U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone in El Paso ruled Tuesday that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's (R) executive order targeting migrants is unconstitutional.
While the formal ruling hasn't been issued, the judge did agree to the restraining order or preliminary injunction that "the United States is likely to prevail on its claims that Texas Governor Greg Abbott's 'executive order No. GA-37 relating to the transportation of migrants during the COVID-19 disaster,' . . . violates the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution because (1) it conflicts with, and poses an obstacle to, federal immigration law; and (2) it directly regulates the federal government's operations."
The judge wrote that Abbott's order causes "irreparable injury" to individuals the U.S. government is "charged with protecting." Abbott's order also "risks the safety of federal law enforcement personnel and their families, and exacerbates the spread of COVID-19."
Abbott issued the order saying that migrants are responsible for the spread of COVID-19, but statistics from ICE and DHS don't support the claim.
As Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the Immigration Counsel has explained, every migrant gets a COVID test when coming into the United States. Those tests account for 1% of all positive tests in Texas, meaning that 99% of the positive COVID cases in Texas are among people other than migrants coming over the border.
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