McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Wednesday afternoon sent a pointed response letter to the Department of Homeland Security saying Texas will continue its takeover of Shelby Park in Eagle Pass to “defend her territory” against illegal entry from immigrants.
The letter came just hours before a Wednesday night deadline to respond to the Biden administration’s request for the state to vacate control of the border park, which is across from Piedras Negras, Mexico, and a popular area for migrants to try to illegally enter into the United States.
In Paxton’s three-page letter to Jonathan Meyer, DHS general counsel, Paxton highlights what he calls several “mistaken assertions” and “false claims” by DHS regarding three migrant drownings Friday night in the Rio Grande, as Border Patrol agents were unable to enter the park.
Texas officials placed a wire gate at the park’s entrance on Jan. 10, and Border Patrol agents said they went to the gate but were denied entry after learning that several migrants were distressed in the river on Friday.
The Department of Homeland Security says a mother and her two children drowned that night in the river while trying to cross from Mexico into South Texas. DHS says Border Patrol agents were not allowed into Shelby Park.
Paxton says the Texas National Guard, which is now guarding the park’s entrance, will admit federal agents who are responding to medical emergencies on the border.
“Texas allows prompt entry into Shelby Park by any U.S. Border Patrol personnel responding to a medical emergency, and this access is not ‘limited to use of the boat ramp,’ as you say,” Paxton wrote.
The boat ramp at Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, Texas, is now behind a guarded gate. It is seen on Oct. 24, 2023, as the Texas House Speaker visited and took a boat ride on the Rio Grande. (Sandra Sanchez/Border Report File Photo)
Paxton says the agents who went to the gate on Friday evening stated they already knew that Mexico had recovered migrant bodies, and he said those agents did not have a boat with them to launch an emergency search.
“Your attempt to blame Texas for three migrant deaths on Jan. 12, 2024, is vile and, as you now should be aware, completely inaccurate,” Paxton wrote. “That tragedy is your fault.”
Paxton said the Texas National Guard “made a diligent search, only to confirm that Mexican officials had recovered the migrants’ bodies, downriver.” He says guard members used spotlights, night-vision goggles and thermal-imaging devices to search the waters for distressed migrants.
He also says there is no evidence “showing that the migrants who drowned actually reached the Texas shore.”
The Biden administration has asked the Supreme Court to intervene and force the opening of the park to federal officials.
“Quite apart from the Shelby Park specifics, your demand letter rests on a more fundamental misunderstanding of federal law and the role of sovereign States within our constitutional order,” Paxton wrote.
He said Texas will continue to guard the park and the river to prevent what he calls Biden’s “open-borders campaign promise.”
He says the federal government is derelict of Article IV of the U.S. Constitution.
The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.
U.S. Constitution Article IV
Texas had until Wednesday evening to respond to the Justice Department’s request for withdrawal from the park.
Border Report has asked DHS for a response to Paxton’s letter and plans to update this story if that information is received.
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.
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