Reports from the border indicate Gov. Greg Abbott has taken over riverfront land and is denying federal officials access to the illegal crossing point near the international bridge in Eagle Pass.
Shelby Park has been a hotspot for illegal crossings, and now the State of Texas under the governor’s emergency powers has seized all city property along the riverfront.
According to NewsNation reporter Ali Bradley, “All access to the property is limited to state authority only. Border Patrol will be permitted to enter the property to remove their equipment and supplies—Agents will not have access to the area unless there is a medical emergency.”
All individuals who cross the border illegally into Shelby Park are expected to be cited for criminal trespass—which can include a punishment of 180 days in jail if found guilty.
The governor’s spokesperson told Bradley, “Texas is holding the line at our southern border with miles of additional razor wire and anti-climb barriers to deter and repel the record-high levels of illegal immigration invited by President Biden’s reckless open border policies.”
“Texas will continue to deploy Texas National Guard soldiers, DPS troopers, and more barriers, utilizing every tool and strategy to respond to President Biden’s ongoing border crisis,” according to the governor’s office.
However, Executive Director of Citizens for Renewing America Wade Miller says this is just more of the same from Abbott, “Abbott’s actions are often innovative in their approach, but they’re the bare minimum to be able to say that he’s doing something new without actually moving the needle.”
“We just don’t have time to pull around and so Abbott needs to make take some decisive steps and stop dipping his toe in the water,” Miller told Texas Scorecard. “It’s provocative to no real end—like what’s he going to do? Where’s he going to put 5,000 people if you arrest them? He’s not going to put them in jail. They don’t have that much jail space in Eagle Pass.”
“The only real thing that’s going to change the narrative here is if he actually starts taking the additional step of returning these people back into Mexico under an invasion declaration authority,” said Miller.
“I’m not opposed to long term litigation strategy, but it has to be done concurrent to more concrete steps. And if he wants to legally separate these out in different memos so that they’re all legally isolated things that aren’t all tied together and don’t get summarily rejected by some random leftist then that’s fine, but he can’t just do this all for some long term legal strategy. That just won’t work. We don’t have time for it. The problem is critical. It’s there. He has to take decisive and robust steps right now. And he’s talked about it but he has not actually done anything.”
“If they’re not processed and released and they’re forced to stay in cartel territory for months on end, people are going to start getting the hint that the border is not wide open anymore, at least not in Texas, and they’re going to start going elsewhere,” said Miller.
Sources on the border have suggested that thousands of Texas National Guard soldiers will be deployed to Eagle Pass in the coming days.
