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operation lone star
Rights Group Condemns Texas National Guard for Firing Pepper Balls at Migrants
"In separate incidents this summer, witnesses saw Texas National Guard members firing pepper-spray projectiles at migrants who posed no risk to National Guard members or anyone else."
Sep 25, 2024
Human Rights Watch on Wednesday condemned the Texas National Guard for firing pepper-spray projectiles at migrants, including women and children, who've presented no danger, citing multiple recent incidents.
"In separate incidents this summer, witnesses saw Texas National Guard members firing pepper-spray projectiles at migrants who posed no risk to National Guard members or anyone else," Bob Libal, an HRW consultant, said in a statement.
New from @HRW and me: The TX Nat'l Guard has repeatedly fired pepper spray projectiles at arriving asylum-seekers, including women & children.
#TXLege should increase oversight of TX Military Dept & deny funding requests until this practice ends. 🧵https://t.co/AuXyAGcFbO
— Bob Libal (@blibal) September 25, 2024
Pepper-spray projectiles, which are often shaped like balls, contain chemical irritants similar to pepper spray. HRW documented several instances of their use by the Texas National Guard, which polices the border as part of Operation Lone Star, a right-wing state project that has already cost more than $11 billion and drawn opposition from rights advocates.
On September 7, a Texas National Guard member in a boat fired several projectiles at a migrant who had crossed onto the U.S. side of the Rio Grande, at Eagle Pass, Texas, according to three witnesses who watched from a park in Mexico. The migrant fell down, did not get up, and didn't receive aid, they told HRW.
"I saw a National Guardsman in the boat train his gun on the man and then he pepper balled him," said Josie Rodrigues, one of the witnesses, who is a resident of Eagle Pass. "He shot him four or five times. I saw the puffs of smoke and the man went down, and he didn't get up again. It looked to me like they were aiming at the person, not around him or at his feet. It was disturbing."
On August 5, a group of migrants, including children, alleged that projectiles were fired at them, causing their eyes to burn; U.S. Border Patrol said that the Texas National Guard was in control of the area where the incident occurred, according to HRW.
The Texas National Guard also fired pepper balls at a Venezuelan couple and their 1-year-old daughter in May, Newsweek reported, based on video from Border Report.
International human rights law has strict rules on the use of force—even sublethal force, as the projectiles are designed to be—by law enforcement.
"Chemical irritants should only be deployed where a law enforcement official has reason to believe there is an imminent threat of injury," according to United Nations' guidance.
HRW is calling for the state Legislature to deny additional funding to the Texas Military Department, which oversees the state's National Guard, until the use of projectiles against migrants ends. The funding was on the agenda at a budget meeting on Wednesday.
"The Texas Legislature should respond by increasing its oversight over the Texas Military Department and denying funding increases to the department until these abuses stop," Lidal said.
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ACLU Affiliates Slam GOP Governors for Backing 'Hateful' Abbott Border Policies
"In their words and actions, the governors of our states seek to score political points by sowing death and suffering at the border."
Feb 01, 2024
Affiliates of the American Civil Liberties Union based in the 25 states whose Republican governors have backed Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in a border standoff with the federal government published an open letter Thursday opposing what they called Abbott's "violent border enforcement regime" and "cruel and misguided escalation."
The letter comes one week after every Republican governor except for Vermont's Phil Scott signed on to a statement supporting Abbott in his defiance of an order from the U.S. Supreme Court that Texas allow the federal government to remove razor wire the state has placed along stretches of the U.S. border with Mexico. It also comes the same day that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis upped the escalation by promising to send members of his newly formed Florida State Guard to the Texas border.
"Our first message is simple: Not in our name," the ACLU affiliates wrote. "While the governors of our respective states throw their support behind Gov. Abbott and his extreme and hateful policies, we know that this is not what our communities stand for."
In the letter, the affiliates noted that the ACLU of Texas has long warned about Abbott's policies, in particular Operation Lone Star, a program he launched in 2021 to deter people from crossing the border into Texas. Rights groups have sounded the alarm about the state's lethal tactics, including the installation of razor wire and buoys, refusing migrants water in extreme heat, and pushing people back into the Rio Grande when they try to cross.
