Texas erects new border barrier as dispute with Biden administration ramps up

Texas this week erected new barriers along part of the state’s border with Mexico, blocking Border Patrol access, a court filing said on Friday, as conflict over migration escalates between the state’s Republican governor and Democratic U.S. President Joe Biden.
The Texas National Guard added new concertina wire and fencing to a stretch of the border near Eagle Pass, blocking U.S. Border Patrol access to a city park that contains a boat ramp agents use to reach the Rio Grande, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a filing to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Robert Danley, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection official, stated in the filing that without the boat ramp, agents had no way to monitor that area and “no practical options for responding to migrants who may be in distress.”
The dispute is part of a broader standoff between the Biden administration and Texas Governor Greg Abbott over a record number of migrants illegally crossing the border since Biden took office in 2021. Texas has increasingly sought to implement its own border controls, which have historically been the legal domain of the federal government.