10:53 pm UTC May. 3, 2021
Migrants crossing the Rio Grande into the USA near McAllen, Texas, are likely to be met by U.S. Border Patrol agents in their signature white-and-green SUVs.
Or police officers from nearby Mission, Texas, a border town of 84,000. Or deputies from the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office. Or troopers from the Texas Department of Public Safety.
On a recent afternoon, myriad law enforcement agents – local, state and federal – patrolled the levees and backroads near the U.S.-Mexican border where migrants cross to seek asylum in the USA.
To what degree local and state police along the border should engage with migrants and assist in immigration enforcement – under U.S. law, a federal responsibility – is a legal debate. It s one that is ramping up as more migrants arrive and police officers along the border are increasingly stopping groups of them or intercepting smugglers speeding north.
Local police are helping Border Patrol catch migrants at the border That s bad policy, experts say
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Border patrol join police to stop illegal crossings in Texas, Arizona
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