BEAUMONT, Texas — Gov. Greg Abbott is giving Texas Department of Public Safety troopers the power to pull over anyone suspected of having people inside their car who crossed the border illegally.
Critics said it invites racial profiling, but Gov. Abbott said it will protect Texans from COVID-19.
As of Thursday night, Attorney General Merrick Garland is threatening action if the governor does not rescind an executive order.
The new executive order connects what the governor calls a crisis along the border to statewide COVID-19 threats with the governor basically asserting that the wave of undocumented immigrants is helping to spread the virus across Texas.
The order expands the role state troopers play in border security. They now have the power to pull over anyone who's not law enforcement, including non-profit organizations.
“We are doing something good. We were helping the community be safe. We're helping the families be safe,” Sister Norma Pimentel said.
Pimentel runs Catholic charities in the Rio Grande Valley and the migrant shelter in downtown McAllen.
“We were trying to help with work with the community to move this and make it right. And this just stops it all,” Pimentel said.
Border patrol drops off migrants at Sister Norma’s door releasing them into the country and her care.
“I can not take somebody to the doctor, you know, somebody sick. We're not going to be able to do that,” Pimentel said.
Under the governor's orders, a trooper just has to suspect two things:
That a group of illegal crossers are in the car and that the people in the car were once detained for illegally crossing the border, but were not deported.
“The problem is, is that this does invite racial profiling because there is no way to look at a person and determine whether they've previously been detained or excluded from the country,” said Criminal Defense Attorney Carmen Roe.
Roe said the order allows state troopers to reroute the vehicle back to its point of origin or a port of entry.
“And if they refuse to be rerouted, their vehicles will be seized under this executive order, which is also very concerning,” Roe said.
DPS have not provide details about how its troopers would determine if a car had migrants in it.
“I don't think we need to create something that will create chaos and problems, that and not give us an opportunity to do things right. And I wish that truly that our leaders reconsider their actions,” Pimentel said.
State troopers have patrolled the border for years.
In 2014, state troopers said that the immigration status of people would be determined by the appropriate federal authorities.