EAGLE PASS, Texas—Despite a U.S. Supreme Court order allowing federal agents to remove razor wire being used along Texas’s southern border, the state hasn’t made any moves to take down existing fencing and is pressing ahead with previously scheduled razor wire installation.
“We have to do something” Staff Sgt. Rene Cordova, spokesperson for the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), told reporters at a Jan. 23 news conference. Once word gets out that Border Patrol is cutting the razor wire, migrants will come back, and “it won’t take them long to figure it out,” he said.
If illegal immigrants do get through areas being patrolled by the Texas National Guard, the Texas DPS will charge them for trespassing, with the exception of families with children, who will be turned over directly to Border Patrol.
“We’re trying to prevent [illegal border crossings], but we can’t be everywhere,“ Staff Sgt. Cordova said. ”Do you think they want to solve this problem? There’s too much money.
“Cartels [are] making more money off migrants than drugs.”
The barriers being put in place were already planned prior to the court’s decision, and those plans will go forward.
Currently, the Texas National Guard is controlling access to Shelby Park, by order of the governor. Border Patrol doesn’t have access to the park right now, but that hasn’t stopped federal agents from doing river patrols and rescues, if needed.
“This case is ongoing, and Governor Abbott will continue fighting to defend Texas’s property and its constitutional authority to secure the border,” Andrew Mahaleris, spokesperson for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement.
“The Biden Administration has repeatedly cut wire that Texas installed to stop illegal crossings, opening the floodgates to illegal immigrants,” he said, reiterating Mr. Abbott’s position.
“The absence of razor wire and other deterrence strategies encourages migrants to make unsafe and illegal crossings between ports of entry, while making the job of Texas National Guard soldiers and DPS troopers more dangerous and difficult.”
“The destruction of Texas’s border barriers will not help enforce the law or keep American citizens safe,” he said. “This fight is not over, and I look forward to defending our state’s sovereignty.”
“I will continue to defend Texas’s constitutional authority to secure the border and prevent the Biden [administration] from destroying our property.”
The governor also reposted an explanation from DPS spokesperson Chris Olivarez, who said: “Texas’s Operation Lone Star will maintain its current posture in deterring illegal border crossings by utilizing effective border security measures—reinforced concertina wire & anti-climb barriers along the Rio Grande.
“The logical concern should be why the Federal Government continues to hinder Texas’s ability to protect its border, all while allowing for the exploitation, dangerous, [and] inhumane methods of permitting illegal immigrants, including children, to illegally cross a dangerous river where many have lost their lives. Texas is the only state using every strategy [and] resource to protect its sovereignty, combat criminal activity, [and] discourage illegal immigration.”
“Like other law-enforcement officers, Border Patrol agents operating under difficult circumstances at the border must make context-dependent, sometimes split-second decisions about how to enforce federal immigration laws while maintaining public safety,” Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar wrote to the Supreme Court.
“But the injunction prohibits agents from passing through or moving physical obstacles erected by the State that prevent access to the very border they are charged with patrolling and the individuals they are charged with apprehending and inspecting.”
Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh all voted to deny the application to vacate that lower court injunction, which would have prevented Border Patrol agents from removing the barrier.
However, Chief Justice John Roberts, along with Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor, all sided with the Biden administration. None of the justices provided an explanation for their vote.
Customs and Border Protection didn’t immediately respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment.
Mr. Olivarez, Texas DPS spokesman, told The Epoch Times that the razor wire is working, and the sharp decrease in illegal entries in the area since December was proof of that.
“When we had one of the largest influxes that we ever experienced in a specific area here at Shelby Park,” Mr. Olivarez said of the contentious area where the razor wire has been put up.
The spokesperson pointed out that last month Shelby Park saw one of the largest influxes in a specific area—between 4,000-5,000 encounters per-day—which he described as “overwhelming.”
“So they’re adding more infrastructure along the river to make it more difficult and to discourage anyone from wanting to cross into the specific area here, and we‘ll see we’ll see that activity shift,” Mr. Oliverez said.
The spokesman said migrants intentionally targeted federal agents, and said migrants attempting to cross illegally “don’t want to mess” with DPS officers or National Guard members: “They know what to look for already … Many of them even have the location or GPS [coordinates] on their phone so they know where to go.
“They knew to look for Border Patrol,” Mr. Olivarez said. “They don’t want to deal with as far as National Guard, or even or even DPS because they know they’re gonna get arrested because we are enforcing criminal trespass.”
The spokesperson said that the governor had the legal authority to send additional manpower to the border to cope with the crisis because of the emergency declaration that Mr. Abbott had enacted for the area.
Regarding a potential showdown between Texas and federal officials, the spokesperson acknowledged that DPS agents are facing an “unprecedented situation” but said that state officers and National Guards members at the border didn’t expect conflict with federal agents.
Mr. Olivarez said DPS officers have spoken to “rank and file” federal agents and understand Border Patrol agents “have their orders.” He didn’t expect federal officers to take down the razor wire, as the Supreme Court’s decision didn’t extend to taking down the barriers, which would need to be removed for officers to take down the wire.
“I think at the lower level at the ground level with the Border Patrol agents, the soldiers, troopers, rank, and file, there’s no issues whatsoever,” Mr. Olivarez said. “We still work together. At the end of the day, we need one another … We have one common goal, and that is to secure the border.”
