EAGLE PASS, Texas—Despite a U.S. Supreme Court order allowing federal agents to remove razor wire being used along Texas’s southern border, the state has not made any moves to take down existing fencing, and is pressing ahead with previously scheduled razor wire installation.
“We have to do something” Staff Sgt. Rene Cordova, with the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS). told reporters at a Jan 23 news conference. The spokesperson asserted that once word gets out that Border Patrol is cutting the razor wire, migrants will come back, and, “It won’t take them long to figure it out.”
If illegal immigrants do get through areas being patrolled by the Texas National Guard, the Texas DPS will charge them for trespassing, with the exception of families with children, which they will turn over directly to Border Patrol.
“We’re trying to prevent [illegal border crossings], but we can’t be everywhere. Do you think they want to solve this problem? There’s too much money,” he said. “Cartels making more money off migrants than drugs.”
The barriers being put in place were already planned, before the court’s decision, and those plans will go forward. Border Patrol doesn’t have access to the park right now, but that has not stopped federal agents from doing river patrols and rescues if needed. Currently, the Texas military is controlling access to Shelby Park, by order of the governor.
“This case is ongoing, and Governor Abbott will continue fighting to defend Texas’ property and its constitutional authority to secure the border,” Andrew Mahaleris, spokesperson for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement.
“The Biden Administration has repeatedly cut wire that Texas installed to stop illegal crossings, opening the floodgates to illegal immigrants,” he said, reiterating Mr. Abbott’s position.
“The absence of razor wire and other deterrence strategies encourages migrants to make unsafe and illegal crossings between ports of entry, while making the job of Texas National Guard soldiers and DPS troopers more dangerous and difficult.”
This ongoing clash between state and federal officials included a Supreme Court decision handed down on Jan. 22 which vacated a ruling issued in mid-December 2023 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton spoke out about the ruling after it was handed down, saying the court’s temporary ruling “allows Biden to continue his illegal effort to aid the foreign invasion of America,” in a on Jan. 22 post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“The destruction of Texas’s border barriers will not help enforce the law or keep American citizens safe,” he said. “This fight is not over, and I look forward to defending our state’s sovereignty.”
Mr. Abbott also spoke out in several posts on social media following the ruling, saying, “This is not over. Texas’ razor wire is an effective deterrent to the illegal crossings Biden encourages.
“I will continue to defend Texas’ constitutional authority to secure the border and prevent the Biden Admin from destroying our property.”
The governor also reposted an explanation from Chris Olivarez, a spokesperson with the Texas Department of Public Safety, who said that “Texas’ Operation Lone Star will maintain its current posture in deterring illegal border crossings by utilizing effective border security measures—reinforced concertina wire & anti-climb barriers along the Rio Grande.
“The logical concern should be why the Federal Government continues to hinder Texas’ ability to protect its border, all while allowing for the exploitation, dangerous, [and] inhumane methods of permitting illegal immigrants, including children, to illegally cross a dangerous river where many have lost their lives. Texas is the only state using every strategy [and] resource to protect its sovereignty, combat criminal activity, [and] discourage illegal immigration.”
The governor also reposted, and endorsed, a clarification on X from political commentator Jack Posobiec, which stated, “To be clear, the Supreme Court ruling today was specifically about the court order on cutting razor wire. The 5th Circuit still needs to hear the actual case on its merits. There is still a chance Texas wins.”
The Biden administration argued before the nation’s high court that the barriers prevented agents from reaching the illegal immigrants who had already entered the United States.
Texas’s attorneys argued that because federal agents have allegedly not been able to security the border, Mr. Abbott’s administration was forced to set up the razor wire fencing as part of Operation Lone Star, a plan to mitigate illegal immigration into the border state.
“Like other law-enforcement officers, Border Patrol agents operating under difficult circumstances at the border must make context-dependent, sometimes split-second decisions about how to enforce federal immigration laws while maintaining public safety,” Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar wrote to the Supreme Court.
“But the injunction prohibits agents from passing through or moving physical obstacles erected by the State that prevent access to the very border they are charged with patrolling and the individuals they are charged with apprehending and inspecting.”
Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh all voted to deny the application to vacate that lower court injunction, which would have prevented Border Patrol agents from removing the barrier.
However, Chief Justice John Roberts, along with Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor, all sided with the Biden administration. None of the justices provided an explanation for their vote.
Customs and Border Protection did not immediately respond to The Epoch Times’s request for comment.
Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
From The Epoch Times