The current standoff between Texas and the federal government came after 33-year-old Victerma de la Sancha Cerros and her two children 10-year-old Yorlei Rubi and eight-year-old Jonathan Agustín Briones de la Sancha drowned while trying to cross the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass, Texas, where the state's national guard had installed razor wire. Initial reporting indicated that Texas officials had barred U.S. Border Patrol members from rescuing the migrants, but in fact, the three had already drowned before the federal government was informed and Texas officials blocked the federal government from assisting other migrants who were later rescued by Mexico, as Mother Jones explained.
A Department of Justice filing with the Supreme Court said that "it is impossible to say what might have happened if Border Patrol had had its former access to the area."
"Cruelty is not a policy solution, nor is it leadership," the ACLU affiliates wrote. "In their words and actions, the governors of our states seek to score political points by sowing death and suffering at the border."
"Cruelty at the border is a sign of our failure to live up to our own values."
In addition to January's drownings, the rights groups said they had observed how migrants had been injured by razor wire buoys placed in the river.
"None of these horrific abuses can ever be justified, and none of them stopped people from seeking safety in the U.S.," the affiliates said. "We are appalled that our governors would support this type of violence against people seeking protection in the name of the 'rule of law.' Instead our governors should work together with communities and the federal government to invest in better solutions for the states receiving migrants and improve our immigration system."
The affiliates noted that attempts to deter people from seeking asylum in the U.S. through penalizing enforcement mechanisms, such as former President Donald Trump's child separation policy or the Title 42 program expediting removals to Mexico, were not actually effective. Instead, the groups called for more funding for the asylum processing and court systems to reduce lines at the border, as well as more investment in communities that receive migrants, more legal migration opportunities, and increased work permits.
"Every state in the U.S. is not, as these governors claim, a 'border state.' But every state is an American state, and as such we have a responsibility to treat our neighbors with dignity and respect, in keeping with our laws and morals," the affiliates concluded. "We reject Gov. Abbott and his enablers' actions at the border in the severest possible terms. Immigrants make our country stronger. Cruelty at the border is a sign of our failure to live up to our own values."
The letter came the day after Human Rights Watch also criticized Texas' border policies and said that the ramping up of Abbott's Operation Lone Star rhetoric was putting both migrants and border residents at risk. The group said that there was no evidence that the program actually decreased migration, but it had violated the human rights of both U.S. citizens and migrants, infringed on aid groups' freedom of association and assembly, and increased injuries and deaths.
"Operation Lone Star has ballooned into a nearly $12 billion multilayered state government program of unnecessarily harsh laws," HRW consultant in Texas Bob Libal said in a statement. "Make no mistake: Operation Lone Star risks lives and recklessly squanders public resources."
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Justice Department Threatens to Sue Texas Over Anti-Migrant Law
"I'm relieved to see the DOJ heed our calls to act," said Rep. Joaquin Castro. "This law is unconstitutional, racist, and dangerous."
Dec 28, 2023
The Biden administration on Thursday warned it will sue Texas unless Republican Gov. Greg Abbott backs down on enforcing an anti-migrant law the U.S. Justice Department says is unconstitutional.
Earlier this month, Abbott signed a pair of bills: S.B. 3, which allocates over $1.5 billion for "border security" measures including barriers meant to stop migrants from crossing the Rio Grande from Mexico into Texas, and S.B. 4, which empowers local and state authorities to arrest and expel undocumented immigrants.
"Congress has established a comprehensive scheme governing entry and removal of noncitizens," U.S. Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton said in the letter to Abbott. "S.B. 4 effectively creates a separate state immigration scheme by imposing criminal penalties for violations of federal provisions on lawful entry and reentry into the United States... and therefore intrudes into a field that is occupied by the federal government and preempted."
The Department of Justice (DOJ) gave Texas until January 3 to announce it won't enforce S.B. 4. If the state does not comply, the agency said it will "pursue all appropriate legal remedies to ensure that Texas does not interfere with the functions of the federal government."
