LULAC APPLAUDS DECISION BY FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERING TEXAS GOVERNOR GREG ABBOTT TO MOVE RIO GRANDE BUOYS
Nation's Oldest and Largest Latino Civil Rights Organization Says Abbott's Response Shows His Defiance to Comply and Urges Federal Troops Be Sent to Enforce the Court Order
September 7, 2023
For more information, contact David Cruz at (818) 689-9991
davidcruz@lulac.org
Washington, DC — The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) strongly supports the decision of District Judge David Alan Ezra ordering a change to Governor Greg Abbott's Operation Lone Star's cruel and barbaric buoys with razor-sharp saw blades in the middle of the Rio Grande River, an international waterway. The court has given Texas until September 15 to comply with the order to move the 1000-foot stretch of illegal floating barriers from the river’s center that have so far led to at least four drownings of asylum seekers trying to reach the United States, including an infant.
LULAC calls upon Governor Abbott to obey the federal court ruling or for the Biden Administration to dispatch federal troops to move this clear and present threat in the middle of the Rio Grande River on our southern border," says Domingo Garcia, LULAC's national president. "Operation Lone Star is a $5-billion colossal failure at the expense of hardworking Texas taxpayers being told that these refugees are a danger to them. The real threat is the state government's military and police-style tactics, leading to illegal surveillance and possible violations of privacy laws. This is a governor, and his zealot supporters run amuck, thinking they can do whatever they want without any consequences and in violation of our laws and common Christian decency," says Garcia.
"Texas cannot bypass the proper protocol to install these barriers in the middle of an international waterway," says Lydia Guzman, LULAC national immigration committee chair. "They were illegally installed, and I'm glad they were ordered to move them. Those barriers are dehumanizing and dangerous. We've already seen the loss of life; I welcome Texas being told to remove them from the river’s center," added Guzman.
"LULAC applauds today's federal judicial ruling against the State of Texas in an ongoing lawsuit over the use of buoys in the middle of the Rio Grande River," says Gloria Leal, LULAC General Counsel. "LULAC condemns immigration enforcement measures at the center river which result in injury and death to immigrants who are only seeking to make a better and safe life in the United States," says Leal.
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