Texas State Officials Prevent Border Patrol from Entering and Patrolling Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, Texas

Texas state officials have taken control of Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, Texas, preventing U.S. Border Patrol agents from entering and patrolling the area where they typically first encounter migrants who cross the Rio Grande illegally. The officials have also prevented Border Patrol boats from patrolling that area.

Under federal law, Border Patrol has a legal responsibility to process migrants on U.S. soil and determine whether to detain them, transfer them to another agency, deport them, or release them into the country, pending a court hearing. The international boundary between the U.S. and Mexico is located in the middle of the Rio Grande in Texas.

Eagle Pass mayor Rolando Salinas stated that the city did not give Texas state officials permission to take over the area. “This is not something that we wanted. This is not something that we asked for as a city,” Salinas said.

Michael Perry, a spokesperson for the Texas Military Department, which oversees the state National Guard, stated that the actions taken by the state were designed to prevent illegal crossings by migrants. “The Texas National Guard has maintained a presence with security points and temporary barrier in Shelby Park since 2021. The current posture is to prepare for future illegal immigrant surges and to restrict access to organizations that perpetuate illegal immigrant crossings in the park and greater Eagle Pass area,” Perry said in a statement.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has led the state in challenging the federal government’s authority on immigration. The state has bused tens of thousands of migrants to Democratic-led cities, arrested thousands of migrant adults on trespassing charges, and fortified the banks of the Rio Grande with razor wire and floating barriers.

Last month, Abbott signed a law known as SB4 that would allow Texas law enforcement officials to arrest, jail, and prosecute migrants on state criminal charges of entering the country illegally. The law, which criminalizes an action already illegal at the federal level, is being challenged in federal court by the Justice Department and civil rights groups. It is set to take effect in March.

The seizure of Shelby Park is the latest and most brazen effort by Texas state officials to challenge the federal government’s authority on immigration.