Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has continued to install razor wire around a migrant-infested border city despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling this week that granted federal agents access to the area.
“Texas barbed wire is an effective deterrent against illegal border crossings encouraged by Biden’s open border policies,” Abbott wrote defiantly on Wednesday.
“We continue to deploy this barbed wire to repel illegal immigration.”
Texas officials cordoned off Shelby Park in Eagle Pass earlier this month and stationed state National Guard units at the site to prevent entry to anyone, including Border Patrol agents who had not been given prior approval.
Abbott argued that the package had been used as a gathering place for immigrants entering the United States by crossing the nearby Rio Grande River.
Denying access to the area, he said, discouraged illegal entries into Eagle Pass, Texas.
The Department of Homeland Security is fighting to regain access to the stretch, claiming its staff cannot reach migrants who need emergency care.
Texas troops continued installing fencing around a migrant gathering point this week. REUTERS
In a 5-4 decision this week, the Supreme Court ruled that U.S. Border Patrol agents can cut concertina wire to access the site if necessary.
But Abbott has since doubled down, erecting additional barbed wire in the area since the ruling.
NewsNation correspondent Jorge Ventura posted images of state troops placing new coils of barbed wire in the disputed area Tuesday night.
Ventura also noted that he had not seen any Border Patrol attempts to breach the fence.
He posted X-ray images of several migrants who had crossed the Rio Grande and were unable to continue to Texas. because of the barrier.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has argued that keeping the zone open encourages illegal immigration. ADAM DAVIS/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Abbott has been at war with the Biden administration for months over what he sees as lax enforcement of immigration law.
Abbott has argued that federal inaction allows illegal immigration to skyrocket and overwhelm the Lone Star State’s border cities.
Earlier this month, the Justice Department threatened to sue Texas if it allowed state authorities to arrest and prosecute illegal immigrants under a law set to take effect in March.
The Justice Department also filed a lawsuit against the state over the construction of a floating barrier in the Rio Grande. An appeals court recently ruled that the barrier can remain in the river, which serves as the border between the United States and Mexico.
REUTERS
Claiming that other states should absorb illegal immigrants besides border states like Texas and California, Abbott has bused nearly 100,000 immigrants to sanctuary cities, including New York and Chicago. However, his efforts remain a drop in the ocean of the total number of people entering the United States, both legally and illegally, in search of a better life.
Customs and Border Protection officials have not yet released the number of migrant encounters at the border in December, but sources have told multiple outlets that they will set new records for total crossings.
Eagle Pass, Texas, has been hit by a surge of immigrants over the past year. REUTERS
Federal data obtained by Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse showed that more than 250,000 Notices to Appear (NTAs) were issued in December, the highest number since the organization began tracking in 2001.
NTAs, which represent pending asylum cases, totaled 264,542 last month alone.
With a staggering backlog of more than 3 million cases, those asylum cases can often take years to even reach an initial hearing.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn