By Kimberly James; WBAP and KLIF News, Dallas, Texas.
EAGLE PASS – (WBAP/KLIF) – The mayor of Eagle Pass, Texas is frustrated by the latest and increasing anti-immigration moves from the office of Texas Governor Greg Abbbott.
Texas National Guardsmen have taken over, sealed off, and guard all entry to an Eagle Pass city park, with word of the action a surprise to the Eagle Pass mayor, frustrated by continuing arrivals of migrants, which the city continues to have issues with.
Eagle Pass Mayor Rolando Salinas says he received a call from the Texas state police agency, Department of Public Safety, telling him DPS was closing off all entry to Shelby Park, and would be refusing entry to local residents. Now, the Texas National Guard is keeping entry off limits, and guarding the nearly 50-acre park on the banks of the Rio Grande bordering the United States with Mexico, where a migrant surge has waxed and waned.
Salinas questioned why the Governor’s office chose to close the park at this time, noting daily migrant apprehensions in the region have fallen in recent weeks. Shelby Park is on the banks of the Rio Grande, which offers its area residents boating ramps, and is used by the state to stage vehicles and equipment for the Governor’s “Operation Lone Star” which increasingly seeks to keep migrants out of the state
That “operation” sought, saw passage of, and effected a new Texas wide law known as Senate Bill 1, or SB 1, which directs any police officer in the state of Texas to arrest anyone suspected of illegal entry to the United States, and further, allows judges in the state to order deportations. All immigration matters are closely held as federal authority by the U S government, and a legal challenge has been launched by the federal government against the state of Texas concerning these matters.
Shelby Park is a new source of tension between the federal government and office of Texas Governor Greg Abbott, after large waves of migrants arrived last month, temporarily closing rail crossings and overwhelming shelters. U.S. Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas visited Eagle Pass on Monday, days after Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson toured the border city.
Salinas said Abbott’s office has given the city of Eagle Pass no warning, and offers no timetable on when the park would be returned to city authority and re-opened. Salinas says a DPS official told him the state was taking custody of the park through a disaster declaration, an authority Texas officials have used before on the border.
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