the letter states.
Mr. Meyer went on to say that “Texas’s failure to provide access to the border persists even in instances of imminent danger to life and safety” and cited an incident on Jan. 12 when a woman and two children drowned in the Rio Grande.
At the time of the tragic drownings, DHS officials said the woman and two children had died after Border Patrol agents “were physically barred by Texas officials from entering the area.”
Meanwhile, a White House spokesperson said in a statement that the drownings showed it is “clear” that Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s “political stunts are cruel, inhumane and dangerous.”
‘Wholly Inaccurate’ Claims
However, the Texas Military Department denied that account in a Jan. 14 statement following a thorough review of the circumstances surrounding the drownings, adding that claims it prevented Border Patrol from saving the lives of drowning illegal immigrants are “wholly inaccurate.”“At the time that Border Patrol requested access, the drownings had occurred, Mexican authorities were recovering the bodies, and Border Patrol expressed these facts to the TMD personnel on site,” it said.
In his letter to Mr. Paxton, Mr. Meyer demanded that Texas cease and desist “any actions taken by the state that block Border Patrol’s full access” to the U.S.-Mexico border in and around the Shelby Park area.
He gave the state until Jan. 17 to comply with the order and threatened to refer the matter to the Department of Justice for “appropriate action,” adding that the Biden administration would also “consider all other options available to restore Border Patrol’s access to the border.”
In his response, Mr. Paxton wrote that Texas authorities allow “prompt entry into Shelby Park by any U.S. Border Patrol personnel responding to a medical emergency,” noting that TMD has ordered its guardsmen not to impede lifesaving care for illegal immigrants who cross the Rio Grande.
The White House’s attempts to blame Texas for the death of the three illegal immigrants is “vile” and “completely inaccurate,” he said.
In a press release Wednesday, Mr. Paxton said Texas “will not surrender to Biden’s destructive open-border policies” and vowed to continue to defend the state “as it uses its constitutional authority to defend state territory, sovereignty, and citizen.”
