A group of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), have filed a lawsuit against Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in an attempt to continue bussing and flying border crossers into the United States interior.
In July, Abbott issued an executive order that banned NGOs from providing transportation into the U.S. to border crossers and illegal aliens who have been detained by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) or who have been ordered removed under the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) Title 42 authority.
Days later, President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit against Texas to block the order from being enforced. This week, a former President George W. Bush-appointed judge temporarily blocked the order from being enforced.
On Thursday, NGOs like Annunciation House, a member of the Catholic Volunteer Network, and Angry Tias and Abuelas of the Rio Grande Valley filed a lawsuit asking a federal judge to permanently block the order and rule it unconstitutional.
According to the lawsuit, Annunciation House and Angry Tias and Abuelas both help bus and fly border crossers into the interior of the U.S. after they are released from Department of Homeland Security (DHS) custody.
“Annunciation House … contracts with a local company once or twice a week to transport migrants in passenger vans in groups of approximately 15,” the lawsuit states.
“Angry Tias funds roughly 25 trips that involve at least two migrants in the vehicle per month; two to six migrants may ride in taxis funded by Angry Tias together at a time,” the lawsuit continues:
Additionally, Angry Tias members drive recently arrived asylum seekers, including those recently released from federal immigration custody, in the Rio Grande Valley to medical appointments, bus stations, and airports. These trips include groups of multiple asylum seekers per vehicle.
[Emphasis added]
The lawsuit states that border crossers “often use ground transportation — particularly buses” in El Paso, Texas; McAllen, Texas; and Brownsville, Texas that they were driven to by “shelters and multi-passenger taxis” typically paid for by NGOs.
Likewise, the lawsuit states that border crossers “fly out of airports in the Texas-Mexico border area.” Annunciation House “frequently takes migrants from their shelters to the El Paso International Airport in vehicles carrying up to 15 passengers at a time.”
Angry Tias also funds taxis for border crossers to take to the airports.
Abbotts’ order, the lawsuit argues, will crush the massive Catch and Release operation that NGOs like Annunciation House and Angry Tias are part of:
If the executive order goes into effect, Plaintiff Annunciation House will be seriously hindered in providing support to migrants in the El Paso area through its shelters. The executive order threatens to force Annunciation House to close. The executive order will prevent migrants from journeying out of the border areas to their ultimate destinations. If migrants cannot continue on to destinations outside of border areas, Annunciation House will not be able to accept new guests, and Annunciation House is not set up to provide long-term housing. Annunciation House also anticipates that many volunteers will stop driving due to the executive order and that it will not be able to replace them. This will prevent Annunciation House from transporting migrants from the shelters to their ultimate destinations — a key component of the aid they currently provide migrants. [Emphasis added]
Plaintiff Angry Tias will be greatly hindered in aiding migrants in the Rio Grande Valley. Individual volunteer members of the Angry Tias will be forced to choose between their humanitarian work and the executive order’s harsh penalties. Some will stop driving, while others will risk detention, heavy fines, and vehicle impoundment. One member will certainly stop driving, as she cannot risk vehicle impoundment as the sole caregiver to her 87-year-old husband with late-stage Alzheimer’s disease. [Emphasis added]
For months, the Biden administration has been releasing tens of thousands of border crossers and illegal aliens into the U.S. interior. Former CBP Commissioner Mark Morgan has said that “few to none” of the border crossers arriving at the southern border are vaccinated against the Chinese coronavirus.
As Breitbart News reported, the latest data reveals that the Department of Homeland Security has released about 173,000 border crossers and illegal aliens into the U.S. interior — some of which have been found to skip out on their quarantine and continue traveling into the country despite having coronavirus.
For perspective, the number of border crossers released into the U.S. interior by the Biden administration is nearly 17 times the population of Jackson, Wyoming.
The case is Annunciation House v. Abbott, No. 3:21-cv-00178 and was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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