Written Testimony of Bob Libal
Consultant, US Program, Human Rights Watch
Submitted to the Texas State Legislature
House State Affairs Committee
Hearings on HB 20 and HB 7
April 12, 2023
Creation of State-Sponsored Vigilantes and Codification of Abusive Operation Lone Star Program Would Green-Light Further Abuse
My name is Bob Libal. I work with the US Program of Human Rights Watch, based in Austin, Texas. On behalf of Human Rights Watch, I thank the Texas House State Affairs Committee for hearing testimony today on HB 20 and HB 7 and for the opportunity to submit this written testimony on the impact of these bills on the rights of migrants and US citizens along the Texas-Mexico border.
Human Rights Watch is a non-profit, independent organization that investigates allegations of human rights violations in more than 90 countries around the world, including the United States. We document human rights violations, issue detailed reports, and advocate for changes in law, policy, and practice to prevent and remedy human rights abuses.
Today, Human Rights Watch respectfully asks this Committee to oppose HB 20 and HB 7. Together, the bills amount to a dangerous and extreme effort to expand Texas’ border policing program including the creation of a state-sponsored vigilante border protection unit and the codification and expansion of a border policing, court, and jailing system that has to date resulted in injuries, deaths,[1] racial discrimination,[2] abusive detention conditions,[3] and a chilling effect on freedoms of association and expression.[4]
HB 20[5] would create a “Border Protection Unit” whose head would answer to Governor Greg Abbott. The bill would allow the administration to deputize any “law-abiding” citizen to serve in the unit, and thereby participate in enforcement actions against people thought to be migrants and asylum-seekers crossing the border between the United States and Mexico and throughout the state. People serving in the unit would be granted criminal and civil immunity against claims of wrongdoing.
HB 20 would also claim authority for Texas to deny entry on specious public health grounds similar to the abusive US federal policy called Title 42[6] that was invoked during the Covid-19 pandemic. The bill would create a third-degree felony charge of criminal trespass with a minimum $10,000 fine; and would further fund the Texas border wall.
HB 7[7] would create a “border protection” court and criminal system that would institutionalize much of the separate and unequal system of arresting, jailing, and prosecuting people along the border piloted under Governor Abbott’s Operation Lone Star dragnet.
Human Rights Watch has previously documented the impact of Texas’ $4.4 billion border law enforcement program called Operation Lone Star.[8] We have found the program, while most notably failing to reach its stated aim to “deny Mexican Cartels and other smugglers the ability to move drugs and people into Texas,”[9] has led to injuries and deaths,[10] has consistently violated the rights of migrants and US citizens, and has suppressed freedoms of association and expression.
The first 16 months of Operation Lone Star saw at least 30 people die and 71 injuries in high-speed vehicle pursuits.[11] In the first 9 months of Operation Lone Star, DPS initiated 1,046 vehicle pursuits.[12] High speed vehicle pursuits are contrary to the policing best practices adopted by law enforcement including US Customs and Border Protection.[13]
Operation Lone Star has violated the right be free from racial discrimination[14] and the right to seek asylum under US[15] and international law[16] by employing a separate and unequal state criminal justice system to target migrants (including asylum seekers) and US citizens near the Texas border for arrest, criminal prosecution, and imprisonment.[17] In two separate complaints, several Texas-based civil rights organizations analyzed 484 arrests under Operation Lone Star and concluded the arrests involved “severe racial disparities and clear indications of profiling based on race and national origin.”[18] The Operation raises sufficient concerns about possible violations of US non-discrimination laws that, according to media sources, it is currently under investigation by the US Department of Justice.[19]
Law enforcement personnel working with Operation Lone Star have aggressively used selective enforcement of the misdemeanor offense of criminal trespass to justify the arrest and detention of thousands of alleged migrants in a newly created segregated criminal legal system with separate dockets, public defender assignments, jails, and booking facilities.[20] Simply put, people not perceived as migrants do not face the same criminal penalties for the same actions.[21] HB 7 would codify much of this system by establishing special “border protection” courts and HB 20 would exacerbate this problem by creating a new third-degree felony charge of criminal trespass.
Human Rights Watch urges you to oppose HB 20 and HB 7 which together amount to a dangerous and extreme effort to expand Texas’ troubled and abusive border policing program and allow state-sponsored vigilantes to participate in these programs. These bills propose a system of criminal enforcement and state-sponsored vigilantes that is sure to result in new and widespread incidents of human rights abuse in the state of Texas. Thank you for considering these issues as this Committee contemplates these bills today.
