Texas Gains Tremendous American Support in Defiance of White House

Op-Ed

On January 26, even after the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Texas government authorities to make way for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) at a border crossing on the Rio Grande river at Shelby Park, in Eagle Pass, Texas, and cut the razor wire the state had put in place along the river, the state of Texas notified DHS it would not surrender control of the park or allow federal authorities to take over.

Texas' declaration that it would not yield control came on the same day the Supreme Court had ordered it to stand aside and let DHS take over to re-open the border to a flood of migrants without visas or other permission to enter the U.S.

The reason Texas gave for its refusal was that the U.S. government has failed in carrying out its responsibility to protect the people of Texas, and that it must continue its actions to protect the citizens of its state from an ongoing “invasion” by illegal migrants crossing the Rio Grande at Eagle Pass.

It is estimated as many as 300,000 illegal migrants had already crossed the river unlawfully at that point and made it into Eagle Pass just in December 2023 alone. Texas lacks the facilities and funding to care for the human tide and has no choice but to block them from crossing the border into Texas. 

Below is the full and unedited statement released on January 26, 2024, by the Texas Attorney General’s office.

“Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton responded in a letter today denying demands made by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”), explaining that Texas will continue securing the border. Additionally, Attorney General Paxton made a list of counter-demands, requesting the federal agency release certain documents and precise information relating to their alleged authority.

“On January 11, the Texas Military Department secured Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, Texas, to protect the public and reinforce border security measures deterring an ongoing invasion. Inexplicably, DHS alleged that such law enforcement actions were unlawful and demanded that Texas “cease and desist” its activities to secure the park. On January 17, Attorney General Paxton rejected DHS’s claims, detailing how the agency misstated “both the facts and the law.” DHS then sent another letter, demanding that Texas tear down all obstructions on the property, open the border to illegal aliens, and surrender Shelby Park.

“Today, Attorney General Paxton has denied the Biden Administration’s unfounded requests and issued counter-demands. By February 15, DHS must supply the official plat maps and deeds demonstrating the precise parcels to which they claim ownership, an explanation of how Texas is preventing access to those specific parcels, documentation showing that Eagle Pass or Texas ever granted permission for DHS to erect infrastructure that interferes with border security, and proof of Congress empowering DHS to turn a Texas park into an unofficial and illegal port of entry. If the federal government is going to make such claims, it must provide proof.

“Presumably because you have no meaningful response to our letter, your latest letter abandons earlier factual assertions, asserts new ones, and supplies even less of a legal basis for your demand. Once again, I respectfully suggest that any time you might spend suing Texas should be redirected toward enforcing the immigration laws Congress already has on the books,” Attorney General Paxton told DHS. “As I said before, this office will continue to defend Texas’s efforts to protect its southern border against every effort by the Biden Administration to undermine the State’s constitutional right of self-defense.”

The state of Texas is backed in its action by 25 Republican governors who stand by the actions of Texas Governor Greg Abbott against the governor. It is also supported by most Americans. 

It is not just the large numbers of migrants crossing the border that is of concern but the fact that many appear to soldiers and spies from China, Iran and possibly Russia. Hundreds with known ties to Islamic terrorist groups have been apprehended, which means that thousands have crossed without being detained and processed. 

The White House has crippled the ability of the border patrol and immigration to detect and deport those who pose a threat or are known criminals. There is evidence that the corrupted DHS is distributing military age men from nations hostile to the U.S. to secret locations across the U.S. for unknown purposes. 

On January 17, ten retired high-level FBI executives sent a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Leader Chuck Schumer and the chairmen of the House and Senate committees that preside over the U.S. intelligence and Homeland Security apparatus that warned them of the threat. Some of the FBI employees oversaw the bureau’s intelligence, counterterrorism, criminal and training operations and therefore know exactly what they are talking about. 

They warned: 

“Military aged men from across the globe, many from countries or regions not friendly to the United States, are landing in waves on our soil by the thousands - not by splashing ashore from a ship or parachuting from a plane but rather by foot across a border that has been accurately advertised around the world as largely unprotected with ready access granted.

“It would be difficult to overstate the danger represented by the presence inside our borders of what is comparatively a multi-division army of young single adult males from hostile nations and regions whose background, intent, or allegiance is completely unknown.”

The signatories have more than 250 years of combined experience in the bureau’s intelligence, counterterrorism, and criminal operations and include:

•     Kevin Brock, the former assistant director of intelligence and former principal principal deputy director of the National Counterterrorism Center
•     Chris Swecker, the former assistant director of the criminal division
•     David Szady, former assistant director of counterintelligence
•     Timothy J. Healy, the former director of the Terrorist Screening Center
•     Former Executive Assistant Director Ruben Garcia
•     Mark Morgan, former assistant director for training and the former acting commissioner of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection
•     William Gavin, retired assistant director for the Inspection Division
•     Timothy McNally, former assistant director of the Los Angeles division
•     Retired Special Agent David Mitchell, who oversaw the FBI operations in Milwaukee
•     Special Agent Jody Weiss, who oversaw FBI operations in Philadelphia

The organizer of the letter, Kevin Brock stressed that the warning is backed up by far more government insiders than just the ten. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson said:

“This letter from national security leaders is further confirmation of what we already know: President Biden’s open border policies are increasing the risks of terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. An unprecedented threat at this scale requires transformational policy changes immediately to secure the border and end the administration’s mass release of illegals into our country.”

Sen. Ron Johnson stated: