The Department of Homeland Security sent a cease-and-desist letter to Texas on Sunday, demanding that the state stop blocking U.S. Border Patrol access to a section of the southern border near where three migrants drowned over the weekend.
In the letter written to Texas attorney general Ken Paxton, DHS general counsel Jonathan Meyer argued the Texas National Guard, equipment, and state-sanctioned barriers are unconstitutionally preventing Border Patrol agents from entering a 2.5-mile stretch along the Rio Grande. The area in question is Shelby Park, where illegal immigrants commonly cross the border into Eagle Pass, Texas.
“The recent actions by the State of Texas have impeded operations of the Border Patrol. Those actions conflict with the authority and duties of Border Patrol under federal law and are preempted under the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution,” Meyer wrote, referring to the clause that states federal law generally takes precedence over state laws.
The letter is part of the Biden administration’s challenge to a new Texas law that empowers state and local authorities to arrest and deport illegal immigrants, a power the Biden administration contends is reserved for the federal government alone.
“Texas’s actions also improperly seek to regulate the federal government,” Meyer added, telling Texas to cease and desist its “unconstitutional” border operations “that block Border Patrol’s full access to the U.S.-Mexico border in and around the Shelby Park area.”
A woman and two children fatally drowned in the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass late Friday, the DHS official noted.
“Texas’s failure to provide access to the border persists even in instances of imminent danger to life and safety,” he wrote. “Texas has demonstrated that even in the most exigent circumstances, it will not allow Border Patrol access to the border to conduct law enforcement and emergency response activities.”
The migrant deaths were confirmed Saturday by federal officials, including a DHS spokesperson, who took Texas to task for preventing Border Patrol agents from entering the restricted area to immediately respond to the crisis. The Texas Military Department disputed the account, stating that its security personnel were made aware of a distress report but could not locate any distressed migrants in the river.
In a follow-up statement released Sunday, the department said it conducted a “thorough review” of the migrant drownings and concluded that Border Patrol’s claims were “inaccurate.”
“Claims that TMD prevented Border Patrol from saving the lives of drowning migrants are wholly inaccurate,” the statement read. “At the time that Border Patrol requested access, the drownings had occurred, Mexican authorities were recovering the bodies, and Border Patrol expressed these facts to the TMD personnel on site.”
Governor Greg Abbott posted the statement on X, calling out Representative Henry Cuellar (D., Texas) and some media outlets that “were so eager to point finger at Texas for drowning of migrants they forgot to get the facts.”
Under direct orders from Abbott, Texas National Guard troops recently blocked off Shelby Park to forbid federal agents from collecting illegal immigrants upon entry into the U.S. The state-sanctioned move led the DHS and Department of Justice to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene regarding the matter.
The Texas National Guard’s 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,” both departments argued in a Friday filing. “Those actions have also changed the situation on the ground from the account in prior filings in this Court, including Texas’s opposition. Those developments reinforce the need for this Court to vacate the court of appeals’ injunction, and to do so as soon as possible.”
As for the cease-and-desist letter, Paxton must confirm by Wednesday that Texas will stop all “efforts to block Border Patrol’s access in and around the Shelby Park area and remove all barriers to access to the U.S.-Mexico border” — or else the DHS “will refer the matter to the Department of Justice for appropriate action.”