Civil Rights Groups to Demand Release of Migrants Detained Unlawfully Under Operation Lone Star at Public Hearing in Texas Court this Tuesday
Legal action follows Grassroots Leadership’s groundbreaking work to expose the systematically racist, abusive, and unconstitutional nature of Governor Abbott’s Lone Star Program
Del Rio, Texas – This Tuesday, September 28, civil rights groups will demand the release of two migrants at a public virtual hearing in the 63rd District Court in Texas scheduled to begin at 10:30am CT. Grassroots Leadership and Just Futures Law filed two petitions earlier this month for writ of Habeas Corpus for the men–Ivan Nava and David Muñoz–arrested in Kinney County, Texas, through Operation Lone Star. The charges were filed at the 45-day mark, and the men have now been detained for more than 50 days.
The Lone Star Program is a multi-billion dollar Texas law enforcement operation designed by Governor Greg Abbott to faciliate the rapid deportation of immigrants by targeting suspected migrants through racial profiling and then prosecuting them based on the lowest-level state misdemeanor offenses, such as trespassing.Videos posted by one county sheriff show individuals herded into mass hearings in parking lots. The migrants were forced to sign pre-filled legal forms in English they could not understand and detained for extended periods of time in inhumane prison settings. Hundreds have been arrested in the Lone Star Operation since the program launched in March of 2021.
Following the shocking images that recently emerged of U.S. enforcement officers reprehensible treatment of Haitian refugees along the US-Mexico border, Operation Lone Star stands out as yet another example of a sprawling immigration enforcement system rooted in cruelty and racism.
In addition to dropping charges and releasing Ivan Nava and David Muñoz, the civil rights groups demand that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) cease any collaboration with Texas law enforcement in Operation Lone Star, and that Texas terminate this unlawful program immediately.
“Operation Lone Star was designed to be abusive, dangerous, and unlawful; that makes Texas a very dangerous place for migrants and people of color,” said Annette Price, Co-Executive Director for Grassroots Leadership. “Texas has taken what is already a horrifying criminal justice system and is now weaponizing it against a new class of people of color.”
“Governor Abbott’s unlawful Operation Lone Star decimates basic constitutional protections in the Texas legal system,” said Kevin Herrera, Staff Attorney for Just Futures Law. “These arrests were racially motivated and unlawful. Texas must dismiss the misdemeanor charges against Mr. Muñoz and Mr. Nava and release them from custody, and ICE must stop cooperating with this abusive program. Through their use of detainers extending the unlawful detention of people arrested under Operation Lone Star, ICE is facilitating the abuses that are happening in Texas courts and jails.”
“Operation Lone Star has created a separate, unconstitutional legal system where people are targeted by race, national origin, and gender. Those people are then put into inhumane prison facilities hundreds of miles from the courts where the cases are being heard, and have separate proceedings and separate, non-local judges from other people charged with crimes,” said Kathryn Dyer, a clinical professor and criminal defense attorney. “The men trapped in this process have faced considerable obstacles gaining access to legal counsel, access to courts, and continue to be incarcerated despite grounds for release due to their unlawful arrest and procedural delay. Rather than focus on actual public safety concerns, Governor Abbott has prioritized using unconstitutional means to a political end.”
Reporters and members of the public are encouraged to attend the virtual public hearing on Tuesday, September 28, 2021 at 10:30am CT on the 63rd District Court’s YouTube account and through a Grassroots Leadership Facebook event. Read more about the Operation Lone Star in this fact sheet. Representatives from Grassroots Leadership and attorneys Kevin Herrera and Kathryn Dyer are available for comment.
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Grassroots Leadership is an Austin, Texas-based national organization that works for a more just society where prison profiteering, mass incarceration, deportation, and criminalization are things of the past. Follow us @Grassroots_News.
Just Futures Law is a transformative legal organization that defends and builds the power of immigrants’ rights and criminal justice organizers and base-building community groups working to disrupt and dismantle our deportation and mass incarceration systems. Follow us @JustFuturesLaw.
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