Abbott blasted the DOJ letter in a social media post contending that "the Biden administration not only refuses to enforce current U.S. immigration laws, they now want to stop Texas from enforcing laws against illegal immigration."
"Biden is destroying America," the governor claimed.
But migrant advocates welcomed the move, with U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) warning that "if S.B. 4 goes into effect, Latino families across Texas will be harassed and hurt for looking like immigrants."
"I'm relieved to see the DOJ heed our calls to act," the congressman added. "This law is unconstitutional, racist, and dangerous."
Another House Democrat from Texas, Rep. Greg Casar, said in a statement that "asking local police to hunt down Texans who look like immigrants doesn't make us safer: In fact, it takes police away from investigating real crime."
"The federal government must block this unconstitutional anti-immigrant policy before it takes effect," he added.
As The New York Times reported:
The legal threat came a day after Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other top American officials met with Mexico's president, Manuel López Obrador, to discuss ways to slow illegal crossings, which have overwhelmed U.S. border towns...
The DOJ's threat is one of several challenges to the Texas law. This month, El Paso County and two immigrant rights groups, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Texas Civil Rights Project, filed a lawsuit in an effort to halt the measure, echoing the Justice Department's argument that immigration laws could be enforced only by federal agents.
For months, advocacy groups have implored the Biden administration to "take decisive action to condemn" and "cease involvement" in Operation Lone Star, Abbott's deadly anti-migrant campaign.
Earlier this month, a federal appellate panel ordered Texas to remove the Rio Grande buoy barrier placed in the river to block people from crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
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Texas Gov. to Sign 'Harmful and Unconstitutional' Anti-Migrant Bills
"S.B. 4 violates the constitutional rights of individuals, disregards the safety of Texas communities, and encourages racial profiling and discrimination against people of color," said one critic.
Dec 18, 2023
Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott continued his anti-migrant crusade on Monday with plans for a Brownsville signing ceremony for a pair of state bills that legal experts and rights groups say are dangerous and violate the U.S. Constitution.
Senate Bill 3 allocates $1,540,000,000 for border security, including constructing contested new barriers to limit undocumented immigration from Mexico and helping communities enforce S.B. 4. As the ACLU of Texas explained, that bill "authorizes any and all law enforcement to arrest, and judges to order removed, anyone suspected of having entered Texas without papers." It also creates a state crime for unlawfully entering Texas from a foreign country—punishable by up to six months in jail or a $2,000 fine.
Domingo Garcia, national president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said Monday that "LULAC denounces in the strongest terms possible the actions in Brownsville today of Gov. Greg Abbott and his supporters in the Texas Legislature."
"These individuals are determined to weaponize their legislative power for political gain at the expense of human beings," Garcia added. "Instead of working with Democrats in the Texas Legislature on a genuine solution, so-called Republican Christians are hypocritically turning their backs on the defenseless and aiding drug cartels and human smugglers profiting from the desperation of men, women, and children."
"Immigration is clearly a federal authority, and this legislation knowingly dances on the edge of constitutional cliffs at the expense of vulnerable children and families."
Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service—which assists migrants in communities including Dallas, Fort Worth, and San Antonio—declared that "these measures not only threaten the safety and dignity of asylum-seekers, but also risk undermining the foundational principles of our legal system."
"Immigration is clearly a federal authority, and this legislation knowingly dances on the edge of constitutional cliffs at the expense of vulnerable children and families," Vignarajah continued. "By criminalizing the very act of seeking refuge, Texas is turning its back on the values of compassion and due process that make our nation the world's beacon of humanitarian leadership."
"S.B. 4 represents a recipe for racial profiling, making ethnicity a shortcut to suspicion," she warned. "These new measures will not rebuild trust among immigrant communities that have long grappled with the specter of detention and deportation. To the contrary, they are poised to create a chilling effect, deterring immigrants from seeking necessary assistance or cooperating with law enforcement, and jeopardizing the safety and cohesion of Texan communities as a whole."
Other critics have shared similar warnings. Jennifer Babaie, director of advocacy and legal services at Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, said earlier this month that "S.B. 4 violates the constitutional rights of individuals, disregards the safety of Texas communities, and encourages racial profiling and discrimination against people of color."
