Greg Abbott is known for flaming the flames of hate with his border enforcement operation, which they said is riddled with civil rights violations and has been fueled by rhetoric similar to that used before the 2019 shooting massacre in El Paso.
The groups' Title VI civil rights complaint urges the Department of Justice to investigate Abbott's Operation Lone Star, launched in March, and shut off federal funding to participating state agencies.
Laura Pe a, a legal director at the Texas Civil Rights Project, said that the sham system is fueled by white supremacist rhetoric, because it is rhetoric that we are hearing over and over again, the drumbeat that there is an invasion. The shooter in El Paso used the exact same language as an invasion of his manifesto before killing 23 people in a Walmart, she said.
There was no immediate response to messages left requesting comment, as voice mail went to the governor's press office.
In October, Rep. Joaquin Castro and several Democratic lawmakers asked DOJ and the Department of Homeland Security to investigate Operation Lone Star.
At the time, a spokeswoman for Abbott's office said Texans deserve the rule of law enforced on the border, and that's what Abbott was doing.
On August 3, 2019, a gunman traveled 700 miles from Dallas to the border city of El Paso, where he opened fire in a Walmart, killing 22 people and injuring 23. A 23rd person died of his wounds later.
A document posted online before the shooting, police believe was posted by the shooter, discusses a Hispanic invasion. There was outcry over anti-immigrant rhetoric used by former President Donald Trump and Texas officials at the time of the massacre.
Abbott has assumed the responsibility of enforcing immigration laws. State law enforcement officials are arresting migrants, jailing them in converted state prison units with little to no access to attorneys, charging many with trespassing, but holding some without charges even after the deadline to file charges is over.
Abbott, who is running for re-election in 2022, has focused attention on illegal immigration on the border and challenged the policies of President Joe Biden.
The governor has deployed the Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Guard and Texas Rangers to the border, and solicited and received help from other states. He set up shipping containers on the border to block migrants.
The groups said in their letter to DOJ that the operation is rife with racial profiling and biased policecing and that officers in some cases lure migrants to certain locations so they can charge them with trespassing. The groups said that the trespass arrests lack probable cause.
A Venezuelan man was arrested for trespassing charges and jailed for 63 days after law enforcement motioned him through an open gate. Kate Huddleston, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, said the charge was eventually dismissed.
The groups said that Texas has arrested some 2,200 people on misdemeanor state criminal trespass charges. The groups said that almost all of the people were Latino or Black men and migrants.
Abbott has created a separate criminal prosecution and detention system with separate dockets, public defender assignments, jails and booking facilities to carry out the operation.
Abbott and other state officials said the operation has resulted in the arrest of thousands of migrants, the interruption of criminal activity and the seizure of illegal drugs. In a Dec. 9 briefing, the state said it had seized 160 pounds of fetanyl.
The top executive in Kinney County, where many of the arrests have occurred, replaced several judges hearing cases.
An ACLU analysis of probable cause affidavits in 168 cases turned up mentions of ethnicity and perceived immigration status.
Huddleston said that Racism profiling and profiling on the basis of perceived national origin permeate the system.
Texas is one of the first to use state law in this way, and if DOJ does not intervene and stop the operation, not only will it flourish in Texas and spread to other counties in Texas, but it will also cause real harms, Huddleston said.
Their complaint was filed under the Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which bars discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin in any program receiving public assistance.