[1] Jolie McCullough, “Texas troopers are causing car chase fatalities and racially profiling drivers under Abbott’s border crackdown, complaint claims,” Texas Tribune, July 28, 2022, https://www.texastribune.org/2022/07/28/texas-dps-pursuits-profiling/.
[2] ACLU, et. al, Letter to Merrick Garland, et al, Texas Migrant Arrest Program under “Operation Lone Star”—Urgent Need for Investigation into Race and National Origin Discrimination by Texas Agencies, December 15, 2021, https://www.aclutx.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/ols_trespass_arrest_title_vi_complaint.pdf
[3] Maria Ramos Pacheco, Detainees under Abbott’s Operation Lone Star in Texas lack proper legal access, Dallas Morning News, May 12, 2022, https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2022/05/12/detainees-under-abbotts-operation-lone-star-in-texas-lack-proper-legal-access/
[4] Human Rights Watch, “Texas Investigation of Civic Groups Dangerous for Rights,” December 20, 2022, https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/12/20/texas-investigation-civic-groups-dangerous-rights.
[5] Texas Legislature Online, 88(R) HB 20 - Introduced Version - Bill Text, https://capitol.texas.gov/Search/TextSearchResults.aspx?CP=1&LegSess=88R&House=true&Senate=true&TypeB=true&TypeR=false&TypeJR=true&TypeCR=false&VerInt=true&VerHCR=true&VerEng=true&VerSCR=true&VerEnr=true&DocTypeB=true&DocTypeFN=true&DocTypeBA=true&DocTypeAM=true&Srch=custom&Custom=HB+20&All=&Any=&Exact=&Exclude=.
[6] Human Rights Watch, Q&A: US Title 42 Policy to Expel Migrants at the Border, April 8, 2021. https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/04/08/qa-us-title-42-policy-expel-migrants-border
[7] Texas Legislature Online, 88(R) HB 7 — Introduced Version — Bill Text, https://capitol.texas.gov/Search/TextSearchResults.aspx?CP=1&LegSess=88R&House=true&Senate=true&TypeB=true&TypeR=false&TypeJR=true&TypeCR=false&VerInt=true&VerHCR=true&VerEng=true&VerSCR=true&VerEnr=true&DocTypeB=true&DocTypeFN=true&DocTypeBA=true&DocTypeAM=true&Srch=custom&Custom=hb+7&All=&Any=&Exact=&Exclude=
[8] Written Testimony of Bob Libal, Consultant, US Program, Human Rights Watch, February 9, 2023, https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/02/09/written-testimony-bob-libal-consultant-us-program-human-rights-watch
[9] Office of Texas Governor Greg Abbott, “Governor Abbott, DPS Launch ‘Operation Lone Star’ To Address Crisis at Southern Border,” March 6, 2021, https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/governor-abbott-dps-launch-operation-lone-star-to-address-crisis-at-southern-border (visited February 6, 2023). See also James Barragan, “Migrant Encounters at the Border are Higher Today Than They Were Before Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star Began,” Texas Tribune, https://www.texastribune.org/2022/09/28/greg-abbott-border-migrants/ (noting that “The number of migrant encounters at the Texas-Mexico border has climbed from 109,456 in March 2021, the month the mission began, to 116,976 in August — a slower rate of growth than at other parts of the border but a failure of Abbott’s office’s stated desire to “stop this revolving door and deter others considering entering illegally.”).
[10] Jolie McCullough, “Texas troopers are causing car chase fatalities and racially profiling drivers under Abbott’s border crackdown, complaint claims,” Texas Tribune, July 28, 2022, https://www.texastribune.org/2022/07/28/texas-dps-pursuits-profiling/.
[11]ACLU, et. al, Letter to Merrick Garland, et al, Texas Migrant Arrest Program under “Operation Lone Star”—Urgent Need for Investigation into Race and National Origin Discrimination by Texas Agencies, December 15, 2021, https://www.aclutx.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/ols_trespass_arrest_title_vi_complaint.pdf
[12] ACLU, et. al, Letter to Merrick Garland, et al, Texas Migrant Arrest Program under “Operation Lone Star”—Urgent Need for Investigation into Race and National Origin Discrimination by Texas Agencies, December 15, 2021, https://www.aclutx.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/ols_trespass_arrest_title_vi_complaint.pdf
[13] US Customs and Border Protection, “CBP Updates Emergency Driving and Vehicular Pursuits Directive,” January 11, 2023
https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/national-media-release/cbp-updates-emergency-driving-and-vehicular-pursuits-directive.
