Texas Judge Grants Easter PR Bonds to Rioting El Paso Border Migrants -- Blames DA

A Texas magistrate judge ordered that migrant accused in the March 21 El Paso border riot be released on a personal recognizance bond on Easter Sunday. The judge accused the El Paso District Attorney’s Office of not being prepared to proceed on detention hearings required under Texas law.

Presiding Magistrate Judge Humberto Acosta set PR bonds for the migrants accused of rioting participation on Easter Sunday, according to the El Paso Times. “It is the ruling of the court that all the rioting participation cases will be released on their own recognizance,” Judge Acosta ordered.

Migrants being held on ICE immigration detainers will remain in custody, court officials told the local news outlet.

Judge Acosta blamed the office of El Paso County District Attorney Bill Hicks for not being prepared for the detention hearings. The Texas Code of Criminal Procedure requires that migrants arrested without a warrant have a hearing before a magistrate judge within 48 hours of their arrest.

Additional magistrate hearings for arrested migrants are scheduled for Monday, the newspaper reported.

Texas Department of Public Safety law enforcement officials arrested a group of migrants following a riotous attack on Texas National Guard soldiers at a border crossing point in El Paso on March 21.

KTSM NBC9 reports:

Court records show Venezuelan nationals like Omar Alejandro Graterol Colmenares and Jose Guillarte Acosta were charged with improper entry by an alien, committed to federal custody for one day in addition to time already served, then handed over to state custody for prosecution.

Records show Graterol is being held on a $42,000 bond in El Paso County on state charges of riot participation and criminal mischief under $30,000; Guilarte has a $57,000 bond for similar charges.

According to a state court records search, seven were charged with riot participation following an indictment on March 28. The remaining 50 individuals were charged on March 29.

A video posted on X by New York Post journalist Jennie Taer shows a large group of migrants shoving and assaulting members of the Texas National Guard who are defending the border under Governor Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star border security mission. The migrant group eventually broke through the border wire and rushed a permanent border barrier, also manned by guardsmen.

Approximately one week after the riot at the El Paso border crossing, Texas Governor Greg Abbott orders the deployment of an additional 200 members of the State’s National Guard. The soldiers were deployed under Abbott’s Operation Lone Star.

The soldiers deployed additional razor wire barriers and rebuilt the fences torn down by the rioting migrants, KTSM NBC9 reported.

In addition to the riot participation charges, some of the migrants face additional charges related to the assaults against Texas National Guard soldiers, destruction of state property, and criminal trespass.

One Honduran migrant, Everisto Benitez Martinez, is charged with assault after he allegedly stomped on a guardsman’s knee repeatedly, the KTSM article states, citing court records.