Tsion Gurmu, legal director at the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, emphasized that "Black and Brown people, regardless of citizenship, are already racially profiled and over-policed."
ACLU of Texas legal director Adriana Piñon argued that "the suffering Texas leadership is willing to inflict on immigrants in their effort to override federal immigration law should give all Texans, regardless of background or party affiliation, reason for concern."
Dylan Corbett (no relation), executive director at the Hope Border Institute, said that S.B. 4 "effectively solidifies" Operation Lone Star, a joint effort between the state's Military and Public Safety departments that Abbott launched in 2021, and "Texas' war footing at the border indefinitely."
U.S. President Joe Biden's administration "needs to take far more active and aggressive action to push back on this law and the entire constitutionally dubious Operation Lone Star," Corbett added.
Vignarajah also urged the federal government "to intervene and ensure that these deeply harmful and unconstitutional policies are reversed."
While the U.S. Department of Justice did sue earlier this year over buoy barrier "death traps" that the Abbott administration installed in the Rio Grande, migrant rights advocates on Capitol Hill are worried that Biden—who is seeking reelection next year—may soon make concessions to Republican members of Congress on federal immigration policy.
Even if Biden doesn't challenge S.B. 4, the law may not stand.
The Dallas Morning News reported that "the sweeping and controversial proposal, once signed, is scheduled to take effect in early 2024 but some civil rights groups have already said they would file a lawsuit over the bill—which is likely destined to reach the U.S. Supreme Court."
While the nation's highest court has a right-wing supermajority, legal criticism of the bill has been bipartisan. The newspaper noted that "dozens of former federal immigration judges—appointed by both Democrat and Republican presidents—have also criticized the measure and penned a letter last month saying the bill violates federal law."
Babaie said in early December that "organizations across Texas are prepared to use all available resources to safeguard Texas families from S.B. 4's inherent violations of civil rights. We will not back down."
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Appeals Court Tells Texas to Remove Rio Grande Buoy 'Death Traps'
"Despite this small victory, the razor buoys are only a fraction of Gov. Abbott's racist and murderous Operation Lone Star," one group noted.
Dec 01, 2023
A federal appellate court panel on Friday delivered a blow to Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's anti-migrant regime, ruling 2-1 that the state must remove from the Rio Grande a buoy barrier intended to block people from crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) sued Texas and Abbott over the buoys, which are part of the governor's Operation Lone Star, in July. U.S. Judge David A. Ezra of the Western District of Texas, an appointee of former President Ronald Reagan, ordered the state to remove the barrier and prohibited new or additional blockades in September.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit initially blocked Ezra's ruling while it considered the case, but Judges Dana Douglas and Carolyn Dineen King—respectively appointed by President Joe Biden and former President Jimmy Carter—affirmed his decision that the buoys violate federal law on Friday. Judge Don Willett, an appointee of ex-President Donald Trump, dissented.
"I've seen Gov. Abbott's border buoys for myself. They're illegal and dangerous."
The lower court "considered the threat to navigation and federal government operations on the Rio Grande, as well as the potential threat to human life the floating barrier created," Douglas wrote for the majority. "All of the district court's findings of fact were well supported by the record, and its conclusion... was not an abuse of discretion."
American Immigration Council policy director Aaron Reichlin-Melnick suggested on social media that the case turned out the way it did, even though the 5th Circuit is the most conservative U.S. appeals court, "in part because the panel draw was a very good one for the DOJ."
Abbott said Friday that the decision "is clearly wrong," that he and GOP state Attorney General Ken Paxton "will seek an immediate rehearing by the entire court," and that they will seek intervention from the right-wing U.S. Supreme Court "if needed."'
Despite the governor's determination to continue the legal battle, opponents of 4-foot-wide orange spherical buoys—which span 1,000 feet of the river near Eagle Pass—celebrated the appeals court decision.
"I've seen Gov. Abbott's border buoys for myself. They're illegal and dangerous," said U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), who led a congressional trip to the barrier and a letter urging the Biden administration to act. "I applaud the Justice Department for today's hard-fought victory in the conservative 5th Circuit and look forward to seeing these death traps removed from the Rio Grande."
