Abbott also announced that border agents would no longer be allowed "on that property any more." Later that same day, a woman and two young children, ages 8 and 10, drowned in the Rio Grande near the park. The Justice Department acknowledged that the three migrants had already drowned when Texas National Guardsmen refused to give Border Patrol agents access to the river. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton blamed the deaths on the Biden administration and his immigration policies.

Texas officials are refusing to comply with an order from the Biden administration to allow American border patrol agents to enter the disputed area that is currently under the state's control.

Texas officials have refused to comply with an order from the Biden administration to allow American border patrol agents to access a part of the US-Mexico border that is now under the state's control.

Texas's attorney general, Ken Paxton, rejected a request for the state to end its control of Shelby Park, a public park in Eagle Pass, Texas, where undocumented immigrants have increasingly crossed into the US via the US-Mexico border, NBC News reported.

In response to the request from Biden's homeland security department, Paxton defended Texas's strategies as necessary given what he called the president's "open-border policies".

"Because the facts and law side with Texas, the state will continue utilizing its constitutional authority to defend her territory, and I will continue defending those lawful efforts in court," Paxton wrote.

The dispute between the White House and Texas over immigration escalated last week after the Texas governor, Greg Abbott, ordered a fence built around Shelby Park. Abbott also announced that border agents would no longer be allowed "on that property any more".