An ex-DHS official said taking on the GOP-led state would light yet another fire when the administration wants to appear tougher on border security.

The Biden administration has not sued. It did win a Supreme Court ruling that it could take down the razor wire that Texas has deployed in Shelby Park and elsewhere, which the administration said has led to drowning deaths among migrants. It has now cut razor wire in some sections of the border, but not in Shelby Park, which it can’t access.

Three Biden administration officials said the Supreme Court’s recent razor wire ruling was a win in federal government’s fight with Texas over Shelby Park, but they concede it does not explicitly give control of the area back to Border Patrol.

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The three Biden administration officials told NBC News they do not want a confrontation between Border Patrol and Texas National Guard, but they still consider legal action a tool they might deploy. Shortly after Texas started blocking the Border Patrol from accessing Shelby Park, a mother and two children drowned while crossing the Rio Grande. The officials say they might have been saved if Border Patrol had been able to operate its equipment to surveil the river and respond to migrants in distress.

For now, however, optics mean the administration is holding fire, said a former Department of Homeland Security official. The official said that between the fight to pass a border bill, defend Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in an impeachment fight, and other lawsuits challenging Texas, taking on the Republican-led state would ignite another fire at a time when the administration wants to appear tougher on border security.

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20240207121746/https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/biden-administration-lawsuit-texas-abbott-border-patrol-rcna137565

  • FluffyPotato@lemm.ee
    15·
    9 months ago

    I’m not overly familiar on how the US works but if the mayor of a county starts doing shit at the border here they would be arrested and most likely charged with treason because they have zero authority over the border.

    Something like this actually happened here back before my country wasn’t in NATO and Russia tried to pull the breakaway region bullshit in Viru county. Some Russian stodge got into power and held a referendum to join Russia which quickly led to them being in prison and a lot of Russian citizens being deported who took part in that.