ACLU calls on feds to investigate Abbott’s policy transporting migrants back to border – By James Barragan (Texas Tribune) / Aug 8, 2022
In July, Abbott authorized state law enforcement to transport migrants to ports of entry. It’s unclear how and why migrants are being detained, raising civil rights concerns and questions about whether the state is overstepping federal authority.
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The American Civil Liberties Union is calling on the federal government to stop cooperating with Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order authorizing state troopers to transport migrants back to the border ports of entry – escalating a debate over the state’s authority to enforce immigration laws.
The request by ACLU Texas and the group’s national leadership for the Biden administration to investigate the state’s latest immigration policy comes a week after The Texas Tribune reported on how state troopers are transferring suspected migrants to the port of entry in Eagle Pass and turning them over to federal immigration authorities. Abbott had authorized the practice in a July 7 executive order but provided little clarity on how the migrants would be transported and under what authority they were being detained. Immigration law enforcement is a federal responsibility, but Abbott’s order is taking unprecedented steps that are encroaching on that authority.
Local law enforcement authorities have previously turned over immigrants in their custody at the request of federal immigration authorities. But they have traditionally held them at the location where the immigrants already were, like a jail or detention center. Abbott’s order authorizes Texas Department of Public Safety officers to drive migrants to the border ports of entry where immigration authorities can more easily process the immigrants.
CONTINUE > https://www.texastribune.org/2022/08/08/aclu-texas-greg-abbott-migrants-transport/
