ACLU calls on feds to investigate Abbott’s policy transporting migrants back to border

People who were apprehended by state troopers after crossing the border were brought to the International Bridge in Eagle Pass, where they were handed over to Border Patrol custody on Thursday, May 28, 2022. ( (Credit: Sergio Flores for The Texas Tribune)

The American Civil Liberties Union is calling on the federal government to stop cooperating with Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order authorizing state troopers to transport migrants back to the border ports of entry – escalating a debate over the state’s authority to enforce immigration laws.

The request by ACLU Texas and the group’s national leadership for the Biden administration to investigate the state’s latest immigration policy comes a week after The Texas Tribune reported on how state troopers are transferring suspected migrants to the port of entry in Eagle Pass and turning them over to federal immigration authorities. Abbott had authorized the practice in a July 7 executive order but provided little clarity on how the migrants would be transported and under what authority they were being detained. Immigration law enforcement is a federal responsibility but Abbott’s order is taking unprecedented steps that are encroaching on that authority.