Washington clashes with Texas over US-Mexico border

The state has blamed the federal government for allowing illegal migrants enter the country

The administration of US president Joe Biden appealed to the country’s Supreme Court on Friday, after Texas blocked federal Border Patrol officers from accessing Shelby Park, a city property along the Rio Grande river on the frontier with Mexico. Texas officials have accused the federal government of failing to stop “mass illegal crossings.”

The US Border Patrol had previously cut through razor wire erected by the state to block migrants, which a federal appeals court banned in a December ruling.

The Department of Homeland Security amended its emergency application to the Supreme Court on Friday with photos and maps of the area, claiming that Texas has “effectively prevented Border Patrol from monitoring the border” and that this prevented federal agents from determining whether any migrants might require emergency aid while trying to cross – the only exemption from the ban allowed by the court.

The Texas National Guard said on Thursday evening that its current posture in Shelby Park 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.”

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The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against Texas over Senate Bill 4, the state law that made illegal immigration a state crime. Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta has argued that the law is “clearly unconstitutional” because it violates the Supremacy Clause giving the federal government authority over the border and immigration.

Texas has countered that the Biden administration has “refused to secure the border” and allowed millions of people to illegally cross over from Mexico. Instead of turning them back or deporting them, the US government has allowed the migrants to claim asylum and then released them into the country with a promise to appear in court in a couple of years. 

Last month, Border Patrol reported 300,000 encounters with illegal immigrants; an all-time high. 

Republicans in Congress have accused President Biden of facilitating an “invasion,” while the ruling Democrats have countered that blocking entry to asylum-seekers would be “cruel” and “inhumane.”

As part of Operation Lone Star, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has sought to build barriers along the border and detained almost 500,000 illegal immigrants. Texas has also bused over 97,000 migrants the federal authorities had allowed into the country to Democrat-run jurisdictions of New York City, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC itself.