Travis County judges can’t hear appeals from migrants arrested under Texas border security push, court rules

A processing facility in Val Verde County handles migrants arrested under Operation Lone Star. (Credit: Chris Stokes for The Texas Tribune)

Texas’ highest criminal court has shut the door on the hopes of hundreds of migrants swept up in the state’s “arrest-and-jail” border security crackdown who tried to have their border-area trespassing charges thrown out by Austin judges.

In a significant win for Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled unanimously Wednesday that Travis County courts can’t weigh claims of wrongful detention caused by misdemeanor arrests 200 miles away. The decision stems from the barrage of legal battles and courthouse strategies that have erupted since last summer over Abbott’s border security initiative to imprison migrant men suspected of trespassing on private property after crossing the Texas-Mexico border illegally.