[14] Arrested migrants and US citizens caught up in Operation Lone Star are sent into a shadow criminal legal system that violates US obligations under international human rights law prohibiting racial discrimination. Human Rights Watch / ACLU, “Joint Submission Regarding the United States’ Record Under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination,” August 8, 2022, https://www.hrw.org/report/2022/08/08/racial-discrimination-united-states/human-rights-watch/aclu-joint-submission#_ftn186.
[15] See 8 U.S. Code § 1158(a), “Authority to Apply for Asylum,” https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1158.
[16] Operation Lone Star also violates US obligations under international refugee law, which the US is bound by due to its ratification of the 1967 Refugee Protocol. Article 31(1) of the 1951 Refugee Convention states, “The Contracting States shall not impose penalties, on account of their illegal entry or presence, on refugees who, coming directly from a territory where their life or freedom was threatened in the sense of Article 1, enter or are present in their territory without authorization, provided they present themselves without delay to the authorities and show good cause for their illegal entry or presence.” The protections of article 31 have been interpreted to include asylum seekers (those whose claims have not yet been adjudicated) because it cannot be determined at the point of entry whether the person qualifies as a refugee or not.
[17] American Civil Liberties Union—Texas et. al., “Texas Migrant Arrest Program under ‘Operation Lone Star’—Urgent Need for Investigation into Race and National Origin Discrimination by Texas Agencies,” December 15, 2021, https://www.aclutx.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/ols_trespass_arrest_title_vi_complaint.pdf; American Civil Liberties Union--Texas et. al., "Texas Migrant Arrest Program under ‘Operation Lone Star’—Continued Urgent Need for Investigation into Race and National Origin Discrimination,” February 23, 2022, https://www.aclutx.org/sites/default/files/operation_lone_star_title_vi_supplemental_complaint.pdf; American Civil Liberties Union et. al., “Re: Texas Migrant Arrest Program under ‘Operation Lone Star’—Continued Urgent Need for Investigation into Race and National Origin Discrimination by Texas Agencies,” April 7, 2022, https://www.aclutx.org/sites/default/files/ols_supplemental_complaint_4.7.22.pdf.
[18] See American Civil Liberties Union—Texas et. al., “Texas Migrant Arrest Program under ‘Operation Lone Star’—Urgent Need for Investigation into Race and National Origin Discrimination by Texas Agencies,” December 15, 2021, https://www.aclutx.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/ols_trespass_arrest_title_vi_complaint.pdf; American Civil Liberties Union--Texas et. al., "Texas Migrant Arrest Program under ‘Operation Lone Star’—Continued Urgent Need for Investigation into Race and National Origin Discrimination,” February 23, 2022, https://www.aclutx.org/sites/default/files/operation_lone_star_title_vi_supplemental_complaint.pdf.
[19] Perla Trevizo, “Justice Department is Investigating Texas’ Operation Lone Star for Alleged Civil Rights Violations,” Texas Tribune, July 6, 2022, https://www.texastribune.org/2022/07/06/operation-lone-star-doj-investigation-abbott/.
[20] American Civil Liberties Union—Texas et. al., “Texas Migrant Arrest Program under ‘Operation Lone Star’—Urgent Need for Investigation into Race and National Origin Discrimination by Texas Agencies,” December 15, 2021, https://www.aclutx.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/ols_trespass_arrest_title_vi_complaint.pdf. See also, “Inside Operation Lone Star,” New York Times, May 19, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/19/podcasts/the-daily/texas-mexico-border-greg-abbott.html (accessed July 21, 2022); Letter from Raquel Aldana, Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law et al., to Merrick Garland, Attorney General, US Department of Justice et al., January 21, 2022, https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/crsj/webinar/february-2022/law-professor-letter-operation-lone-star.pdf.
[21] American Civil Liberties Union—Texas et. al., “Texas Migrant Arrest Program under ‘Operation Lone Star’—Urgent Need for Investigation into Race and National Origin Discrimination by Texas Agencies,” December 15, 2021, https://www.aclutx.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/ols_trespass_arrest_title_vi_complaint.pdf.
