A growing list of Republican governors announced they stand with Texas Governor Greg Abbott in the State’s showdown against the Biden administration over the seized border park in Eagle Pass, Texas.
Texas Governor Gregg Abbott asserts Texas’ constitutional right to defend and protect itself as it relates to the ongoing border crisis gripping the state. His analysis comes in a statement issued on Wednesday while state and federal authorities square off over granting federal agents access to Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, Texas. Governor Abbott ordered state authorities to seize the park in early January. The statement faults President Biden for refusing to enforce immigration laws in the state.
The Texas Military Department says it will continue to “hold the line in Shelby Park” in their efforts to “deter and prevent unlawful entry into the State of Texas.” Under Operation Lone Star orders from Governor Greg Abbott, the Texas National Guard’s actions continue despite a second demand letter from the Department of Homeland Security to release control of the park seized by the State earlier this month. Governor Abbott pledged to continue deploying razor wire along the Rio Grande border with Mexico.
Department of Homeland Security General Counsel Jonathan Meyer sent a second demand letter to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton demanding the state of Texas grant full, unimpeded access to a border city park and boat ramp. The Texas Military Department seized Shelby Park in early January. Tuesday’s letter sets a deadline of January 26, for the state to grant the Border Patrol full access to Shelby Park and other areas along a 2.5 mile stretch of the Rio Grande in the small Texas border town of Eagle Pass.
The State of Texas secured a rehearing before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that will allow the floating buoy barrier installed in the Rio Grande to remain in place until the full court hears the case. The en banc court hearing will take place in May 2024 and reverses a prior ruling ordering the state to remove the barrier system.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Army National Guard soldiers remain posted at temporary gates erected at the entrance to a city-owned park along the Rio Grande. The park was seized by order of Texas Governor Greg Abbott and closed off to Border Patrol agents unless their entrance into the area is first coordinated with state law enforcement and the Texas Military Department.
A strongly worded letter from the Department of Homeland Security to the State of Texas demands access to the U.S.-Mexico border on land seized by the State in Eagle Pass. DHS officials ordered the State to cease and desist its efforts to block Border Patrol’s access in and around Shelby Park “and remove all barriers to access” by the end of the day on January 17.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott is pushing back against accusations that the Texas Military Department refused to allow Border Patrol agents to enter a city park in the heart of downtown Eagle Pass to rescue a migrant family who later drowned. The governor called the claim “wholly inaccurate.” On Sunday evening, Abbott posted a rebuttal to the accusations on X (formerly Twitter), saying the deaths of a migrant woman and her two children were because of the “Biden Open Border magnet.”
The Texas Military Department seized a city-owned golf course located in the busiest border crossing point along the Rio Grande. The Texas National Guard then ejected U.S. Border Patrol agents from the park and took total control of this section of the U.S.-Mexico border.
A Texas Department of Public Safety helicopter crashed in Kinney County while helping ground crews track a group of migrants attempting to avoid apprehension in the brush. The two crew members onboard did not sustain any major injuries, according to a law enforcement source.
Del Rio Sector Border Patrol officials report the apprehension of nearly 35,000 migrants during the last two weeks of December. At about the same time, Tucson Sector officials reported apprehending more than 30,000 migrants.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas will visit the border region with a quick stop in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Monday — just two days before he is slated to appear for impeachment proceedings before the House Committee on Homeland Security. Mayorkas visit will include meetings with local officials, Customs and Border Protection staff members, and Border Patrol officials from the Del Rio Sector.
U.S. Representative Tony Gonzales (R-TX) says he is ready for a budget showdown if any discussions on funding the government later this month do not include tighter border security measures. The Congressman spoke to Breitbart Texas during a recent border visit he hosted that included Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) and 64 other Republican legislators.
U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, accompanied by a group of 64 other Republican legislators, visited the small Texas border city of Eagle Pass to receive a security briefing on the latest surge that saw more than 70,000 migrants cross the Rio Grande into the Del Rio Border Patrol Sector in December. Although the pace of migrant crossings has slowed in recent days, on Wednesday, Johnson made clear the responsibility for the record-breaking crossings at the border falls directly on the President’s failed policies.
A press conference held by U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson was interrupted by a group of migrants crossing the Rio Grande. The group of five migrants, including two children, crossed the border river within yards of the press conference and under the watch of the Del Rio Sector Border Patrol chief patrol agent.
With just hours to go before the largest yet congressional visit arrives at the border in the small Texas town of Eagle Pass, a source within Customs and Border Protection tells Breitbart Texas what they will witness pales in comparison to the migrant surge and grossly overcrowded facilities experienced during the month of December. A nearby soft-sided processing facility designed to accommodate 1,000 migrants that has routinely held nearly 6,000 during the month is now holding less than 500.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) said Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas “is pathetic” in response to the secretary’s comments on MSNBC blaming the record-shattering December migrant apprehensions on climate change.
Border Patrol agents in the Tucson and Del Rio Sectors apprehended approximately 151,000 migrants who illegally crossed the border between ports of entry during the month of December, according to unofficial reports reviewed by Breitbart Texas. The reported apprehensions shatter prior records for both sectors.
For the first time ever, migrant encounters along the southern border exceeded 300,000 in a single month, according to a report citing unofficial CBP sources. The report states December was the highest month in history for migrant encounters along the southwest border.