The immigrant youth-led group United We Dream also welcomed the "small victory" but stressed that "the razor buoys are only a fraction of Gov. Abbott's racist and murderous Operation Lone Star," pointing to a new Human Rights Watch (HRW) report.
HRW revealed earlier this week that "dangerous chases of vehicles thought to contain migrants under the Texas government's Operation Lone Star program led to crashes that killed at least 74 people and injured at least another 189 in a 29-month period."
Alison Parker, HRW's deputy U.S. director, declared that the state operation "is maximizing chaos, fear, and human rights abuses against Texans and migrants, which might be a cynical way to win political points but is not a responsible way to run a government."
The report and ruling on Texas' operation come as congressional Republicans attempt to force through what migrant rights advocates are calling "unconscionable" changes to asylum policy in exchange for funding for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.
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Judge Orders Texas to Remove Buoy 'Death Traps' From Rio Grande
"These inhumane traps were placed by Greg Abbott to harm and kill people who were just looking to move to survive and thrive," said one rights group.
Sep 06, 2023
Migrant rights groups and Texas Democrats on Wednesday welcomed a federal judge's order that the state remove from the Rio Grande about 1,000 feet of orange buoys fastened together with metal cables and anchored with concrete blocks.
The federal Department of Justice sued Texas and Republican Gov. Greg Abbott over the buoys in July. Judge David A. Ezra of the Western District of Texas—an appointee of former President Ronald Reagan—ordered the state to remove the barrier by September 15 and prohibited "building new or placing additional buoys, blockades, or structure" in the river along the U.S.-Mexico border.
"Gov. Abbott announced that he was not 'asking for permission' for Operation Lone Star, the anti-immigration program under which Texas constructed the floating barrier," Ezra wrote. "Unfortunately for Texas, permission is exactly what federal law requires before installing obstructions in the nation's navigable waters."
Democratic Texas Congressman Joaquin Castro said that "Abbott knows his actions are illegal. I'm glad the court is forcing him to remove his death traps from the Rio Grande. He has endangered lives, damaged Texas' working relationship with our largest trading partner, and let politics rather than sensible policy dictate his actions."
U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, another Texas Democrat, also praised the preliminary injunction on X, formerly Twitter, and charged that "Greg Abbott's Operation Lone Star is abusive, illegal, wasteful, and inhumane."
Activists and advocacy groups also celebrated the development on social media. Antonio Arellano of NextGen America called the decision a "major win" for the Biden-Harris administration and human rights.
United We Dream Action declared that "these inhumane traps were placed by Greg Abbott to harm and kill people who were just looking to move to survive and thrive."
Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, said in a statement that "from the onset, Gov. Abbott's improvised buoy wall was an inhumane response to a humanitarian emergency, but this ruling makes crystal clear its underlying illegality. This 1,000-foot barrier diverted $1,000,000 of Texas taxpayer funds for a political stunt that was designed to secure media coverage, not the border."
"The Abbott administration's buoy wall is just one deeply problematic example of its disregard for the core values of Americans who are eager to welcome and embrace asylum-seeking families," she continued. "It is far less costly, both financially and morally, to treat asylum-seekers with basic human dignity."
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy director at the American Immigration Council, wrote of the ruling: "All in all, a resounding defeat for Gov. Abbott—one they likely knew was coming, despite his puffery about Texas' alleged right to install the barrier. Federal law is quite clear on this issue; if you want to install a structure in a river, get a permit. And Texas didn't."
Reichlin-Melnick added it is "no surprise" Abbott has already pledged that "Texas will appeal." In his statement, the governor also said the state "is prepared to take this fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court."
Meanwhile, U.S. Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said that the Justice Department is "pleased that the court ruled that the barrier was unlawful and irreparably harms diplomatic relations, public safety, navigation, and the operations of federal agency officials in and around the Rio Grande."
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100+ Groups Urge DHS to Condemn Abbott's 'Brazen, Cruel, and Deadly' Operation Lone Star
"To date your agencies have not forcefully disavowed the program or acknowledged the deep harms of Texas' racist and unlawful enforcement operation."
