Texas Tribune / Eli Hartman
Alejandro Mayorkas, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Safety, speaks about border points with Laura Barrón-López, correspondent for PBS Information Hour, at The Texas Tribune Competition in Austin, TX on Sept. 6, 2024.
Join The Temporary, The Texas Tribune’s day by day publication that retains readers in control on essentially the most important Texas information.
U.S. Division of Homeland Safety Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas criticized Gov. Greg Abbott’s immigration enforcement insurance policies at The Texas Tribune Competition on Friday, saying his insurance policies are unprecedented and have generally prompted havoc.
“That is the primary time in my 20 to 22 years of presidency service that I see a state act in direct contravention of nationwide pursuits,” Mayorkas advised Laura Barrón-López, the White Home Correspondent for PBS Information Hour.
In March 2021, Abbott introduced Operation Lone Star. This state mission has deployed state troopers and state Nationwide Guard troopers to totally different components of the 1,200-mile-long Texas-Mexico border to arrest migrants suspected of crossing the border illegally.
As a part of the mission, the state has constructed greater than 30 miles of a wall close to the Rio Grande; troopers have laid out a number of miles of concertina wire on the riverbank that has resulted in a number of migrants being severely injured; and contractors have laid out a 1,000-foot-long water barrier on the Rio Grande in Eagle Move. Texas has additionally sued a number of instances to halt the Biden administration’s immigration insurance policies, which offer a pathway for some Latin American migrants to enter the U.S. legally.
The Texas Legislature final 12 months authorised a legislation often called SB 4 that will enable police in Texas to arrest people who find themselves suspected of crossing the Rio Grande illegally from Mexico into Texas.
The state has additionally chartered buses of migrants from Texas border cities to what Abbott has described as sanctuary cities for undocumented immigrants, comparable to Washington, D.C., New York Metropolis, Chicago, Philadelphia, Denver and Los Angeles.
Mayorkas mentioned Texas busing migrants to different cities with out coordinating with these metropolis officers is “incomprehensible to me from the perspective of accountable governance.”
“Is it purely to wreak havoc and dysfunction within the receiving communities to make a political level?”
In 2022, the state additionally performed secondary inspections of economic vehicles on the Texas-Mexico border, leading to delays for Mexican truckers buying and selling with the U.S. The secondary inspections had been carried out after immigration officers already inspected the vehicles. State police discovered zero medication, weapons or every other sort of contraband, in keeping with knowledge launched by the Division of Public Security to The Texas Tribune.
“It reeked of financial havoc,” Mayorkas mentioned.
The Biden administration has sued Texas to forestall SB 4 from going into impact and let Border Patrol brokers minimize by way of the concertina wire to arrest migrants who’ve already crossed the river.
Immigrant rights advocates have demanded the Division of Justice examine whether or not Texas has violated the civil rights of people that have crossed the border, lots of whom are looking for political asylum.
Throughout the Biden administration, Border Patrol brokers have seen a historic variety of migrant arrests on the U.S.-Mexico border. However prior to now few months, apprehensions have been at their lowest ranges since 2020.
The governor’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to an after-business-hours electronic mail from The Texas Tribune looking for remark.
This text initially appeared within the Texas Tribune.
The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and fascinating Texans on state politics and coverage. Be taught extra at texastribune.org.
Subscribe to SA Present newsletters.
Observe us: Apple Information | Google Information | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Fb | Twitter| Or join our RSS Feed
