and we denied them even coming across the border,” he told Fox. “Once they cross the border, we now have two options: One is to arrest them – and we’ve made tens of thousands of arrests for people and put them in jail,” Abbott contin- ued in his Fox appearance. “And now we have this new tool, where we are now re- turning them to the border.” Abbott’s comments come amid a federal investigation into Operation Lone Star, the controversial border clampdown the gover- nor launched in March 2020. The Texas Tri- bune and ProPublica recently revealed that the U.S. Department of Justice is investigat- ing Operation Lone Star over alleged civil rights violations. Abbott went on to boast that Texas was building its own wall on the southern border and putting down “mile after mile after mile” of razor wire to deter migrants from crossing into the state. In a press release, Abbott announced an executive order that enables the Texas Na- tional Guard and the Department of Public Safety to “apprehend illegal immigrants who illegally cross the border between ports of entry and return them to the border.” Emailed by the Observer, the governor’s press office didn’t reply to request for clarifica- tion about what precisely he meant, whether Operation Lone Star involved extrajudicial de- portations or physical pushbacks on the bor- der. Instead, a spokesperson redirected the questions to the Texas Military Department, which didn’t reply before publication time. Since first launching Operation Lone Star, the governor has time and again ramped up border security measures that have seen the Texas National Guard and the Department of Public Safety deployed to frontier. In a recent press release, he said the operation has been bankrolled to the tune of $4 billion. As Abbott ups the ante once again, rights groups and legal watchdogs have blasted the governor’s border clampdown, the alleged civil rights infractions that come with it and his vilification of asylum seekers and other migrants. After all, both U.S. and international law grant people the right to apply for asylum, and neither require that their asylum applica- tions be filed in a specific territory, such as the U.S., Mexico or their home countries. “It has become abundantly clear that Gov. Abbott is using various tactics against migrants and asylum seekers as a publicity stunt … and that there is a real significant amount of harm that is happening,” said Amy Fischer, Amnesty International’s advo- cacy officer for the Americas. What remains unclear is whether Ab- bott’s border clampdown actually includes extrajudicial deportations or what are known as “pushbacks” in international law. But either way, Fischer explained, the U.S. government regularly carries out pushbacks on the southern border. “Basically, what we have seen over the past few years is a dismantling of the right to asylum on the border,” Fischer said, adding: “We at Amnesty would say that all of these things are obviously human rights violations and against both U.S. and international law.” By email, Laura Peña, the legal director of the Texas Civil Rights Project’s Beyond Bor- ders Program, said Abbott’s executive order “is outrageous and unlawful, and sets a dan- gerous precedent for law enforcement both at and away from our borders.” The Texas Civil Rights Project has called on Department of Homeland Security Sec- retary Alejandro Mayorkas to put out a statement “detailing the agency’s refusal to cooperate with [Texas’] extremist ploy to manipulate rule of law,” Peña said. “We need to put a stop to the political grandstanding on immigration in Texas and put forward solutions that address the needs of border residents and provide migrants a fair and safe process for entry into this country.” Kate Huddleston, a staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, said “there’s absolutely reason to be con- cerned about civil rights violations with re- spect to Operation Lone Star. “The bottom line for the executive order is it is another dangerous political stunt by a governor attempting to distract from his po- litical failures.” As the midterm elections near, the gover- nor has escalated attacks on President Joe Biden’s administration over migration and border policies. In May, he called on the fed- eral government to stop providing baby for- mula to migrant families held in U.S. detention centers. That same month, he said Texas might try to overturn a Supreme Court decision that requires states to provide public education to undocumented children. Earlier this month, the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration (IOM) declared the U.S.