Court stays Texas governor's order to stop border immigrants

A federal judge on Tuesday issued a temporary restraining order against Texas Governor Greg Abbott's executive order directing state troopers to pull over vehicles whose drivers are transporting migrants who pose a risk of carrying the coronavirus.

Abbott on July 28 instructed state troopers to reroute such vehicles back to their origin point of a port of entry or seize the vehicles if drivers don't comply. He said in a statement that the move aimed to "reduce the burden on our communities".

US Attorney General Merrick Garland wrote to Abbott the next day: "The order would jeopardize the health and safety of noncitizens in federal government custody, federal law enforcement personnel and their families, and our communities."

On July 30, the Justice Department sued Abbott and Texas. US attorneys argued that the Constitution's supremacy clause meant Texas law couldn't override the Biden administration's immigration enforcement.

Court documents showed that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has more than 20 contracts with Texas private service providers and county governments for transportation services that cover more than 8,000 miles per day. Every day, an average of more than 1,100 migrants are transferred at the southwest border.

Brian Hastings, chief patrol agent for US Border Patrol, said in court filings that if Abbott's executive order prevents the transport of migrant children and families, it would cause them to be held for longer periods within Border Patrol facilities, violating federal rules. It would also crowd the facilities and worsen the chance of COVID-19 spread, he said.

"In our constitutional system, a state has no right to regulate the federal government's operations. But the executive order seeks to do just that," the Justice Department said in its complaint.

US District Court Judge Kathleen Cardone in Waco, Texas, wrote that the Justice Department is likely to prevail in its supremacy clause claim. The restraining order remains effective until Aug 13 when the next hearing is scheduled.

Abbott's office issued a statement Tuesday in response to the ruling: "The Court's recent order is temporary and based on limited evidence. … The Biden Administration has knowingly — and willfully — released COVID-19 positive migrants into Texas communities, risking the potential exposure and infection of Texas residents."

In mid-July, the city of Laredo filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to prevent it from sending migrants arriving in the US through the Rio Grande Valley to its border community, citing a rise in COVID-19 positivity rates among arriving migrants and threat to local communities as the main concern.

Last week, Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez criticized both the state and the federal government for the handling of COVID-19 and migrants coming to the US.

"I call on federal immigration officials to stop releasing infected migrants into our community and I am further calling on Governor Abbott to return to Hidalgo County the safety tools he took away that would help us slow the spread of this disease," Cortez said in a statement.

Abbott has forbidden local government officials from issuing mask mandates to combat the pandemic.

Data show that Hidalgo County's coronavirus positive rate during the last two weeks is 3.6 per 1,000, while the rate for Webb County where Laredo is included is 1.4 per 1,000. In contrast, neighboring county Dimmit's rate is 20.4 per 1,000.