Texas took it upon themselves to guard the border and not allow the Border Patrol entry to Shelby Park, a 47-acre Texas public park. The Border Patrol typically apprehends people crossing the river at that point. Texas/US military soldiers were sent to the area to block any migrants from crossing the river. A group of six had trouble crossing the river. One woman and two children drown in the presence of the National Guard. The Border Patrol was blocked from giving aid and assistance to them. There is a certain point where you have to count yourself in as a human being and not just a robot taking orders. You aid people in trouble. This is murder in Texas by Texas. A letter from President Andrew Jackson to Vice President Martin Van Buren On
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Bill Haskell considers the following as important: Hot Topics, immigration, Texas Border
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Texas took it upon themselves to guard the border and not allow the Border Patrol entry to Shelby Park, a 47-acre Texas public park. The Border Patrol typically apprehends people crossing the river at that point. Texas/US military soldiers were sent to the area to block any migrants from crossing the river. A group of six had trouble crossing the river. One woman and two children drown in the presence of the National Guard. The Border Patrol was blocked from giving aid and assistance to them.
There is a certain point where you have to count yourself in as a human being and not just a robot taking orders. You aid people in trouble. This is murder in Texas by Texas.
A letter from President Andrew Jackson to Vice President Martin Van Buren
On January 13, 1833, President Andrew Jackson wrote to Vice President–elect Martin van Buren to explain his position on South Carolina’s recent assertion that sovereign states could overrule federal laws.
“Was this to be permitted the government would lose the confidence of its citizens and it would induce disunion everywhere. No my friend, the crisis must be now met with firmness, our citizens protected, and the modern doctrine of nullification and secession put down forever…. [N]othing must be permitted to weaken our government at home or abroad.”
Andrew Jackson’s Letter to Martin Van Buren, 13 January 1833, Library of Congress
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Taken (and rewritten) from “Letters from an American,” January 13, 2024
Last night a woman and two children drown in the Rio Grande marking the border between the U.S. and Mexico near Eagle Pass, Texas.
U.S. Border Patrol agents knew the group of six migrants were in distress in the river. They could not try to save them, as they normally would. Troops from the Texas National Guard and the Texas Military Department prevented the Border Patrol agents from entering the area where the immigrants were struggling. The area is Shelby Park, a 47-acre public park that offers access to a frequently traveled part of the river. It is a place where Border Patrol agents often encounter migrants crossing the border illegally.
The Border Patrol could not enter Shelby Park. Two days earlier, Texas governor Greg Abbott sent armed Texas National Guard soldiers and soldiers from the Texas Military Department to take control of Shelby Park. The mayor of Eagle Pass, Rolando Salinas posted a video on Facebook showing the troops and saying that a state official had told him that state troops were taking “full control” over Shelby Park “indefinitely.” Mayor Salinas made it clear that “[t]his is not something that we wanted. This is not something that we asked for as a city.”
The Texas forces denied United States Border Patrol officials entry into the park to perform their duties, asserting the state of Texas and its officials have power over U.S. officials.
On December 18, Abbott signed into law S.B. 4. Texas S.B. 4 assert state power over immigration which the Constitution grants only to the federal government. Repeatedly, courts have ruled the matter of immigration is the responsibility of federal government and not state government.
According to Uriel J. García of the Texas Tribune, “some Texas Republicans are hoping the new state law will push the issue back before a U.S. Supreme Court.” They believe a more conservative court will rule in their favor since three appointees of former President Donald Trump joined it. It would be surprising if the Western District of Texas federal court does not adhere to the Constitution and precedents.
On January 3, the DOJ filed a lawsuit against the new law, stating:
“Texas cannot run its own immigration system. Its efforts, through S.B. 4, intrude on the federal government’s exclusive authority to regulate the entry and removal of noncitizens, frustrate the United States’ immigration operations and proceedings, and interfere with U.S. foreign relations.”
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Some news articles on immigration
- Before the president’s asylum changes took effect on May 11, border patrol officials were encountering about 7,500 migrants trying to cross the border illegally each day — record-breaking numbers that were putting severe strains on the immigration officials and border communities.
Since then, the numbers have declined to about 3,000 migrants each day. That is still historically high, but dramatically lower. NYT
- The number of migrants illegally crossing the southwest U.S. border is at its lowest point since the start of the Biden administration, with just over 3,000 migrants stopped by Border Patrol each day. The number has plummeted from more than 10,000 daily just three weeks ago, despite widespread predictions of a surge after the end of the Title 42 Covid ban on May 11. NBC
- WASHINGTON, Jan 2 (Reuters) – The U.S. will reopen four legal U.S.-Mexico border crossings on Thursday as high levels of illegal immigration have receded and freed up personnel, U.S. border authorities said on Tuesday.
The U.S. will resume operations at an international bridge in Eagle Pass, Texas, two crossings in Arizona and another near San Diego, California, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said in a press release, adding that it will continue to prioritize border security “as necessary.”
U.S. border authorities struggled in December to process migrants as apprehensions reached nearly 11,000 in a single day, which several current and former officials said was near or at a record high.
Lawmakers remain in talks over a possible deal that would combine increased border security measures with foreign aid, including military funding for Ukraine, U.S. officials said.
“We gotta do something. They ought to give me the money I need to protect the border,” U.S. President Joe Biden told reporters on his arrival at the White House on Tuesday evening, apparently referring to members of Congress. Reuters
- The United States added 1.6 million people, more than two-thirds of which came from international migration, bringing the nation’s population total to 334.9 million. It marks the second year in a row that immigration powered population gains.
A decline in the number of deaths since the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic also contributed to the U.S. growth rate.
Population gains stem from immigration and births outpacing deaths.
After immigration declined in the latter half of last decade and dropped even lower amid pandemic-era restrictions, the number of immigrants last year bounced back to almost 1 million people. The trend continued this year as the nation added 1.1 million people.
The last time immigration surpassed 1.1 million people was in 2001, according to Census Bureau figures compiled by William Frey, a demographer at The Brookings Institution.
It is a sign of things to come. Without immigration, the U.S. population is projected to decline as deaths are to outpace births by the late 2030s. Fortune.
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You may not like immigrants. However, even with your dislike, you still have to render aid when it is needed.