ANALYSIS – Don't mess with Texas! – The Republican attorney general of Texas, Ken Paxton, just rebuffed the most recent attempt by an enraged Team Biden to bully Texas over control of the border in its state.
The latest issue? Control over a tactically critical public park in Texas.
The Texas AG responded to a strongly worded cease-and-desist letter from Joe Biden's Department of Homeland Security (DHS) demanding Texas back down and give federal agents “full access to the U.S.-Mexico border in and around the Shelby Park area,” with his own strongly worded letter.
Paxton's response to Biden's bullying? I don't think so. “The facts and law side with Texas,” said the attorney general of the Lone Star State. So, basically, take a hike, DHS.
What's the background?
On Jan. 10, under an emergency declaration from Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, Texas took control of Shelby Park in a very high-traffic area of Eagle Pass, to help stem the flow of illegal aliens into the state.
The park abuts a 2.5-mile stretch of the Rio Grande where the state installed a controversial floating barrier to dissuade illegal aliens from crossing the river.
Within hours of Paxton's defiant response, Team Biden – thanks to a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit – was informed that the Lone Star State's river barrier wasn't going anywhere, either.
“Texas has the legal authority to control ingress and egress into any geographical location in the state of Texas, and that authority is being asserted with regard to that park in Eagle Pass, Texas, to maintain operational control of it,” said Abbott.
Ignoring the chaos and illegality, not to mention migrant deaths, on the border caused by Biden's policies, White House spokesman Angelo Fernandez Hernandez blasted the Texas park seizure as an “extreme” political stunt designed to “demonize and dehumanize” people.
According to Bloomberg, Hernandez wrote: “Governor Abbott has repeatedly proven that he is not interested in solutions and only seeks to politicize the border.”
Earlier, as I wrote, the Biden Border Patrol and Democrats are also trying to falsely accuse the Texas National Guard, operating under the Texas Military Department (TMD), of preventing the rescue of three illegal migrants who drowned attempting to cross the Rio Grande.
But TMD noted, the migrants were already dead when the Border Patrol contacted them.
“Claims that TMD prevented Border Patrol from saving the lives of drowning migrants are wholly inaccurate. At the time that Border Patrol requested access, the drownings had occurred, Mexican authorities were recovering the bodies, and Border Patrol expressed these facts to the TMD personnel on site.”
In his reply to the DHS General Counsel, Paxton was clear:
Your letter misstates both the facts and the law in demanding that Texas surrender to President Biden's open-border policies. Because the facts and law side with Texas, the State will continue utilizing its constitutional authority to defend her territory, and I will continue defending those lawful efforts in court.
In addition to rebutting virtually every falsehood made in the DHS demand letter, the Texas AG stressed that the DHS “should stop wasting scarce time and resources suing Texas and start enforcing the immigration laws Congress already has on the books.”
Paxton concluded:
President Biden has authorized DHS to send a threatening letter through its lawyers. But Texas has lawyers, too, and I will continue to stand up for this State's constitutional powers of self-defense. Instead of running to the U.S. Department of Justice in hopes of winning an injunction, you should advise your clients at DHS to do their job and follow the law.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
READ NEXT: Concealed Carrying Dad Saves Family
