What’s happening with Texas, the White House over Border Patrol access

Sarah Gambles
·3 min read
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House Speaker Mike Johnson of La., second from right, flanked by, from left, Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., and Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas., speaks to reporters outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington, Jan. 17, 2024, following their meeting with President Joe Biden. A major sticking point in negotiations over border security and Ukraine funding in Congress has been whether the Biden administration should continue to have the authority to allow migrants into the U.S. who would otherwise be turned away.

Tensions between the state of Texas and the Biden administration continue as Texas rejects calls to allow Border Patrol agents to enter a park along the southern U.S.-Mexico border.

What happened: At Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, “one of the busiest spots on the southern U.S. border for migrants illegally crossing from Mexico,” Texas has refused to allow Border Patrol agents to enter the area, The Associated Press reported.

  • Over the weekend, the bodies of three people who had attempted to cross the Rio Grande were recovered by Mexican authorities.

  • The park is located outside a Texas border town that is prepping for a large festival event in April for a total solar eclipse.

  • According to AP, “Texas officials seized control of the park as part of Abbott’s expanding border mission known as Operation Lone Star” — a plan to crack down on illegal immigration.

  • The Justice Department requested the U.S. Supreme Court order Texas to allow passage of Border Patrol back into the park. Texas rejected the request, per CNN.

Why Texas won’t let Border Patrol in: Gov. Greg Abbott has taken a hardline stance on illegal immigration during his administration and “defended Texas restricting access to the park, expressing frustration over migrants illegally entering through Eagle Pass and federal agents loading them onto buses,” per AP.

  • “We said, ‘We’ve had it. We’re not going to let this happen anymore,’” Abbott said, per AP.

  • Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also reaffirmed that Texas would not back down.

  • “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,” Paxton wrote in response to a warning from the Department of Homeland Security, per CBS News.

Texas authorities have started arresting migrants in Shelby Park

What next: Texas authorities have begun arresting migrants at the park and charging them with criminal trespassing, which marks “the first arrests of migrants since the state took control of the area,” CNN reported.

  • “The State of #Texas will maintain a proactive posture in curbing illegal border crossings between the ports of entry,” Lieutenant Chris Olivarez, spokesperson with Texas Department of Public Safety, wrote on X.

  • The Biden administration has warned that it will “refer the matter to the Justice Department if Texas denies Border Patrol agents full access to the area,” according to NBC News.