Why isn’t the Biden administration suing Texas for taking over the job of Border Patrol?
Texas has taken over Border Patrol's job on one stretch of border, and has threatened to seize control of more. Why hasn't the Biden administration filed suit?
Texas is taking an increasingly aggressive stance about using state law enforcement and the National Guard to police its border with Mexico, and may soon expand the territory it has wrested from federal control. But so far the Biden administration has not followed through on its veiled threat to sue.
A month ago, Texas took control of a 2.5-mile stretch of a city park on the Rio Grande where large groups of migrants crossed in December. The Texas National Guard now patrols Shelby Park and has erected a barrier that combines tall “anti-climb” fencing and razor wire to keep migrants from coming through — and to keep federal Border Patrol agents from gaining access.
Those agents responded to the takeover by removing their equipment and leaving. The Biden administration sent a cease-and-desist letter and threatened to refer the matter to the Justice Department, an implicit threat to sue the state and Gov. Greg Abbott.
Texas then began arresting migrants who had crossed the river into Shelby Park.
When a National Guard soldier comes across a migrant, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety explained, the soldier detains the migrant until a state trooper can come make an arrest for trespassing. From there, the migrant is taken to prison an hour and a half away in Dilley, Texas, to await a hearing before a magistrate judge. Only after the case is adjudicated is the migrant turned over to federal officials, who can determine whether to deport the migrant.
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