Judge blocks Texas troopers from stopping migrant transports

A federal judge has ordered Texas to not allow state troopers to stop vehicles carrying migrants on the grounds that they may spread COVID-19

AUSTIN, Texas -- A federal judge Tuesday blocked Texas from allowing state troopers to stop vehicles carrying migrants on the grounds that they may spread COVID-19 as worries and new cases are rising along the U.S.-Mexico border. The temporary order by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone of El Paso is at least a short-term victory for the Biden administration, which had warned that Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's plan would create more problems amid high levels of summer border crossings in Texas —- particularly in the Rio Grande Valley, which one U.S. official called the “epicenter of the current surge.” In a sign of the growing strain, local officials there who have rebuffed Abbott's hardline immigration actions to jail border crossers and build new barrier declared a local state of disaster this week as COVID-19 cases climb and capacity at migrant shelters is stretched. Cardone said Abbott's directive would have the effect of “exacerbating the spread of COVID-19.” She scheduled another hearing for next week.