The Republican governor of Texas directed state military and police forces to arrest and transport back to the southern border any person suspected of illegally entering the United States from Mexico.
Gov. Greg Abbott, who is seeking a third term in November, authorized Texas National Guard soldiers and Texas Department of Public Safety officers on Thursday afternoon to take custody of illegal immigrants encountered between the ports of entry and “return those illegal immigrants to the border at a port of entry,” his new executive order states. The order suggests that Texas authorities will not enter Mexico.
ABBOTT RESTARTING TRUCK INSPECTIONS AT TEXAS BORDER FOLLOWING MIGRANT DEATHS
Abbott said he chose to act suddenly after 5,000 noncitizens were apprehended illegally crossing into Texas from Mexico over the holiday weekend.
“While President Biden refuses to do his job and enforce the immigration laws enacted by Congress, the State of Texas is once again stepping up and taking unprecedented action to protect Americans and secure our southern border,” Abbott said in a statement.
The move will likely see opposing legal action.
The move comes two days after leaders of six Texas counties and one city declared an invasion under the U.S. Constitution. The same officials have pushed Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton to declare an invasion at the state level but have not seen such action to date.
Former senior U.S. Department of Homeland Security official Ken Cuccinelli criticized Abbott for not declaring an invasion and not authorizing the military or police to escort illegal immigrants into Mexico physically.
“That is critical. Otherwise this is still catch and release,” Cuccinelli, a top political official during the Trump administration, said in a joint statement with Center for Renewing America President Russ Vought.
BREAKING: Statement just released by @russvought and @KenCuccinelli on @GovAbbott‘s new border Executive Order.
No significant changes to current policy. This is still catch and release. pic.twitter.com/Ch4jID7Ljb
— Center for Renewing America (@amrenewctr) July 7, 2022
Only federal law enforcement officials like the U.S. Border Patrol have the legal authority to handle immigration offenses, such as someone suspected of illegally crossing the border by land, air, and sea. State police or state military getting involved in enforcing federal immigration laws and returning illegal immigrants to the Mexican border is likely to draw criticism from immigrant rights advocates.
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Texas is already in deep legal trouble with the federal government, according to a ProPublica/Texas Tribune report. The U.S. Department of Justice is looking into whether Texas police and military assigned to the border under the Operation Lone Star border security initiative violated civil rights laws by subjecting arrestees to “differential and unlawful conditions of confinement based on their perceived or actual race or national origin.”
