The latest twist in Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s border war with Joe Biden has seen a key crossing point ban Border Patrol agents – but not golfers.
On Thursday, players in golf carts could been seen enjoying leisurely games at the nine-hole course situated within Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, Texas.
Shelby Park sits along the United States’ bank of the Rio Grande river and was seized by Texas on January 10, after Gov. Abbott claimed the Biden Administration had not done enough to stem the influx of migrants from nearby Mexico.
That saw Border Patrol agents – who are employed by the federal government – banned from patrolling the park, which is the second busiest border crossing in the US, behind Lukeville in Arizona.
Biden Administration officials have since demanded Texas relinquish control of the 2.5-mile stretch of city-owned land by Friday.
But the high-stakes drama appeared to have had little-to-no impact on those enjoying a round of golf on Thursday evening.
Golfer have been allowed inside the fenced off Shelby Park despite a standoff between federal Border Patrol agents and Texas state troops in Eagle Pass, Texas
Border Patrol agents are not allowed in this same area where golfers enjoyed sunny weather Thursday afternoon
Despite miles of fencing and razor wire at Shelby Park, regular citizens were still allowed on the property
Border Patrol agents, federal law enforcement who report to the Biden Administration and who are tasked with arresting migrants and securing the border, were kicked out.
‘It’s a powder keg,’ US Congressman Tony Gonzales, who represents Eagle Pass, told Fox News.
‘I stand with the governor. You have Americans who are standing with Texas saying, ‘Hey look, we have to hold, we have to make sure that those who are coming over illegally, that they are some repercussions to this.’
For years, golfers and Border Patrol agents have co-existed on the green– showing the complex reality of border cities– where migrants crawl through razor wire that tears at their flesh, a few feet away from where Americans play the genteel sport.
Since 2021, Texas communities on the border have watched as nearly 4 million migrants, according to federal statistics, have surged over the border, many risking their lives to make it into the United States.
A group of Venezuelans used cardboard on their backs to avoid being cut while crawling under a razor wire barrier placed to stop migrants from entering El Paso, Texas
Migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. gather near razor wire set up to inhibit the crossing of migrants into the U.S., as they seek to be processed by the United States Border Patrol in El Paso, Texas, as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico January 23, 2024
Clara Morales and her daughter Yuridia, migrants from Guatemala seeking asylum in the U.S., hug in front of razor wire set up to inhibit the crossing of migrants into the U.S., as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico
In Eagle Pass, and other migrant hot spots in the Lone Star State, authorities have strung miles of concertina and razor wire in an attempt to deal with the border crisis.
But it hasn’t stopped them at all.
Instead migrants have taken to climbing over, crawling under to dragging themselves, and sometimes babies and kids, through the dangerous wire, for the opportunity to surrender to Border Patrol agents and request asylum.
By law, migrants who claim asylum must be given an opportunity to make their case in court — a process that can take years.
In the meantime, asylum-seekers are released into the US while they await their court dates even if they made illegal entry into the country.
The non-stop waves of migrants have taken a toll on Eagle Pass, a city of only 28,000 residents.
Texas took control of Shelby Park (pictured above) on Jan. 10. Since then, Border Patrol agents have been blocked from having full access to the park
The Supreme Court did not rule that the wire fencing Texas deployed was unlawful. The high court only said that federal agents could cut it or move it if they needed to
Texas placed razor wire at Shelby Park in the migrant hot spot of Eagle Pass, Texas for more than a year
In one week last month, 22,000 migrants crossed the river that separates the US from Mexico into Eagle Pass.
Now, city owned park in Eagle Pass, Texas, is at the center of political and legal battle over whether Texas can decide on its own that the federal government isn’t doing enough to secure the border.
Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that Border Patrol agents can cut Texas’s razor wire if they deem it necessary.
The Biden Administration asked Texas to stand down, but Abbott has responded by claiming that Texas is being invaded by migrants.
The governor also added that his state has the authority to defy federal law because the federal government has failed in its duty to his state by not stopping the influx of migrants.
‘There’s no support in our history, there’s no support found in other materials for the idea that states can decide for themselves that they’re under invasion,’ Stephen Vladeck, a professor of the University of Texas School of Law told PBS.
‘For better or for worse in our constitutional system, federal law supersedes state law, even when we don’t like how the federal government is or is not enforcing those federal laws. The remedies for those disagreements are not to allow every state to go out on their own and to have their own policies’