Former President Donald Trump (left) and Texas Governor Greg Abbott (right) visit an unfinished section of the border wall in Pharr, Texas on Wednesday, June 30, 2021.
A federal judge in El Paso on Thursday issued an injunction blocking Governor Greg Abbott’s executive order restricting the movement of migrants around the state.
The Justice Department requested a restraining order to prevent Abbott from using government soldiers to stop vehicles suspected of transporting migrants.
Judge Kathleen Cardone had issued an injunction that was due to expire on Friday. Cardone’s injunction is indefinite.
The judge wrote that Abbott’s order interfered with federal enforcement of immigration laws and that the state failed to provide evidence to back up his claim that the order would help stop the spread of COVID-19.
“Despite its alleged motivations, the Order appears to be doing little to protect public health. Texas provides no evidence that non-citizens entering the United States at the border pose a particular health risk, so restricting their transportation would be health and safety Security would improve, “Cardone wrote.
The DOJ’s lawsuit against Abbott was recently consolidated with another lawsuit filed by the Texas ACLU.
“The court’s freezing of Governor Abbott’s blatantly unconstitutional executive order is a welcome relief for Texans,” said Kate Huddleston, attorney at the Texas ACLU. Their lawsuit against Abbott for its executive order was recently consolidated with the DOJ injunction, allowing our plaintiffs – including housing providers, humanitarian workers, and immigrants living in Texas – to live their lives and protect asylum seekers without their vehicles being confiscated or forced “Going to the border is the first step in ensuring that this latest attack on Texans’ civil rights and the governor’s efforts to scapegoat immigrants are unsuccessful.”
Abbott responded to the injunction Thursday night, tweeted, “I will continue to take every step that is lawful to secure the border and protect Texans.”
“The governor’s initiative is legitimate, it is valid, it is necessary.” – Jackson Co. Sheriff & President of the Regional Alliance of TX Sheriffs, AJ Louderback
I will continue to take every step, in accordance with the law, to secure the border and protect Texans. pic.twitter.com/QsFCKMPUWH
– Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) August 26, 2021
During a hearing in early August, Justice Department attorney Brian Boynton argued that Texas had no authority to impose its own immigration laws. And he told U.S. District Judge Cardone the state was obstructing federal contractors transporting detained migrants and nonprofit groups providing services to migrants who are being released and traveling to other cities to await their immigration hearings.
“All of that would be affected by the Texas order,” said Boynton.
He told the court that “Sister Norma” – citing Sister Norma Pimentel from Catholic charities in the Rio Grande Valley – had received a visit from the Texas Department of Public Security.
“The day the Texas Executive Bylaw was signed, DPS came to her and told her they could no longer transport migrants.”
Boynton said they had also told her that DPS had staked out soldiers “outside of their facility.”
Texas state attorney Will Thompson said DPS soldiers visited them to “warn them” before they began enforcing the travel ban on migrants.
Boynton said the executive order was contrary to federal law as state officials were required to make an immigration status assessment and Texas did not have the authority to only “target migrants.”
During a public health threat, all containment efforts should be broadly imposed, argued Boynton. He said the travel restrictions imposed by DPS troops would result in “attacking, profiling and harassing people”.
Boynton said Texas “did nothing to explain why COVID would be better if the transportation were handled by law enforcement”.
And he noted that Texas could take other measures to reduce the spread of COVID, “like allowing communities to adopt masking requirements” and providing testing and quarantine for all those exposed to COVID-19.
But the prosecutor told the court that Texas was facing a major public health crisis and that COVID had skyrocketed on the border because of migrants. Judge Cardone asked, “Isn’t it skyrocketing everywhere … including Austin, Houston, and Dallas?”
Thompson told the judge that “the danger to migrants is greater”. Judge Cardone asked, “Isn’t that for all people who are not vaccinated?”
He told court migrants that they are more susceptible to the virus because they come from and travel through countries with lower vaccination rates before crossing, and are responsible for spikes in COVID cases at the border.
“To the best of my knowledge, El Paso is not coming to a head and we are certainly at the limit,” said Judge Cardone.
Thompson argued that the governor’s executive order was not based on efforts to change the immigration police but was “linked to the current public health crisis.”
Judge Cardone asked him if DPS would determine “who has been processed and released by the federal government and who has not?”
“I don’t think it’s confusing on site,” Thompson replied.
The ACLU’s lawsuit was filed on behalf of Angry Tías & Abuelas of the Rio Grande Valley, a volunteer organization that helps migrants; Jennifer Harbury, a humanitarian volunteer who frequently drives migrants; and FIEL Houston, an immigrant rights organization whose members include newly arrived migrants who are subject to executive order travel restrictions.
The ACLU said its lawsuit was different from the DOJ’s case because it was able to demonstrate the range of damage caused by the executive order to border communities, asylum seekers, their families, shelters and drivers across Texas.
The case comes amid a coronavirus resurgence with the spread of the Delta variant. The Abbott administration did Texas communities prevented from introducing mask or vaccination regulations while focusing his COVID rhetoric on the border region.
“We all know the CDC, science, the World Health Organization, all of them have said that these masks help prevent the spread of COVID-19. But then he will blame the migrants, ”said Domingo Garcia, national president of the League of United Latin American Citizens.
Federal immigration officials met migrants more than 212,000 times in July, the highest monthly total in 20 years – including nearly 19,000 unaccompanied children, more than ever in a single month. Although the encounters reached record numbers, they do not represent the number of unique individuals – 154,000 – who attempted to cross. Rather, they reflect how often people try to cross again.
On a recent visit to Brownsville, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas attributed the high number of repeat offenders to Title 42, a temporary public health policy that immediately turns migrants back to Mexico. Former President Trump implemented the measure at the beginning of the pandemic and President Biden continued it.
Mayorkas recognized the challenge that the large numbers of migrants pose to immigration officials and local communities. Mayorkas said an increasing number of migrants are testing positive for COVID-19. But he denied claims that migrants are driving the dramatic rise in cases in the south.
“The positivity rate is equal to or lower than the rate in our local border communities,” Mayorkas said. “We are building new capacity to deal with the situation, and as quickly as possible. The scale of the challenge should not be overstated. But also our ability to master them. “
Abbott has repeatedly said in television interviews that Texas is enforcing federal immigration law because he believes the Biden administration has not been tough enough on border crossings. In May he issued a disaster declaration on the grounds that illegal crossings were “an ongoing and imminent danger of disaster”.
Weeks later, he announced that he would continue building the border wall, which Trump made a central point of his presidency. But Abbott went a step further and said he would arrest as many people as possible who they accuse of state crimes such as trespassing and vandalism. Abbott then ordered the Texas National Guard to assist state troopers with these arrests.
Immigration rights activists said Abbott’s order to order state soldiers to stop all vehicles suspected of transporting migrants is illegal for a number of reasons, including the fact that it invites racial profiling to make this immigration policy a matter of jurisdiction the federal government falls.
Arizona attempted to pass state laws in 2012 that turned federal immigration law into state violations – most failed to stand up to court.
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