A county judge in Texas found no probable cause to continue holding in jail some 140 migrants who had been apprehended and charged with rioting for storming a border crossing.
Concretely, judge Ruben Morales said the arrest affidavits from Border Patrol didn't show probable cause that all people named in the documents took part in the incident, according to Border Report.
"The question is whether the affidavits provide the necessary probable cause to believe this individual named has committed the offense of rioting. Not whether there was a riot, and people were involved in that, or that he was in the group of (300-plus), but that this person took some specific action detailed in the affidavit," the judge said in court.
He added that prosecutors and the defense could have more time to present witnesses and documents, but the bar on the probable cause to keep the people in jail is low. El Paso District Attorney Bill Hicks said in a press conference that he was considering appealing the ruling.
The incident took place on April 12, when the group tore down razor wire and crossed into El Paso from Mexico. A state prosecutor said that the actions, which led Texas National Guard members to "back off" amounted to a riot.
It was not the first event of the kind, a large one taking place in late march when over 200 migrants were arrested after being involved in a gate rush leading to a border breach, also in El Paso.
Most of the 400 migrants involved were also arrested n misdemeanor rioting charges, while seven of the nine people involved in the wire-cutting have been indicted on felony charges or rioting and assaulting a public servant. Governor Greg Abbott said that more than 700 National Guard troops were sent to El Paso after the breach.
A Texas official clarified that the migrants held won't be walking out of jail as a result of the ruling, as the federal government has placed immigration detainers for illegal entry into the country. They will have to stay there until Border Patrol picks them up.
Officials from El Paso are asking Texas authorities to use its own resources to process and jail some of these migrants, saying their resources are stretched thin. County Judge Ricardo Samaniego told local broadcaster KTSM last week that "we can handle this one (the latest wave of arrests), but if tomorrow we have a number this size... no more space and the District Attorney would not have the resources to process them."
El Paso's Downtown County Jail can currently hold up to a little over 700 people, while the Far East Annex can hold an additional 1,800. Officials told the outlet the former is at full capacity, the latter being at 94%.
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