Governor Abbott Issues Executive Order to Improve Border Issue

Screenshot from Twitter

In the ongoing issue of migrants crossing the Texas-Mexican border, Governor Greg Abbott issues an executive order. The order allows Texas to deploy the National Guard.

Abbott has disagreed with President Joe Biden over handling the border issue south of San Antonio.

Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the Migrant Protection Protocols, also known as the ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy.

This caused Governor Abbott to issue the Executive Order.

Governor Abbott said:

"While President Biden refuses to do his job and enforce the immigration laws enacted by Congress, the State of Texas is once again stepping up and taking unprecedented action to protect Americans and secure our southern border," said Abbott. "The cartels have become emboldened and enriched by President Biden's open border policies, smuggling in record numbers of people, weapons, and deadly drugs like fentanyl."

Screenshot from Twitter

The Justice Department is looking into civil rights violations over Operation Lone Star which Governor Abbott created earlier this year over the border issue.

The Tribune and ProPublica pointed out:

​​An investigation by the Tribune, ProPublica and The Marshall Project found that in touting the operation’s accomplishments, state officials included arrests with no connection to the border and statewide drug seizures. The news organizations also revealed that trespassing cases represented the largest share of the operation’s arrests. DPS stopped counting some charges, including cockfighting, sexual assault and stalking, after the publications began asking questions about their connections to border security.

Thousands of migrants have been arrested for misdemeanor charges and imprisoned for weeks at a time without charges that The Tribune and ProPublica found out.

For months, Texas Democrat Veronica Escobar has called for a probe into Operation Lone Star.

Operation Lone Star received $500 million more to fund this operation from the Texas Legislature in May. In the previous session, Texas was approved for $2 billion.

In May, the chief of the Federal Coordination and Compliance Section wrote in a letter to the DPS officials:

“The Department is seeking this information after receiving information indicating that DPS may be discriminating on the basis of race and/or national origin in its activities related to Operation Lone Star by targeting certain individuals for arrests for misdemeanor trespass violations and traffic stops based on their perceived or actual race or national origin.”

A lawyer at the Department of Public Safety wrote in May:

"If you are not already aware, the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ is investigating Operation Lone Star."

Will Governor Abbott’s Executive Order help the border issue?