-Mexico border “the deadliest land crossing in the world,” citing new data that confirmed at least 728 deaths on that frontier last year. “Our data shows the growing crisis of deaths during migration in the region, and the need to strengthen the forensic capacity of the authorities to identify deaths on these routes,” Edwin Viales, who wrote that IOM report, said in a press release. Viales added, “We cannot forget that ev- ery single number is a human being with a family who may never know what happened to them.” But even as Abbott and other Texas Re- publicans rail against the Biden administra- tion and push for more aggressive measures on the U.S.-Mexico border, some conserva- tive groups are demanding more. In early June, local conservative officials in southern Texas called on Abbott to adopt the word “invasion” to describe the humani- tarian crisis on the border. Abbott has previ- ously issued disaster declarations for the border crisis. U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, who joined the border county officials at a press conference, told Fox News he backed declaring the migration crisis an invasion. “All these leaders in the counties in South Texas are asking for is that Texas step up and we go do what the federal government refuses to do,” Roy said. “People are going to say that this is a slap at Gov. Abbott or Attorney General [Ken] Paxton,” he added. “It is not. They are step- ping into the breach, and Texas is the collat- eral damage of a federal government that is leaving us dangling.” In a press release last Monday, an Idaho- based organization called Bring Our Troops Home praised Abbott’s use of the state Na- tional Guard and DPS to prevent people from crossing but called on the governor to treat migration as an “invasion.” ▼ CULTURE WAR A SOUTHLAKE-BASED INSURANCE COMPANY RECENTLY ANNOUNCED THAT IT WILL COVER THE MEDICAL COSTS FOR EMPLOYEES WHO GIVE BIRTH. BY SIMONE CARTER BUSINESS BANKROLLS BIRTHS employees’ travel costs so that they can re- S ince the U.S. Supreme Court over- turned Roe v. Wade last month, some companies have vowed to pay for ceive an abortion in states where it’s still le- gal. Disney, Apple, Amazon, JP Morgan and Starbucks are just a few of the brands engag- ing in the corporate resistance. Leave it to a North Texas business to do things a little differently. “Secular companies are paying the travel costs for employees to abort babies out-of- state,” Southlake-based Buffer Insurance said in a June 27 Facebook post. “Today we are announcing that Buffer will pay the costs for our employees who birth babies.” In addition, the insurance company has pledged to offer “paid time off for all em- ployees to have maternity and paternity leave with their newborns.” They’ll also fork up the “medical costs associated with adopt- ing a baby.” Texas led the charge to make abortion il- legal during last year’s legislative session. Conservative state lawmakers passed the so- called “Heartbeat Act,” banning abortion af- ter around six weeks, before many know they’re pregnant. State by state soon began following Texas’ lead. Now, roughly two weeks after Roe was struck down, the procedure is outlawed in nine states and soon to be illegal in four more. Abortion rights supporters have sounded the alarm that the Lone Star State is no- where near ready for a potential spike in births. Some anti-abortion advocates even agree that Texas has a lot more work to do. Yet others believe that companies like Buf- fer Insurance are ultimately on the right track. In an emailed statement, Republican Party of Texas Chairman Matt Rinaldi urged em- ployers to take a page from Buffer’s playbook. Republicans want to see more businesses covering childbirth costs “instead of strictly profit-driven policies designed to incentivize employees to terminate their pregnancies. “We encourage lawmakers in the upcom- ing session to increase funding for preg- nancy centers designed to support new mothers in need by providing health care, counseling, food, and maternity supplies, ensuring women have medical coverage up to one year postpartum, and facilitating the adoption process,” Rinaldi continued. Meanwhile, lawmakers with the Texas Freedom Caucus recently vowed to intro- duce legislation that would target employers who reimburse expenses related to abortion. It’s unclear how Buffer plans to pay for these expenses, and the company didn’t im- mediately return a request for comment. We bring sophistication with a twist to the metaphysical and holistic markets with products, classes and services. We have locations in Dallas, Carrollton & Frisco. Psychic Hotline Now Available: 888-415-6208 WWW.SOULTOPIA.GURU BEST OF DALLAS AWARD WINNER S Visit us: 900 W Davis St, Dallas • 3414 Midcourt Rd #100, Carrollton 7004 Lebanon Rd, STE 106, Frisco, Texas 75034 7 dallasobserver.com CLASSIFIED | MUSIC | DISH | CULTURE | UNFAIR PARK | CONTENTS DALLAS OBSERVER JULY 21–27, 2022 2020
