Abdoul, from Mauritania in West Africa, made an unexpected detour on his way to New York City this year, spending three days in a rural Texas jail on trespassing charges for breaching the US-Mexico border.
Abdoul talked to the AP on the condition that his last name not be used for fear of damaging his refugee application. He departed his own country, where he claims his life was in danger because he was criticizing the regime. He is presently residing in Brooklyn with his cousin, an Uber driver, while awaiting work permit documents in the United States.
Two years into Texas’ multibillion-dollar border security plan, Operation Lone Star, the program’s implementation remains a perplexing process with no accountability.
Republicans think it’s a welcome reaction to President Joe Biden’s immigration policies. Over 12,500 persons were caught through the campaign between the summer of 2021 and October 2023, according to statistics acquired by The Associated Press. The roughly $10 billion effort also entailed busing thousands of immigrants across the country, financing new border barriers, and deploying thousands of officers.
There is, however, little indication that the initiative is preventing immigration.
According to a bill signed Monday by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, Texas will give police far more authority to arrest migrants while also empowering local judges to force them out of the country beginning in March. The measure is the most drastic attempt by a state to police immigration since a 2010 Arizona law, dubbed “show me your papers” by opponents, was partially overturned by the United States Supreme Court.