Aug 24, 2023
A coalition of more than 100 advocacy groups on Thursday implored the Biden administration to "take decisive action to condemn" and "cease involvement" in Operation Lone Star, the deadly anti-immigrant campaign launched in 2021 by Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
In a letter to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and senior Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials, the 108 groups implored the administration "to investigate and end any collaboration" between Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agencies and Operation Lone Star (OLS).
"In the two years since Texas initiated OLS, we have repeatedly called on DHS and CBP to cease all forms of cooperation with the program," the letter states. "Nevertheless, to date your agencies have not forcefully disavowed the program or acknowledged the deep harms of Texas' racist and unlawful enforcement operation."
"Federal inaction has emboldened Texas officials to employ increasingly brazen, cruel, and deadly enforcement tactics that have caused family separation, death, and daily violations of the civil and human rights of Black and Brown migrants," the signers added.
As the National Immigration Project—which led the letter—noted, these tactics include "pushing people back into the Rio Grande, denying migrants water in extreme heat, and installing life-threatening buoy and razor-wire barriers in and around the river."
"Advocates also report that Texas officers have started using OLS arrests to separate fathers from their families, seemingly with the cooperation of Border Patrol agents," the group added. "These conscience-shocking tactics will only continue in the absence of a decisive federal response."
Last month, the U.S. Justice Department sued Texas over the floating barrier, claiming it "poses threats to navigation and public safety and presents humanitarian concerns," and "has prompted diplomatic protests by Mexico and risks damaging U.S. foreign policy."
National Immigration Project executive director Sirine Shebaya said in a statement that "in recent months, we've seen Gov. Greg Abbott employ new and increasingly dangerous and deadly tactics as part of his illicit Operation Lone Star program."
"The federal government has a clear responsibility to not only cease collaboration with Texas officials on Operation Lone Star but also to push back on this unthinkable cruelty," she continued.
"Left unchecked, these hateful policies and inhumane treatment will only continue to escalate," Shebaya added. "As a nationwide membership organization, we will continue working with our members and partners in Texas and across the country to put an end to these horrific human and civil rights abuses."
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'Blood on His Hands': Abbott Under Fire for Busing Migrants to Chicago After 3-Year-Old Dies
"Not sure how many migrants need to literally die on Greg Abbott's watch for us to treat what's happening at the Texas border as the national scandal that it should be," said one journalist.
Aug 12, 2023
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott faced fresh criticism on Friday after officials confirmed a young child died during a bus trip from the border city of Brownsville to Chicago, Illinois—part of the Republican's monthslong stunt of transporting migrants to communities with Democratic leaders.
"The Illinois Department of Public Health said the child was 3 years old and died Thursday in Marion County, in the southern part of that state," according to The Associated Press.
Citing Congressman Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), whose office was brief on the death, The New York Times reported that "the child's parents were also on the bus when the child began showing symptoms of an illness, including a fever and diarrhea, before losing consciousness."
The Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) said in a statement that "once the child presented with health concerns, the bus pulled over and security personnel on board called 911 for emergency attention. After the ambulance arrived, bilingual security personnel translated for the parents and the paramedics who were providing care for the child."
"The child was then taken to a local hospital to receive additional medical attention and was later pronounced deceased," TDEM continued. The division noted that prior to boarding a bus "stocked with food and water," passengers "signed a voluntary consent waiver" to travel to Chicago and were screened for medical concerns.
"Devastating," declared United Farm Workers president Teresa Romera in response to the child's death. "This should tell you exactly how little Gov. Abbott values human life. Absolutely despicable."
Castro said on social media Friday evening that "I'm saddened and horrified but not surprised by a child's death on a Texas-sponsored bus to Chicago. Operation Lone Star has trafficked asylum-seekers across the country in squalid conditions for months. Gov. Greg Abbott's barbaric practices are killing people."
As the Chicago Tribune detailed:
Chicago has received at least 176 buses and more than 12,000 people in the 11 months since Texas Gov. Greg Abbott began sending migrants from Texas to the city last year. The city of Denver and Catholic Charities in San Antonio have also sent buses of migrants to Chicago.
