Migrants wait in the Rio Grande for an opening in the razor wire barrier, to cross into the United States, in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Sept. 25, 2023. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)
Published January 12, 2024
Gov. Greg Abbott has indicated the measure is about strengthening deterrents for migrants making their way to the U.S.-Mexico border.
Texas state authorities have taken control of a public park fronting the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, a southern border town that saw a massive spike in illegal crossings last month.
Eagle Pass Mayor Rolando Salinas said officials from the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) informed him on Wednesday morning that state authorities are “taking full control” of the park as part of an operation to combat unprecedented illegal border crossings.
“This is not something that we wanted,” Mr. Salinas said in a video live-streamed from Shelby Park on Facebook. “This is not something that we asked for as a city. I want to make that clear.”
Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, indicated that the measure is about strengthening deterrents for migrants making their way to the U.S.-Mexico border.
Two military vehicles can be seen in the video from Wednesday night, standing guard behind a newly erected gate blocking public access to the park.
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SOURCE: www.theepochtimes.com
RELATED: Texas files response in concertina border barrier lawsuit with Supreme Court
Published January 12, 2024
(The Center Square) – The state of Texas has filed a response with the U.S. Supreme Court to an appeal made by the Biden administration in a lawsuit filed over concertina wire barriers erected on Texas soil by officials working through Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security mission, Operation Lone Star.
The administration requested the Supreme Court vacate a current injunction imposed by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals blocking the administration from removing the barriers in the Eagle Pass area. The Biden administration is requesting the Supreme Court immediately allow federal agents to continue to destroy or remove the concertina wire barriers.
In October 2023, Texas sued the Biden administration after Border Patrol agents destroyed the barriers. They were erected in an area of Texas inundated by illegal border crossers resulting in Eagle Pass declaring a state of emergency. Abbott surged resources to the area and began installing additional barriers.
Because the federal government has abdicated its responsibility to secure the border and prevent illegal entry, Abbott maintains, he implemented OLS and several border security measures, including erecting a range of barriers along the Rio Grande River. In response to some of the OLS efforts, the Biden administration ordered the destruction of the concertina barriers and sued over the marine barriers.
Through many legal twists and turns, and as the case progresses before a federal district court, the Fifth Circuit last month handed Texas a win, issuing an administrative stay preventing the federal government from cutting, removing or destroying the wire, with few exceptions.
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SOURCE: www.WashingtonExaminer.com
RELATED: Abbott: ‘We’re not shooting people’ who cross the border because feds ‘would charge us with murder’
Published January 11, 2024
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said shooting people who cross the border is the only tool the state is not using to deter migrants because the Biden administration would sue the state for “murder.”
“We are using every tool that can be used from building a border wall, to building these border barriers, to passing this law that I signed that led to another lawsuit by the Biden administration where I signed a law making it illegal for somebody to enter Texas from another country,” Abbott said on “The Dana Loesch Show” last week.
“The only thing that we’re not doing is we’re not shooting people who come across the border, because of course the Biden administration would charge us with murder,” Abbott later added.
Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa blasted Abbott’s remarks in a statement issued Thursday.
“The only thing stopping Greg Abbott from ordering law enforcement to shoot migrant women and children are murder charges. Time and time again, Greg Abbott and Texas Republicans have made it abundantly clear they have no morality or humanity,” Hinojosa said in a lengthy statement.
Abbott’s administration has focused heavily on its border policies and has repeatedly accused the federal government of not doing enough to control the border. Texas has installed razor wire barriers alongside its border, which the Biden administration asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on last week.
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SOURCE: www.thehill.com
