Eagle Pass residents were surprised Wednesday night to learn that Gov. Greg Abbott's Operation Lone Star has once again seized control of their public park.
Mayor Rolando Salinas said he received a call from the Texas Department of Public Safety earlier Wednesday that the state planned to take "full control" of Shelby Park under an emergency declaration from the governor. By 11pm Wednesday, Humvees blocked the entrances to the park.
"They tell me that the mission is to prevent undocumented people from crossing into Eagle Pass," Salinas said in a Facebook post Wednesday night. "That is not a decision that we agreed to. This is not something that we wanted. This is not something that we asked for as a city."
The 47-acre Shelby Park sits on the banks of the Rio Grande. It offers walking trails, sports fields, and a public boat ramp for access to the border river.
But from June of 2022 until August of 2023, it served as ground zero for Operation Lone Star.
That's because under the direction of DPS, Salinas signed an affidavit in June of 2022 declaring the park his personal property. This allowed DPS to close the park to the public, line the riverbank with shipping containers and razor wire, and arrest migrants there on state criminal trespassing charges with a penalty of up to a year in prison.
The park also served as a staging area for the Republican governor's floating wall, a 1,000-foot string of buoy barriers meant to deter illegal immigration.
Abbott faces lawsuits from the Justice Department and a local business owner over the buoys, arguing they are a public safety hazard as well as a threat to the environment and diplomatic relations with Mexico.
The lawsuit also states that immigration enforcement is under the purview of the federal government.
Last August, the Eagle Pass City Council voted to rescind the Salinas affidavit — taking Shelby Park away from Abbott and Operation Lone Star and making it public again.
Residents had just begun using the park again for recreation when the state abruptly seized control.
"We strongly condemn the governor's border stunt and call on him to reverse his decision and to respect the rule of law, human rights, and cross-border cooperation," The Eagle Pass Border Coalition said in a statement.
Eagle Pass Resident and organizer Amerika Garcia-Grewal tried to visit Shelby Park in the middle of the night to assess the situation.
She pointed to a shuttered gate at the main entrance.
"In the entire time I've lived here, this has never been shut. This is the parking which services all of downtown. This is the parking that people come to when they go to the flea market. This is the parking that people go to when they go to the ballpark. This is the parking when you want to go across the border," she said, adding that such political actions over immigration have a major impact on her city.
"It doesn't make any sense. It's like all of the governor's border policies are for show and not any actual effect."
In a statement to TPR, Abbott’s office confirmed this action is part of Texas’ escalating border security tactics.
"Texas is holding the line at our southern border with miles of additional razor wire and anti-climb barriers to deter and repel the record-high levels of illegal immigration invited by President Biden's reckless open border policies,” said Reanae Eze, a spokesperson for Abbott. “Texas will continue to deploy Texas National Guard soldiers, DPS troopers, and more barriers, utilizing every tool and strategy to respond to President Biden's ongoing border crisis."
The latest state takeover of Shelby Park comes on the heels of a rise in migration in the area at the end of the year that brought national attention and scores of Republicans to visit the city of just under 30,000 as part of their political effort to tie stricter immigration restrictions to Ukraine aide.
As the GOP makes immigration its number one issue in the 2024 election, Eagle Pass has consistently found itself in the crosshairs — even as migration has started to slow down in the area.
"The governor's action comes at a time when the number of unauthorized crossings at Eagle Pass has dropped precipitously," said the Eagle Pass Border Coalition." The governor's action also jeopardizes the vital cooperation between the U.S. and Mexico on the management of the Rio Grande, which is at a historic low due to drought and climate change. The river is a lifeline for both countries, providing water, energy, agriculture, and recreation."
