Texas authorities begin detaining migrants at public park near US-Mexico border, official says

Eagle Pass, Texas (CNN) — As a surge of migrants overwhelms authorities at the US-Mexico border, tensions are rising between Texas and federal officials.

These are the most recent events:

Texas authorities arrested the migrants at Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Wednesday night and charged them with felony criminal mischief, marking the first arrests of migrants since the state took control of the area along the US border. and Mexico last week, an official said. .

The arrest was announced by Lt. Chris Olivarez of the Texas Department of Public Safety on social networks, where he also Posted videos on X In which you can see how the authorities take away the migrants in handcuffs.

Single adult migrant men and women were taken into state custody, while migrant families and children were transferred to the US Border Patrol, Olivarez said.

“The State of Texas will maintain a proactive stance to prevent illegal border crossings between ports of entry,” Olivarez wrote in X.

Migrants arrested for criminal trespassing first face state charges before being turned over to U.S. Border Patrol officials, Olivarez said. The arrests took place in Shelby Park and on private land where the landowner gave the state authority to make the arrests, Olivarez said.

The arrests come at a time of tension between Texas and federal authorities over the current wave of immigrants crossing the border between the United States and Mexico.

According to a letter from the Department of Homeland Security obtained exclusively by CNN over the weekend, the Biden administration informed state officials that they have until the end of Wednesday to stop blocking US Border Patrol access. the border

The blocked area includes the spot where a woman and two children drowned in the Rio Grande near Shelby Park last week. The deaths have widened the gap between Texas and federal authorities over who has jurisdiction in that part of the Rio Grande region and how to address the migration crisis.

In a letter sent to Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, DHS claims the state’s actions “impede operations” and are unconstitutional. The letter also cited deaths — among the latest in the ongoing immigration crisis — near parks where state authorities have erected fences and kept federal agents away.

Late Wednesday, DHS warned that it would “refer the matter to the Department of Justice for appropriate action and consideration of all other available options to restore Border Patrol access to the border” if Texas does not confirm it will “cease and desist its efforts.” Block Border Patrol access in and around the Shelby Park area and remove all entry barriers along the border between the United States and Mexico,” the letter said.

“Texas’ failure to provide border access even in cases of imminent threat to life and safety continues,” said Department of Homeland Security General Counsel Jonathan Meyer. “Texas has demonstrated that even under the most demanding circumstances, it will not allow Border Patrol access to the border to conduct law enforcement and emergency response activities.”

Texas prosecutors are doubling down on the state’s response

Paxton responded Wednesday by telling federal officials that “Texas will not give up,” in a statement issued by his office.

In a three-page letter, Paxton asserted that Texas has the constitutional authority to defend its territory, an authority he plans to continue to fight in court, according to the letter.

Paxton said in the letter that Border Patrol personnel have access to Shelby Park to respond to medical emergencies.

The dispute between Texas and federal officials continues as the White House and lawmakers question Texas’ policies, including a new law that makes it a state crime to enter the state illegally. Disagreements over the issue have also had a domino effect in states where Texas officials have sent immigrants.

The border access debate reached the Supreme Court

The polarizing issue reached the US Supreme Court when the Biden administration asked it to intervene after suing Border Patrol agents’ practice of removing state-placed barbed wire along a section of the border near Eagle Pass.

An appeals court ordered officials to stop removing the wire during legal challenges, and the administration has asked the high court to intervene during the crisis to overturn that order.

Last Friday’s sinking “underscores that Texas remains steadfast in its continued efforts to enforce full border and land control…and block Border Patrol access even in emergency situations,” the administration wrote to Biden in a document to the Supreme Court this Monday night. Court in that case.

“It is impossible to say that if the Border Patrol had had its earlier access to the area, its surveillance trucks would have helped monitor the area,” Attorney General Elizabeth Prelogger wrote in the document.

“However, at the very least, the Border Patrol would have had the opportunity to fulfill its obligations and take all available steps to carry out the rescue mission to its Mexican government counterparts,” he continued. “Texas made it impossible”.

Meanwhile, the Texas Military Department (TMD) said that when Border Patrol agents requested access to the site Friday night, “a drowning had occurred, Mexican authorities were removing the bodies, and the Border Patrol conveyed these facts.” to TMD staff on site.

“At no time did TMD riverside security personnel observe any migrants in distress, and TMD did not turn back any undocumented immigrants from the United States during this period,” the Texas Military Department said. Further, TMD was not informed at any time. No bodies in the Shelby Park area, nor any bodies found on the US side of the border, were reported to TMD in connection with this situation.”

Meanwhile, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said Wednesday it will rehear a case in which it initially upheld a lower court order directing the state of Texas to remove its border buoys from the Rio Grande. Floating border barriers are expected to remain in the river pending the outcome of a new plenary hearing. Oral arguments in that case are expected to begin in May.

Officials are monitoring the border for potential unrest this weekend

The controversy over the migration issue at the border has led some members of the group, known for using demonic rhetoric and crossing paths with extremists, to take to social media and call for people to travel over Eagle Pass in protest.

The group urged “patriots” across the country to come to Eagle Pass “to demand that elected officials uphold their oaths to defend the border against ‘foreign aggression,'” according to an online video by a member of the far-right group, referring to the border crisis. A term used by A property owner will allow the group to set up tents, motor homes and recreational vehicles, he said.

Maverick County Sheriff Tom Schmerber is monitoring the possible arrival of people from across the country this weekend and is concerned about the safety of the area due to heavy rhetoric on immigration, he told CNN.

But, according to Texas state representative Eddie Morales Jr., the group has been misinformed about border security and immigration policy.

“Republicans control the House of Representatives right now; “If they were really interested in solving this problem, they would fast-track the immigration and border security bill for tomorrow,” said Morales, a Democrat who represents 11 counties in the west. Texas, including the city of Eagle Pass.

He said the group should camp outside Congress and demand that lawmakers act on immigration.

Groups like this one that use the word “Patriot” as part of their name have emerged to make Donald Trump a third major political party in 2020, the Anti-Defamation League said in a statement to CNN. While these groups are not inherently extremist, they tend to demonize far-right rhetoric and political causes and sometimes intersect with extremist groups and movements, he said.

— CNN’s Joe Sutton, Melissa Alonso, Devan Cole and Priscilla Alvarez contributed to this report.