The busloads have contributed to a humanitarian crisis as the thousands of newly arrived people stretch city resources. Migrants have filled police station lobbies and large shelters across Chicago. Nearly 6,000 migrants resided in city-run temporary shelters at the start of August, while about 1,000 awaited placement.
The governor's Operation Lone Star includes a buoy barrier installed in the Rio Grande—which in July prompted the U.S. Department of Justice to sue Abbott and Texas. The suit says that "this floating barrier poses threats to navigation and public safety and presents humanitarian concerns" and cites "diplomatic protests by Mexico."
Since then, Mexican authorities have confirmed the discovery of two bodies in the river, including one found on the buoys.
Some critics of Abbott noted the mounting death toll on Friday. Among them was Democratic strategist and consultant Sawyer Hackett, who said of the governor, "He has blood on his hands."
MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan wrote on social media, "Not sure how many migrants need to literally die on Greg Abbott's watch for us to treat what's happening at the Texas border as the national scandal that it should be."
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Coalition Implores Biden to Act as Abbott's 'Campaign of Cruelty' Separates Families
"We urge the Biden administration to immediately reunite separated families and launch an investigation into Texas' Operation Lone Star," said #WelcomeWithDignity's campaign manager.
Aug 07, 2023
The #WelcomeWithDignity campaign for asylum rights on Monday condemned what it called Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's "unconscionable" decision to "repeat one of the most horrific and cruel practices of the Trump administration" by separating migrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Houston Chronicle reported last week that officials from the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) have separated at least 26 families by arresting fathers on trespassing charges and transferring relatives including small children to U.S. Border Patrol custody.
DPS spokesman Travis Considine confirmed that "there have been instances in which DPS has arrested male migrants" traveling with their families, but that "children and mothers were never separated" as they were turned over to Border Patrol agents.
"With Texas troopers separating families at the border, the world can now see that Governor Abbott's cruelty knows no bounds."
"We were already shocked and appalled by the razor wire and buoy barriers, denial of water, and pushbacks of children into the river," #WelcomeWithDignity campaign manager Melina Roche said in a statement, referring to the floating border barrier installed in the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass and reports that Texas state troopers have been ordered to push migrant children back into the river and deny asylum-seekers water amid a deadly heatwave.
"With Texas troopers separating families at the border, the world can now see that Governor Abbott's cruelty knows no bounds," Roche added. "The governor will continue to punish families for seeking safety unless the federal government intervenes. We urge the Biden administration to immediately reunite separated families and launch an investigation into Texas' Operation Lone Star."
The #WelcomeWithDignity coalition said its members are "appalled" that the Biden administration "hasn't put a stop to Gov. Abbott's campaign of cruelty."
While Biden has ended some of the more egregious human rights violations perpetrated against migrants during former President Donald Trump's tenure, his administration has come under fire for
continuing and expanding Trump-era policies like Title 42—a public health order that both presidents invoked to deport around two million asylum-seekers under the pretext of the Covid-19 pandemic—and new asylum restrictions to replace Title 42 after its expiration in May. Last month, a federal court blocked Biden's new policy.
Kristin Etter, an attorney and special project director at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, called Abbott's policy "nothing short of state-sanctioned family separation."
Danilo Zack, acting director of policy and advocacy at Church World Service, said that "child-parent separation has profound and devastating consequences, and these actions recall the appalling scenes of the Trump-era zero-tolerance policy."
Zack was referring to Trump's internationally condemned crackdown on undocumented migrants including people legally seeking asylum, during which around 4,000 children were seized from their families and sent to locations around the country. With recordkeeping of the minors' identities and locations "patchwork at best," according to the Department of Homeland Security, nearly 1 in 4 of the separated children were yet to be reunited with their relatives as of earlier this year.
As public outrage mounted in the face of stories like a breastfeeding baby being torn away from her mother and a father driven to suicide after being separated from his wife and child, the Trump administration reluctantly rolled back the policy in June 2018.
