Counties want Abbott to expel migrants
BRACKETTVILLE — Leaders in several border counties declared Tuesday they are under “invasion” and called on Gov. Greg Abbott to start expelling migrants suspected of crossing into the country illegally.
The move aligns with some conservative officials and activists who have privately urged Abbott to begin unilaterally enforcing federal immigration laws. Expelling migrants from the country would be unprecedented for the state but justified, they argue, because of the Biden administration’s push to roll back Trump-era border policies and expand legal pathways for migrants to enter the country.
“This is not a photo op today,” said Kinney County Judge Tully Shahan, one of several county officials to declare a “local state of disaster” due to the surge in migrant encounters at the southern border.
“We don’t want to lose America,” Shahan said. “The Biden administration won’t do a thing about it.”
Kinney was one of at least four counties — joined by Goliad, Terrell and Uvalde — to issue a disaster declaration this week and call on Abbott to enforce federal immigration laws. None of the largest border counties, including those in the Rio Grande Valley with the most reported migrant apprehensions, took part in the effort.
Kinney officials said they lack the power to enforce immigration laws themselves.
“As the challenges on the border continue to increase, Texas will continue to take additional unprecedented action to address those challenges caused by the Biden Administration,” she said.
Texas almost certainly would face a barrage of litigation if Abbott decided to expel migrants instead of turning them over to Border Patrol or detaining them on state trespassing charges, as he has done under his border initiative, Operation Lone Star.
“There are federal laws that law enforcement could be prosecuted under if they were to take someone, without authority, and immediately return them across the border,” Abbott said in April.
But critics of the Biden administration say it has abdicated the federal government’s duty to defend states from “domestic violence.” Ken Cuccinelli, a former Homeland Security official under the Trump administration who joined the county leaders at a news conference, said states have the constitutional right to protect themselves from “imminent danger” or invasion.