Texas tells Supreme Court it’s working to give Border Patrol access to boat ramp on Rio Grande

CNN —

Texas officials told the Supreme Court early Saturday that the state is “working promptly” to ensure US Border Patrol agents have access to a boat ramp used to launch patrol boats into the Rio Grande, a day after the Biden administration complained to the court that the state had effectively blocked agents’ access to a key part of the US-Mexico border.

“The Solicitor General’s late-night supplemental response was the first time that Texas learned of Defendants’ claim that its remaining law-enforcement activities in the area depended on access to the municipal boat ramp located at Shelby Park,” attorneys for the state wrote in a court filing submitted just before 2 am ET Saturday.

“Nevertheless, Texas is currently working to ensure that Border Patrol has access to the boat ramp for the reasons cited by the Solicitor General in her brief — namely, surveillance, patrol, and humanitarian rescue,” the attorneys wrote.

Shelby Park is located in Eagle Pass, Texas, an area that has seen a high number of migrants cross into the state.

The Biden administration told the Supreme Court on Friday that Texas is effectively blocking the agents from accessing a portion of the US-Mexico border, stressing that new barriers recently erected by the state “reinforce” the federal government’s need for the high court to quickly intervene in the matter.

The dispute before the Supreme Court concerns Border Patrol agents’ practice of removing razor wire put in place by Texas along part of the border. The state sued the federal government over the practice, and a lower court ordered the agents to stop removing the wire while legal challenges play out.

“Texas’s new actions since the government’s filing demonstrate an escalation of