TX Border Operation Sends 1000s to Prison Only Accused of Trespassing
Of the more than 7,200 arrests made by state police over seven months, about 40 percent involved only charges of trespassing on private property.
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While thousands of Texas National Guard members and state troopers have been sweeping the border with Mexico in search of cartel operatives and smugglers as part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s multibillion-dollar campaign to secure the border, the troopers have primarily only succeeded in arresting asylum-seekers and people suspected of illegally crossing the border on charges of suspicion of trespassing on private property, reports the Texas Tribune. Of the more than 7,200 arrests made by state police over seven months, about 40 percent involved only charges of trespassing on private property and, in February, the majority of the border operation’s arrests were of people booked solely for trespassing.
Trespassing arrests may help boost statistics for the operation — but they don’t deter cartels or gangs, said Victor Manjarrez, a former Border Patrol sector chief. Instead, he said, these arrests hurt people who cross the border on their own, without using smugglers. “I would rather have people like that spend time away,” Manjarrez said, referring to smugglers, “as opposed to someone who was just unlucky and an economic migrant.” There is also little evidence that trespassing arrests have lowered the levels of illegal crossings, which remain at record highs. Meanwhile, the operation is expanding, with hundreds of millions of dollars already invested.
