Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on Friday night that Texas has refused demands from the federal government that Shelby Park be surrendered and the state’s border protection actions be ended.
Paxton sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security’s General Counsel Jonathan Meyer that includes an explanation of why Texas will not be vacating the park, along with multiple demands made by the state before leaving in the future.
The attorney general told Meyer in the letter that Texas is requesting DHS send the state “official plat maps and deeds demonstrating the precise parcels that you believe the United States owns” and provide an “explanation of how exactly Texas officials are preventing access to those parcels by federal agents.”
Additionally, Paxton requested that the agency provide the state with proof that the City of Eagle Pass or the State of Texas consented to DHS erecting an “open-border infrastructure,” along with evidence that Congress empowered the agency to turn Shelby Park into an unofficial port of entry.
The letter notes that Texas has enacted a deadline of February 15 to receive the requested items.
Paxton also addressed a second recent cease-and-desist letter sent to Texas following the state’s securing of Shelby Park, telling Meyer that this most recent letter “abandons earlier factual assertions, asserts new one, and supplies even less of a legal basis for your demand.”
“Once again, I respectfully suggest that any time you might spend suing Texas should be redirected toward enforcing the immigration laws Congress already has on the books,” advised Paxton in the letter.
“As I said before, this office will continue to defend Texas’s efforts to protect its southern border against every effort by the Biden Administration to undermine the State’s constitutional right of self-defense.”
This ongoing saga revolves around the Texas National Guard’s recent seizure of land in Eagle Pass due to the surge of unlawful migrants crossing the southern border into Texas.
The Texas Military Department stated following the takeover that the federal government has chosen to “perpetuate illegal crossings” at the unofficial port of entry.
Meyer responded to the seizure by sending the initial cease-and-desist letter to Paxton, leading the attorney general to respond by informing Meyer that Texas “will continue utilizing its constitutional authority to defend her territory,” as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Shortly after the seizure, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to vacate an injunction preventing federal agents from cutting concertina wire meant to deter unlawful crossing along the border.
This ruling prompted an escalation by Texas involving the implementation of additional concertina wire, which has shown to be a strategic move as it does not violate any orders from SCOTUS.
Since the escalation, 25 Republican governors from across the U.S. have voiced their support for Texas in a joint statement.
Many of these governors have vowed to support the Lone Star State by sending resources to the border, with Abbott telling Tucker Carlson on Friday that 10 states have already sent troops to the border.
An earlier report claimed that the Biden administration provided Texas a deadline of Friday at 12 p.m. CT to remove troops from Shelby Park, though it is still unclear what actions will be taken now that the state has denied the request. A reporter for The Dallas Express is currently covering the situation from the ground in Eagle Pass, and updates can be found here.
