migrants

Gov. Greg Abbott has asked the public for donations to fund his controversial effort to bus migrants from border communities to Washington D.C. following criticism over his use of taxpayer dollars.

"The larger matter at hand here is that the Texas governor is trying to wind up fears around COVID and around this new strain of COVID to justify his anti-asylum and anti-migrant policies in South Texas,” said Ari Sawyer with Human Rights Watch.

Jurisdictions across the border are now seeing upticks in the number of migrant deaths due not just to a higher number of individuals crossing the border, but also because of higher temperatures. However, Brooks County has historically reported higher numbers than most counties.

The camp grew to hold 15,000 people at one point, with a total of nearly 30,000 migrants passing through since Sept. 9, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas says.

Images of Border Patrol agents on horseback corralling a group of mostly Haitian migrants at a makeshift camp drew widespread criticism, including from members of the Biden administration.

Immigration authorities encountered migrants more than 212,000 times at the border in July, the highest in 20 years — including nearly 19,000 unaccompanied children, the most ever in a single month.

"Operation Lone Star," as it's called, relies on a force of state troopers, National Guard and reinforcements from other red states. The mission is to curtail the migrants surging into the Rio Grande.

Texas state troopers investigated a crash involving an overcrowded van carrying 29 people believed to be migrants. Ten people — including the driver — were declared dead on site, and 20 survivors were seriously injured.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday issued an executive order that restricts the transportation of detained migrants under the pretext of stopping the spread of COVID-19, something immigrant rights activists describe as unconstitutional and fascist.