Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Tuesday gave the Texas National Guard members state arrest authority for migrants at the border
Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed an executive order Wednesday banning the ground transportation of migrants who illegal crossed the southern border in order to slow the spread of coronavirus cases that are rising in his state.
Citing the Biden administration's 'failure' to enforce the Title 42 order enabling border officials to turn migrants back regardless of asylum claims during the pandemic, Abbot said the new order 'will reduce the risk of COVID-19 exposure in our communities.'
'The dramatic rise in unlawful border crossings has also led to a dramatic rise in COVID-19 cases among unlawful migrants who have made their way into our state, and we must do more to protect Texans from this virus and reduce the burden on our communities,' Abbott states in his announcement.
Abbott accused Biden of 'thwarting' the Title 42 measure put in place under Donald Trump and admitting migrants who are testing positive for COVID into the country.
Only law enforcement officials will be able to provide detained migrants with ground transport under Abbott's new order.
That means migrants released into the interior to await processing or court dates cannot use public transit or be aided by nonprofits to get elsewhere within Texas or the greater US.
New COVID cases in Texas have spiked 178 percent over the last two weeks and hospitalizations have risen by more than 80 percent.
Citing the Biden administration's 'failure' to enforce the Title 42 order enabling border officials to turn migrants back regardless of asylum claims during the pandemic, Abbot said the new order 'will reduce the risk of COVID-19 exposure in our communities
Along the Texas-Mexico border at the Rio Grande Valley crossing point, Border Patrol stated that 135 detained migrants tested positive for COVID in the first two weeks of July alone, Fox News reports.
That reportedly represents a 900% increase compared to the last 14 months.
The cases in that area's detention facilities now account for 60 percent of all detainees confirmed to have COVID-19 and are under CBP’s care, the outlet states.
In the Wednesday order Abbott also gives Texas officials permission to stop vehicles under 'reasonable suspicion of a violation' and force them to return to their point of entry in the violation is confirmed.
It comes after Abbott gave the Texas National Guard on Tuesday state arrest authority for migrants encountered illegally at the border as it was revealed illegal border jumpers with COVID-19 are being released into the state's communities.
The Texas governor sent a letter to the state's National Guard adjutant general Major General Tracy R. Norris ordering guardsmen to assist the Texas Department of Public Safety wtth arrests related to the border crisis.
'To respond to this disaster and secure the rule of law at our Southern border, more manpower is needed—in addition to the troopers from the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) and soldiers from the Texas National Guard I have already deployed there—and DPS needs help in arresting those who are violating state law,' Abbott wrote in the letter.
He added: 'By virtue of the power and authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the State of Texas, I hereby order that the Texas National Guard assist DPS in enforcing Texas law by arresting lawbreakers at the border.'
The La Joya Police Department said that Border Patrol informed them 'that on July 25, 2021 that they have surpassed 1 million apprehensions in the month of June.'
A judge in Hidalgo, Texas also ordered on Tuesday that immigration federal authorities stop releasing migrants with COVID-19 into the community.
