Lawsuits Are Mounting Against Abbott's Border Operation

Eagle Pass resident Robie Flores speaks during a press conference held outside Austin's U.S. Federal Courthouse on August 22 (Photo by John Anderson)

Gov. Greg Abbott's immigration enforcement scheme now faces legal battles on two fronts. The American Civil Liberties Union, Texas Fair Defense Project, and law firm Covington & Burling filed a lawsuit on Monday over prolonged detentions in two Texas counties. And that comes on top of the Department of Justice's lawsuit over the state's implementation of floating barriers, or buoys (complete with serrated metal plates that look like saw blades). That was filed in July and had its first hearing in Austin on Tuesday.

It's not great timing for Abbott's pet project. Operation Lone Star was already under the microscope this month after two people were found dead in buoys that had been put in the Rio Grande by the state. Additionally, the Houston Chronicle reported last month that state troopers deployed as part of the operation received instructions to push migrants back into the Rio Grande when the migrants tried to cross.

During a news conference prior to Tuesday's hearing, state Sen. Roland Gutierrez and residents from towns impacted by Operation Lone Star spoke against the governor's initiative and demanded that the Department of Justice take its lawsuit beyond just the buoy barriers. "Let's be real clear. A thousand feet of buoys, well, that may not seem like a lot to those of you out there in the public listening," Gutierrez said. "The fact is it pushes people into the deep water. It pushes women and children into the deep water."

Some residents noted that, while border security is important, erecting barriers ignores the symbiotic nature of U.S. and Mexican border towns. Robie Flores said there is a natural flow between Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras, speaking to her childhood memories of crossing the border to attend dance class. That's how she sees her hometown, but for outsiders in the time of Operation Lone Star, she said, "What you see is a destitute place that needs a barrier because that's what our governor told you."

The Abbott administration has continued to defend its implementation of the buoys. "While I share the humanitarian concerns noted in your lawyers' letter, Mr. President, your finger points in the wrong direction. Neither of us wants to see another death in the Rio Grande River. Yet your open-border policies encourage migrants to risk their lives by crossing illegally through the water, instead of safely and legally at a port of entry. Nobody drowns on a bridge," Abbott wrote to President Joe Biden on July 24 – less than two weeks prior to the bodies turning up in buoys.

Operation Lone Star, which began in March 2021, has funneled billions of dollars toward a range of enforcement, including the detention of migrants on trespassing charges. The hasty creation of an entirely new arm of the criminal justice apparatus has led to the over-detention of some migrants, according to the second lawsuit. "Migrants who were arrested for misdemeanor trespass under Operation Lone Star were incarcerated an additional 13-42 days after their charges were dropped or their sentences fully served," a TFDP press release reads. The lawsuit targets Kinney and Val Verde counties, as well as the two counties' sheriffs and the Briscoe and Segovia Unit state prison wardens.

In the past, some immigration legal experts have speculated that lawsuits targeting Operation Lone Star could test previous Supreme Court rulings that place immigration enforcement under the federal government's jurisdiction. Some Texas Republicans have even welcomed lawsuits challenging Operation Lone Star that could give the current conservative Supreme Court the opportunity to undo past cases and allow states greater discretion to enforce immigration law.

However, TFDP's managing attorney for litigation, Camilla Hsu, said the group's lawsuit is pretty simple. "It's really about the bedrock principle that you can't hold people in jail if you don't have any legal authority to do that," Hsu said. "It's not a complicated idea, and it's not controversial in the law."

ACLU Texas' legal director Adriana Piñon said that while the two lawsuits address different legal claims, it's important to note that at their core, they both stem from Texas' disregard for the law. "At base, the actions that Texas is taking in implementing Operation Lone Star are completely unlawful. They're rife with human and civil rights abuses, and completely overlook the needs of the community and the humanity of people who are coming to our state."