As many as 1.5 million people entered the United States illegally last year, officials say.
The Texas state, bordering Mexico, authorised its police force to apprehend those who entered the US illegally. Local judges have also been granted the authority to deport illegal asylum seekers.
Despite all these measures, the number of asylum seekers continues to surge, raising questions about actions to prevent illegal immigration.
Civil rights organisations have already sued to stop the new law signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, calling it an unconstitutional overreach that encroaches on the US government’s immigration authority.
Last week, the Justice Department told the governor of Texas that it would also bring a lawsuit unless Texas reversed course on the new law by next week, according to a letter that was first obtained by Hearst Newspapers.
Since 2021, Texas authorities have arrested about 10,000 migrants on misdemeanor/trespassing charges under what Abbott called an “arrest and jail” operation:
Border landowners enter agreements with the state authorising trespassing arrests, clearing the way for law enforcers to apprehend migrants who enter the US through those properties.
Recently, one landowner asked officials to stop the trespassing arrests on his property, claiming authorities never had permission in the first place.
Among the thousands of asylum seekers who are now in New York, Abdoul (32) is a Mauritanian citizen.
Abdoul, who doesn’t want his full name to be publicised in the report, was apprehended in Texas and imprisoned for weeks for entering the US illegally.
Abdoul said he was a political activist who fled Mauritania, fearing persecution. “I spent a lot of hours without sleeping, sitting on the floor.”
Officials said the number of those migrants who entered to the US through Mexico had topped 1.5 million. It is still unclear many of the apprehended migrants will remain in the US and many are deported.
During the past two years, thousands of Afghans have also entered the US and Canada through this route.
aw/mud
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