Texas prosecutor drops charges after migrants claim they were marched to private property, then
Texas prosecutor drops charges after migrants claim they were marched to private property, then arrested for trespassing
by Jolie McCullough, Texas Tribune
Charges have been dropped against 11 migrants arrested under Gov. Greg Abbotts border security initiative after the men told attorneys they were marched for about 20 minutes to a fenced ranch by law enforcement, then arrested for trespassing.
Without video evidence or a written report of the August incident from U.S. Border Patrol, Val Verde County Attorney David Martinez dismissed the trespassing charges Monday after the men had spent nearly two months in state prison.
The men had fled on foot after a highway traffic stop by Border Patrol agents, according to an arrest affidavit. The migrants later told attorneys that when found near the highway, officers made the migrants walk for about 20 minutes and climb, hands zip-tied, over a nearly 10-foot fence onto a ranch before they were arrested for trespassing by state troopers.
The migrants also said officers cut the Val Verde County landowners fence so a police dog could get onto the ranch property, a defense attorney and prosecutor told The Texas Tribune.
Read more:
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/10/05/texas-migrants-arrest-charges-dropped/