Texas officials will not let federal officials into a park at the U.S.-Mexico border, the state attorney general said on Jan. 26.
Mr. Paxton, a Republican, said Friday that the demands, which he interpreted as calling for the “surrender” of the park, were based on faulty reasoning and that Texas would keep control of the park at the border.
Federal officials claimed that the federal government has property rights in asserting border agents should be able to take control of the park, but that’s not true, he said.
A memorandum of understanding between U.S. Customs and Border Protection, part of DHS, and the city of Eagle Pass from 2015 is not sufficient because the state did not, as required under the Texas Constitution, approve the agreement, Mr. Paxton said. A 2018 easement that was also not approved by the state only allows access for road maintenance and landscaping, he said.
While U.S. officials also alleged that the federal government acquired titles to some parcels in the area of the park, a map they provided shows most tracts are outside the park and current records from the county undermine claims to the rest, according to the attorney general.
He is demanding federal officials provide official plat maps and deeds to back up their title claims and a clear and detailed explanation of how Texas officials are preventing access by federal officials to that land. He also wants the government to provide written approval from the city and/or state allowing federal agents to take action to open the border within the park.
“Without clarifying both the metes and bounds of the federal government’s alleged ‘property rights,’ and how its lawful access to such property has been in any way impeded, the state cannot meaningfully assess your demand. But to the extent your agency demands access in order to once again transform Shelby Park into ‘an unofficial and unlawful port of entry,’ your request is hereby denied,” he added.
Shelby Park, comprised of 47 acres, is situated about 140 miles southwest of San Antonio. It was used previously by federal agents as a holding area for illegal immigrants who crossed the border.
The DHS did not return a request for comment.
In a 2023 ruling after Texas sued the DHS over agents cutting wire near the border, a federal judge said that the government defendants “apparently seek to establish an unofficial and unlawful port of entry stretching from wherever they open a hole through the Plaintiff’s fence to the makeshift processing center they established on private land a mile or more away.”
Texas is “continuing to restrict U.S. Border Patrol’s access to the park,” DHS lawyer Jonathan Meyer was quoted by news outlets as writing. Mr. Meyer said that DHS must “have the ability to access the border in the Shelby Park area that is currently obstructed by Texas” and that state officials should “immediately remove” obstructions on property the federal government owns.
“Today, I denied the Biden Administration’s unfounded requests and issued counter-demands,” Mr. Paxton said on Friday.
He advised federal officials to redirect their efforts to enforcing immigration laws.
The union representing Border Patrol (BP) agents, meanwhile, said Friday that Texas National Guard members and federal agents “work together and respect each other’s jobs.”
If Texas officers “have LAWFUL orders, then they have to carry out those orders,” the union said.
Guard members “realize that rank-and-file BP agents have their orders as well. Lawful orders, no matter how unpopular or distasteful amongst rank-and-file agents, must be followed. Unlawful orders ... will not be followed,” the union added. “Rank-and-file BP agents appreciate and respect what [Texas] has been doing to defend their state in the midst of this catastrophe that the Biden Admin has unleashed on America.”
