In what is being criticized as one of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s more extreme border security measures, on Wednesday he signed an executive order directing Department of Public Safety troopers to stop vehicles suspected of carrying migrants.

What You Need To Know

  • Gov. Abbott signs executive order directing DPS troopers to initiate traffic stops on vehicles suspected of transporting migrants

  • DPS troopers are additionally empowered to impound vehicles suspected of transporting migrants in some situations 

  • Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro called for the Justice Department to intervene and challenge the order

In a tweet Wednesday, Gov. Abbott, based on the assumption that border crossers are fueling the uptick in cases, said the order is designed to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in Texas.

“I issued an executive order restricting transportation of migrants who pose a risk of carrying COVID into Texas. @TxDPS is ordered to stop & reroute, or impound any vehicle being used to transport illegal migrants who have been detained by @CBP,” he wrote.

The executive order, laid out in three parts, states that no one other than law enforcement is permitted to transport “a group of migrants who have been detained” by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents for crossing the border illegally or who would be subject to expulsion.

The order directs DPS troopers to “stop any vehicle upon reasonable suspicion of a violation of paragraph 1 and to reroute such a vehicle back to its point of origin or a port of entry if a violation is confirmed.”

In addition, the order states, DPS troopers are authorized to “impound a vehicle that is being used to transport migrants in violation of paragraph 1, or that refuses to be rerouted in violation of paragraph 2.”

What remains unknown is what constitutes “reasonable suspicion” or how DPS troopers can legally pull someone over without just cause and without the traffic stop constituting racial profiling.

Critics have noted that if followed to the letter the order would face legal challenges.

Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, in criticizing the order, tweeted, “Gov. Abbott’s latest executive order is designed to turn Texans against each other and provoke fear of brown skinned people. How will police know which vehicles are transporting immigrants? The Biden Justice Department must sue to stop this illegal racial profiling.”