In a significant escalation in state and federal tensions over immigration policies, the Biden administration accused Texas officials of blocking Border Patrol access to an important stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border.
The U.S. Justice Department complained that Texas National Guard troops fenced off Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, blocking federal agents from the only safe and accessible boat ramp for that section of the Rio Grande. The state also erected razor wire along 2.5 miles of the river, restricting federal ability to position mobile surveillance trucks or access a staging site to evaluate migrants apprehended in the area, the agency said.
“Border Patrol’s ability to view this portion of the border is now limited to a narrow sliver from a single surveillance camera located outside of the newly fenced area,” the Justice Department told the U.S. Supreme Court in an overnight filing.
The filing detailed the state-federal standoff in the hours after Texas took control of a city park in Eagle Pass that sits along the banks of the Rio Grande.
The Justice Department said in the 27-page filing that Texas National Guard members turned back Border Patrol agents who sought access to the Shelby Park boat ramp.
“Texas’s new actions … demonstrate an escalation of the State’s measures to block Border Patrol’s ability to patrol or even to surveil the border and be in a position to respond to emergencies,” U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth B. Prelogar wrote.
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