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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, Newsweekreported, 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.
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, Newsweekreported, 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.
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 Jonesexplained.
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."
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 Timesreported:
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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