Published January 17, 2024
McALLEN, Texas (AP) — The drowning deaths of three migrants have brought new urgency to an extraordinary showdown between the Biden administration and Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who has seized a city park in a major corridor for illegal crossings and denied entry to Border Patrol agents.
The Department of Justice filed a new request late Monday with the Supreme Court to grant federal agents access to a portion of the border along the Rio Grande that is occupied by the Texas National Guard and the Texas Military Department. The request followed the drownings of a young Mexican mother and her two children who tried to enter the U.S. through the river near Shelby Park at Eagle Pass, Texas.
The state fenced off Shelby Park last week and has been denying the public and federal agents access to the city-owned land as part of Abbott’s aggressive actions to stop illegal crossings. The drownings occurred hours after President Joe Biden’s administration first asked the Supreme Court to intervene.
Abbott posted on social media Monday that he is using “every tool possible to stop illegal immigration.”
The Department of Homeland Security and the Texas Military Department have provided different timelines about the drownings since they were made public Saturday by a South Texas congressman.
According to the Justice Department’s filing Monday, the deaths occurred at 8 p.m. Friday, an hour before U.S. federal agents were notified by Mexican counterparts. Border Patrol agents were also made aware of two other migrants in the same area who were in distress, the filing said.
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SOURCE: www.apnews.com
RELATED: BORDER SHOWDOWN: Texas Must Give Feds Access by Jan. 18, or Else, Says Biden Admin
Published January 16, 2024
A strongly worded letter from the Department of Homeland Security to the State of Texas demands access to the U.S.-Mexico border on land seized by the State in Eagle Pass. DHS officials ordered the State to cease and desist its efforts to block Border Patrol’s access in and around Shelby Park “and remove all barriers to access” by the end of the day on January 17.
Texas’s actions are clearly unconstitutional and are actively disrupting the federal government’s operations,” DHS General Counsel Jonathan E. Meyer wrote in a letter to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. “We demand that Texas cease and desist its efforts to block Border Patrol’s access in and around the Shelby Park area and remove all barriers to access in the Shelby Park area.” The counsel sets a deadline of the end of the day on January 17.
“The recent actions by the State of Texas have impeded (emphasis added) 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 stated.
The use of the word “impeded” by the DHS general counsel could imply a threat of criminal action against officers and agents of the State of Texas who are carrying out the orders of Governor Abbott to secure Shelby Park and prevent Border Patrol’s entry to the area.
Under federal law 18 U.S. Code § 111, it is a federal crime to “impede” or “interfere” with certain officers or employees of the federal government.
“Whoever forcibly assaults, resists, opposes, impedes, intimidates, or interferes with any person designated in section 1114 of this title while engaged in or on account of the performance of his official duties, shall be fined not more than $5,000 or imprisoned not more than three years, or both,” sentencing guidelines for the statute state.
Breitbart Texas reached out to DHS, CBP, and the Border Patrol for clarification of the use of the phrase “impeded” and whether this constitutes a threat of criminal prosecution. A response was not available by press time.
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SOURCE: www.breitbart.com
RELATED: The Biden Admin Just Got Caught Peddling Another Hoax at the Border
Published January 16, 2024
Remember “whipgate,” the phony scandal pushed along by senior Biden administration officials who smeared federal agents by claiming they whipped illegal immigrants at the southern border — none of which was true? Well, the Biden admin yet again has found itself propagating a hoax related to the disaster along the U.S.-Mexico border that Team Biden can’t even admit is a “crisis.”
Over the weekend, countless headlines parroted a White House statement that claimed “a woman and two children drowned near Eagle Pass, and Texas officials blocked U.S. Border Patrol from attempting to provide emergency assistance.”
The narrative being concocted by the White House was obvious: Texas’ decision to seize property along the border in Eagle Pass and boot federal agents — a move that was praised by the Border Patrol union, mind you — is killing people at the border. Never mind, of course, the blood of countless deaths on the Biden administration’s hands stemming from his disastrous border policies.
Facts, however, rarely get in the way of the Biden administration’s attempt to push a narrative via its mainstream media allies. The Associated Press spread the White House’s claim far and wide, and U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) jumped in to peddle the false narrative as well.
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SOURCE: www.townhall.com
