McALLEN — President Joe’s government Biden asked the federal Supreme Court on Friday to order Texas to stop blocking access to Customs and Border Protection agents (CBP, for its acronym in English) to a part of the border between the United States and Mexico where large numbers of migrants have crossed in recent months, setting the stage for another confrontation between Republican Governor Greg Abbott and the administration of Biden on immigration enforcement.
The governor of Texas He openly challenges the authority of the Biden administration, which he accuses of having caused a migration crisis at the border due to its policies.
In December, a federal appeals court barred the Border Patrol from damaging barbed wire installed by Texas near the town of Eagle Pass, on the Rio Grande (called the Rio Bravo in Mexico), unless warranted by a medical emergency.
They install more wires
The Department of Justice went to the Supreme Court to try to overturn this ruling, but this week the National Guard of Texas began installing more barbed wire, said the Biden administration’s legal advisor, Elizabeth Prelogar, in an appeal sent this Friday to the country’s highest court.
“The new wires, fences and blocked access points effectively prohibit Border Patrol agents from accessing or approaching the border along this 2.5 mile stretch,” or 4 km, states the document, which accompanied by photographs.
This section includes the Shelby Park area where there is a boat ramp from where the border patrol launches its boats and a “preparation area” where it begins to inspect the migrants it intercepts in place, he specifies.
He also complains that agents cannot place mobile surveillance trucks, which reduces their visibility.
Thus Texas has prevented the border patrol from “monitoring the border to determine if a migrant requires emergency assistance,” warns the legal advisor.
As a consequence, he once again requests that the decision of the appeals court be annulled.
Texas “exercises its authority”
Abbott told reporters Friday that Texas has the authority to control access to any geographic location in the state.
“That authority is being asserted,” Abbott said.
Texas and the federal government are locked in several legal disputes over actions Texas has taken since 2023, including the use of buoys in the middle of the international river, the installation of barbed wire, and a law that will allow police stop migrants.
Abbott claims that he protects the borders because of the policies of Biden, whom he has asked to uphold the laws.
Source: With information from AFP and AP
