Texas Judge Orders Release of Illegal Immigrants Accused of Overrunning National Guard at Border

Leah Barkoukis | April 01, 2024 8:30 AM

An El Paso magistrate judge ordered the release of Illegal immigrants accused of being involved in breaching Gov. Greg Abbott’s wire barriers and plowing through National Guard soldiers last month.

"It is the ruling of the court that all the rioting participation cases will be released on their own recognizance," presiding Magistrate Judge Humberto Acosta said in the Easter ruling, reports the El Paso Times.

In his ruling during an online teleconference bond hearing, the judge accused the El Paso District Attorney's Office of not being prepared to move forward with detention hearings, the outlet noted.

The arrests were made by the Texas Department of Public Safety in connection with a March 21 stampede of asylum-seeking migrants — mostly men from Venezuela — who torn down razor wire along the Rio Grande and rushed the border fence at Border Safety Initiative Marker No. 36 in the Riverside area of El Paso's Lower Valley.
Some migrants face charges of assault of a public servant for knocking down Texas National Guard troops before order was regained. The migrants had sought to surrender themselves to U.S. Border Patrol in bids for asylum or other immigration relief.
It was unclear if the judge's ruling applied only to the "riot participation" charge and not to assault and criminal mischief charges related to the chaotic border rush.
It is unknown how many migrants were booked on a charge of "riot participation," a Class B misdemeanor, but Acosta mentioned "hundreds of arrestees" were entitled to individual detention hearings within 48 hours. (El Paso Times)