By Alexandra Ulmer

DEL RIO Texas (Reuters) – Gaston is a 57-year old Venezuelan human rights lawyer who spent years touring the worst prisons in Venezuela to help students protesting against its socialist government.

Gaston, fearing reprisal from the authorities, decided to run and head to the U.S.Mexico border in order to obtain asylum in America. Gaston crossed the Rio Grande and into Texas in August, with the intention of surrendering to U.S. Border officials.

Court records indicate that he was instead detained by Texas state troopers. This was just one of the approximately 1,600 border crossers arrested for trespassing in Texas this July as a result of Operation Lone Star, an immigrant crackdown led by Republican Governor Greg Abbott.

Abbott said that Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration encourages a “catastrophic open borders” policy, which has resulted in record crossings and fueled local anger. Kinney and Val Verde counties in Texas have joined the Governor’s Call for Local Police to Arrest Migrants for Criminal Trespassing.

According to immigration advocates, Abbott improperly takes federal responsibility for immigration enforcement into his own hands. They also voiced concerns that migrants could be held indefinitely while waiting to hear their case.

A Reuters review revealed that many of these trespassing cases are falling apart by themselves. At least one county attorney and defense attorneys have pointed out problems with many of these cases. They include inexact details about the charges and unclear information on whether the migrants were adequately notified that they might trespass.

David Martinez, the Val Verde County attorney, said to Reuters that his office declined to pursue 105 of the 231 migrant trespassing cases in Gaston’s case. He had turned them over late October.

Martinez, a Democrat, stated that he could determine the violation as simple as someone walking on somebody’s land to access a public highway. “They deserve to be released.” According to Martinez, migrants look for help from law enforcement in order to submit an asylum application.

Reuters requested data from the county regarding the outcome of the cases. However, there was no response immediately.

WEEKS BEHIND THE BARS

Gaston spent a month in Texas’ state prison at Dilley until Martinez released him. Martinez cited Gaston’s legal right to asylum. Gaston stated that he was held in U.S. state prison in Dilley for another month before Martinez released him on September 29 to allow him to pursue his asylum claims.

Gaston stated, “I have never been held in high security prisons. Gaston said it’s treatment of a criminal and not a migrant. Gaston requested that his name be changed to his initials in order to keep his family safe.

Most of the 1600 arrests for trespassing in Texas have occurred in Val Verde’s Kinney County. Officials said that they had more than 1000 active cases.

There have been some concerns over the legality of these charges.

Kristin Etter is a Texas RioGrande Legal Aid lawyer. She said that all the Kinney County charges she has seen have “defective elements”, including omission of essential details like where it was committed.

Kinney County Attorney Smith denied that. He said that it was because judges have requested more information than usual for criminal Trespass.

Smith, a Republican said that “We expect all the cases to be refiled.”

Requests for comments from County Judge Tully Shahan were not answered.

Brad Coe of Kinney County stressed the fact that landowners had become tired of having to deal with trash and cutting fences left by increasing numbers of migrants crossing. The southwest border saw 1.7 million immigrants in fiscal year 2005, which was the largest number of migrants ever seen. However, many are repeat crossings.

Texas Department of Public Safety stated it was up the prosecutors to determine whether they would pursue a case. It also said that Operation Lone Star is still a priority for them. Abbott’s office stated that Texas will invest more resources to secure the border.

Abbott, who is a Republican for two terms, seeks to draw on the anti-immigration history of Donald Trump in order to make a strong case in front of incontestably competitive Republican primaries in February 2022 and gubernatorial elections in November.

“We are the first & last line of defense at our border,” Abbott wrote on Twitter (NYSE:) on Tuesday.