With non-government migrant shelters at capacity and closed for the New Year’s Day holiday, the Border Patrol was forced to release migrants directly onto the streets of Eagle Pass. Most of the migrants huddled outside a local transportation company, hoping to make a quick exit from the small border city. The transportation hub is only a block from an official port of entry that has been closed for weeks due to the latest border surge hitting the small community of 30,000 residents.
Del Rio Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended more than 22,000 migrants during the week before Christmas, according to officials. In addition, another nearly 1,600 migrants were reported as known got-aways.
Border Patrol reports indicate the Biden administration will shatter the previous record for the number of migrants apprehended who illegally enter the U.S. between ports of entry in December. An unofficial Border Patrol report shows that agents apprehended approximately 232,000 migrants in the first 28 days of December. With three days to go in the month, agents could apprehend nearly 260,000 by the end of the month.
Border Patrol agents apprehended more than 29,000 migrants during the extended Christmas weekend. While most American families enjoyed the celebrations of Christmas with family and friends, Border Patrol agents stayed to their tasks of processing, transporting, caring for, and eventually releasing thousands of migrants pushed across the border by human smuggling cartels.
The overwhelming surge of migrants crossing the Rio Grande forced the busiest border sector in Texas to close Border Patrol stations so personnel may be reassigned to migrant processing and transportation duties. According to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection source, the announcement came on Friday, ordering managers to cease operations at stations in Carrizo Springs, Comstock, Uvalde, and Brackettville, Texas.
Border Patrol agents apprehended more than 191,000 migrants who crossed the border between ports of entry in November, according to a report released on the Friday afternoon before the Christmas extended weekend. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-TN) sharply criticized the Department of Homeland Security for what he described as the late release of the numbers.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott stepped up the process of moving migrants out of the state to sanctuary cities by starting migrant flights to Chicago. The escalation follows actions by the Chicago mayor to interfere with migrant buses sent from the Lone Star State.
Residents in Mexico are furious as the ongoing border crisis along the Texas-Mexico border has practically frozen all legal crossings. In some locations, people legally authorized to enter the U.S. have to wait 13 hours in line to cross through a port of entry.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a bill making Texas the first state in the union to give law enforcement officers the authority to arrest migrants who illegally enter the state. The measure, SB 4, was signed into law on Monday during a ceremony at the base of the border wall in Brownsville, Texas.
Border Patrol agents assigned to the southwest U.S. border with Mexico apprehended approximately 121,000 migrants during the first 15 days of December, according to unofficial Border Patrol reports reviewed by Breitbart Texas. Another 11,000 migrants are listed as “got-aways.”
With no signs of slowing, the latest migrant surge into Texas’ busiest border sector forced the agency to suspend operations at highway checkpoints. Nearly all Border Patrol agents in the Del Rio Border Patrol Sector have been redirected from border enforcement duties to focus on processing, transporting, and providing humanitarian care for more than 7,000 migrants in custody at local facilities and at a temporary outdoor staging site near Eagle Pass, according to a source within CBP.
A Texas sheriff’s deputy seized nearly $110,000 in cash during a traffic stop on Interstate 10 — nearly 250 miles from the Mexican border. The deputy reportedly found the cash in body carriers on a Mexican woman traveling with her husband and a juvenile male.
An East Texas man from Tyler now faces state charges for evading arrest and human smuggling after police say they found seven illegal immigrants in his vehicle.
A Texas mother was shocked to discover her daughter, 16-year-old cheerleader Lizbeth Medina, had been murdered in her apartment on Tuesday evening. Rafael Govea Romero, an undocumented migrant, is now facing charges of capital murder in the death of the Texas teen following his arrest on Saturday.
Border Patrol agents working the nine southwest border sectors apprehended more than 50,000 migrants during the first week of December, according to unofficial Border Patrol reports obtained by Breitbart Texas. The Del Rio and Tucson Sectors lead the list with the most apprehensions.
Border Patrol agents assigned to the Del Rio Sector apprehended more than 17,000 migrants in the past five days, according to unofficial Border Patrol reports.
Border Patrol agents in the Del Rio Sector apprehended more than 3,000 migrants during a 24-hour period this week. The surge of migrants is overwhelming Border Patrol resources in the area, leading to the closure of an international crossing point and migrants being forced to camp out in the cold while they await transportation for processing.
With processing facilities more than three times over capacity, the rush of migrants flowing into the small city of Eagle Pass has resulted in migrants being sheltered in an open field near the city’s only open port of entry. According to a source within U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Border Patrol is now forced to detain migrants outdoors at almost all facilities and near the Camino Real International Bridge II in the heart of the downtown area.
Eagle Pass, Texas, Mayor Rolando Salinas took to social media this weekend to express his frustration with the surge of migrants flooding into his small city. Describing the constant flow of migrants into the city as an immigration disaster, Salinas chided Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas for visiting Uvalde, Texas — a city 60 miles away from the border region — but failing to visit one of the busiest migrant crossing spots in Eagle Pass during the visit.
A vehicle used by a human smuggler to move several migrants who had just crossed into Texas went up in flames during a high-speed chase. The vehicle did not crash but instead caught fire as the smuggler pushed the engine past 100 miles an hour for too long, authorities said.
The Biden administration’s solution to thousands of migrants illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border between ports of entry is to close legal border crossing points. The administration closed legal border crossing points in Texas and Arizona to divert manpower to process migrants making illegal entry into the U.S. more quickly.