Experts said family separation deeply traumatized parents and children, who were often told by U.S. officials that they would never see each other again. Some may indeed never be reunited. Numerous children were given to U.S. families, who sometimes petition for permanent custody.
"During the Trump administration's zero-tolerance policy, I witnessed how family separation inflicts lasting trauma on the parents and children who were cruelly torn apart," Katharina Obser, director of the Migrant Rights and Justice program at the Women's Refugee Commission, said in a
statement Monday.
"It is unconscionable that this horrific practice is added onto a long list of cruel practices already taking place under Gov. Abbott's Operation Lone Star—including using razor wire and large buoys to block the Rio Grande shore," Obser added. "When people are fleeing to save their lives, attempts at deterrence only place vulnerable people in more danger and anguish, rather than stop their need to seek safety."
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DOJ Sues Texas, Greg Abbott Over 'Barbaric' Rio Grande Buoy Barrier
"This floating barrier poses threats to navigation and public safety and presents humanitarian concerns," said Associate U.S. Attorney General Vanita Gupta.
Jul 24, 2023
The Department of Justice on Monday sued the state of Texas and Republican Gov. Greg Abbott over a buoy barrier installed in the Rio Grande along the U.S.-Mexican border that critics have called a deadly "drowning device."
The DOJ suit, filed in the U.S. District Court in the Western District of Texas, seeks an injunction to block the state from placing more of the wrecking ball-sized, razor wire-topped buoys, which have already reportedly injured several people. The complaint accuses Texas and Abbott of violating the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act by erecting the barrier in a U.S. waterway without permission.
"This floating barrier poses threats to navigation and public safety and presents humanitarian concerns," Associate U.S. Attorney General Vanita Gupta said in a statement. "Additionally, the presence of the floating barrier has prompted diplomatic protests by Mexico and risks damaging U.S. foreign policy."
The lawsuit came on the same day that Abbott defiantly refused a DOJ request to dismantle the 1,000-foot barrier, which was installed along with netting and razor wire in and along the river that Mexicans call the Río Bravo near Eagle Pass in Maverick County.
"Texas will fully utilize its constitutional authority to deal with the crisis you have caused," Abbott wrote in a letter to U.S. President Joe Biden in response to the DOJ's request. "Texas will see you in court, Mr. President."
In a weekend CNN appearance, U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) called Abbott's anti-migrant efforts "barbaric" and "extreme cruelty."
"For him, this isn't about border security—it's about using taxpayer money to feed red meat to right-wing extremists," Castro said of Abbott on Twitter.
In a separate interview on MSNBC, Castro called the buoys state-sanctioned "drowning devices," a description also given by others including former Democratic congressman Beto O'Rourke.
Recent weeks have seen an escalation of Abbott's Operation Lone Star, a campaign aimed at stopping asylum-seekers and other migrants from entering the United States.
Texas is investigating claims made by a whistleblower state trooper who said the barrier and razor wire have injured migrants, including a pregnant woman who had a miscarriage while ensnared in the wire, a 4-year-old girl who passed out from heat exhaustion after she was forced back into the river by Texas National Guard troops, and a teenager who broke his leg trying to circumvent the barrier.
Over the weekend, a fifth busload of migrants arrived in downtown Los Angeles from Texas, which along with Republican-run Florida and Arizona have been sending asylum-seekers to states with sanctuary immigration policies. Authorities in California and other states have accused Republican officials of lying to migrants, often with false promises of work or benefits, in order to get them on buses and planes.
The DOJ complaint is the second lawsuit filed over the Texas floating barrier. Earlier this month, Jesse Fuentes, owner of Epi's Canoe and Kayak Team, an Eagle Pass outfitter offering lessons and tours, sued claiming the buoys threaten his livelihood and the local ecosystem.
"It not only shuts my business down, but it shuts me down emotionally, spiritually," Fuentes told KENS. "I'm connected to that river. It's my culture, it's our history."
Fuentes added that Operation Lone Star and its attendant increase in border militarization have already harmed his business.
"Nobody wants to get close because, I mean, there's armed guards there under the bridge. They're in the water. They're in the air," he explained. "Not a very inviting environment. And that's not what I grew up with."
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