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Gov. Greg Abbott draws criticism for ordering state troopers to pull over vehicles with migrants, saying it will stem COVID-19 risk
13 hours 44 minutes 30 seconds ago
Thursday, July 29 2021
Jul 29, 2021
July 29, 2021 10:51 AM
July 29, 2021
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News - Local
Source: https://www.texastribune.org/
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A group of migrants wait to board a charter bus in front of the Catholic Charities RGV Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen on Tuesday. Credit: Jason Garza for The Texas Tribune
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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered state troopers on Wednesday to begin pulling over vehicles whose drivers are transporting migrants who pose a risk of carrying COVID-19, escalating his hardline approach on immigrants and eliciting outrage from advocates calling the order a ticket to racial profiling.
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U.S. attorney general blasts Texas Gov. Greg Abbottâs latest border directive and threatens a legal battle
8 hours 30 minutes 54 seconds ago
Thursday, July 29 2021
Jul 29, 2021
July 29, 2021 4:38 PM
July 29, 2021
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News - Local
Source: https://www.texastribune.org/
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A group of migrants are dropped off at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Mission on Wednesday. Credit: Jason Garza for The Texas Tribune
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The Biden administration has threatened to legally challenge Gov. Greg Abbott’s order that state troopers pull over drivers transporting migrants who pose a risk of carrying COVID-19, calling it “dangerous and unlawful.”
“In short, the Order is contrary to federal law and cannot be enforced,” Garland wrote.
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“I urge you to immediately rescind the Order,” he continued. Otherwise, the Justice Department “intends to pursue all appropriate legal remedies to ensure that Texas does not interfere with the functions of the federal government.”
Abbott fired back at Garland in a statement, saying in part that the Biden administration “fundamentally misunderstands what is truly happening at the Texas-Mexico border.”
“The current crisis at our southern border, including the overcrowding of immigration facilities and the devastating spread of COVID-19 that the influx of non-citizens is causing, is entirely the creation of the Biden Administration and its failed immigration policies,” Abbott continued. “And it is increasingly a matter of grave public-health concern as unlawful migrants enter from countries with lower vaccination rates than the United States.”
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One person is dead and a Rains county man has been charged with murder following a fatal vehicle crash on Interstate 30 in Greenville, local police said in a news release.
The incident happened around 8 p.m. Wednesday night in the 3100 block of I-30, police said. A Texas Department of Public Safety officer and other witnesses reported one vehicle appearing to intentionally ram another, resulting in a multi-vehicle crash. The driver of the rammed vehicle was taken to a Dallas-area hospital with undisclosed injuries and a male passenger in that same vehicle was killed, police said.
Nicklas Allen Gagliardi, 37, of Point, was arrested on scene by Greenville police. Gagliardi has been charged with one count of murder and one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, police said.
AUSTIN, Texas
A new order by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott that allows state troopers to stop and turnaround vehicles carrying migrants on the basis that they could increase the spread of COVID-19 drew swift backlash and a threat of a lawsuit from the Justice Department on Thursday.
Attorney General Merrick Garland urged Abbott, a Republican, to immediately walk back the directive a day after it was issued by the two-term governor, who is up for reelection in 2022 and for months has sought to claim former President Donald Trump’s hardline mantle on immigration.
The letter from Garland is among the most forceful pushback yet from the Biden administration over the actions taken by Abbott along the U.S.-Mexico border, which have also included jailing migrants on state crimes and building new fencing. Civil rights groups and immigration advocates have also slammed Abbott’s latest move to curb border crossings, saying it could invite racial profiling and restrict the ability of she