Since Abbott ordered state police to begin arresting migrants suspected of having crossed the border illegally for the state crime of trespassing on private property, DPS has arrested about 1,300 migrants on the charge, the agency director reported. The men, picked up almost exclusively in Val Verde and Kinney counties, are jailed in state prisons retooled as immigration jails.
The quickly assembled system of arrests, detentions and releases of migrants has been plagued by missteps since its onset, including families being improperly separated, violations of due process, and a lack of coordination among federal, state and local officials.
In a legislative hearing called out of concern over legal blunders in Abbott’s arrest initiative, DPS Director Steve McCraw told lawmakers Monday that the people his officers arrest for criminal trespassing are trying to avoid law enforcement, not seek asylum.
“When we talk about criminal trespass, it’s that they’re paying coyotes, they’re paying cartel operatives, smugglers to move around and through to avoid being detected,” McCraw said.
In Kinney County, a rural, conservative region next door to Val Verde, many of the hundreds of migrants jailed for allegedly trespassing are arrested at a remote depot as they arrive on train cars from the border.
In Val Verde County, home to Del Rio, however, Martinez said the vast majority of the cases he tosses out are those in which he learns that the arrested migrants had credible asylum claims and were looking for law enforcement to turn themselves in. He has said he began dropping such cases after he heard McCraw tell lawmakers in August that police aren’t looking to arrest asylum-seekers, but are instead targeting dangerous criminals.
Other times, Martinez has thrown out trespassing charges for insufficient evidence or questionable circumstances surrounding the arrests, like the cases he tossed Monday. A defense attorney told lawmakers Monday that the incidents are not unique.
“We have heard reports and several of our clients have recounted that they are actually called over onto the river onto private property,” said Kristin Etter, whose organization, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, represents hundreds of the arrested migrants.
Source: In questionable arrests, Texas prosecutor drops migrants’ trespassing cases | The Texas Tribune
You must be logged in to post a comment.