Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security’s General Counsel Jonathan Meyer on Wednesday in response to a cease-and-desist letter addressing the state’s seizure of Shelby Park in Eagle Pass.
The cease and desist initially sent to Paxton revolves around the Texas National Guard seizing Shelby Park due to claims that the federal government has chosen to “perpetuate illegal crossings,” as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
It stated that Texas would have until January 17 to confirm that it would allow Border Patrol access to the park, noting that a failure to comply would result in the DHS pursuing legal action.
However, Paxton stated in his January 17 letter to Meyer that the state “will continue utilizing its constitutional authority to defend her territory,” adding that he plans to “continue defending those lawful efforts in court.”
Paxton told Meyer that the cease and desist “rests on a more fundamental misunderstanding of federal law and the role of sovereign States within our constitutional order.”
“This much is clear from your invocation of a federal statute that gives U.S. Border Patrol warrantless access to land within 25 miles of the border, but only ‘for the purpose of patrolling the border to prevent the illegal entry of aliens into the United States,’” wrote the attorney general.
“President Biden has ordered your agency to do the exact opposite, in keeping with his open-borders campaign promise. There is not even a pretense that you are trying to prevent the illegal entry of aliens.”
Paxton stated in his letter that “Texas has lawyers, too” and that Meyer should advise “clients at DHS to do their job and follow the law” rather than relying on the U.S. Department of Justice.
Just one day after the deadline outlined in the cease and desist, the Texas National Guard proceeded to install additional razor wire along the Shelby Park border.
Fox News Correspondent Matt Finn posted a video on social media showing state law enforcement officers appearing to install the additional wire on January 18.
Similarly, Collin Rugg, co-owner of Trending Politics, posted a video on Thursday showing Texas Department of Public Safety officers arresting unlawful migrants.
DPS Lt. Chris Olivarez has also confirmed that law enforcement officers have begun “enforcing criminal trespass on single adult men & women.”
Texas’ seizure of Shelby Park is one of the many steps that Texas has taken to secure the border amid an influx of unlawful migrants, including the implementation of buoys in the Rio Grande meant to deter people from swimming across.
This barrier also prompted legal action to be taken by the federal government, in which the DOJ alleges that “Texas has flouted federal law by installing a barrier in the Rio Grande without obtaining the required federal authorization,” as reported by The Dallas Express.
The most recent development in the case involves Paxton securing an en banc rehearing by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which temporarily overrules the split decision issued by the same court declaring that the buoys are an “obstruction” and must be removed from the river, according to a news release sent to The Dallas Express.
Arguments for this case are currently scheduled to begin in May.