An El Paso magistrate judge on Easter Sunday ordered the release of migrants accused in a “border riot” when a stampede overwhelmed National Guard troops along the Rio Grande.
Court officials noted that undocumented migrants will stay jailed if there is a federal immigration hold blocking their release.
Presiding Magistrate Judge Humberto Acosta made his ruling on Sunday, March 31, during an online teleconference bond hearing where he accused the El Paso District Attorney’s Office of not being ready to proceed with detention hearings for each defendant. Another hearing for more defendants is expected Monday.
“It is the ruling of the court is that all the rioting participation cases will be released on their own recognizance,” Acosta ordered.
The arrests were made by the Texas Department of Public Safety in connection with a March 21 stampede of asylum-seeking migrants — mostly men from Venezuela — who torn down razor wire along the Rio Grande and rushed the border fence at Border Safety Initiative Marker No. 36 in the Riverside area of El Paso’s Lower Valley.
Some migrants face charges of assault of a public servant for knocking down National Guard troops before order was regained. The migrants had sought to surrender themselves to U.S. Border Patrol in bids for asylum.
El Paso ‘riot’ arrests could be in the ‘hundreds’
It was unclear if the judge’s ruling applied only to the “riot participation” charge and not to assault and criminal mischief charges related to the chaotic border rush.
It is unknown how many migrants were booked on a charge of “riot participation,” a Class B misdemeanor, but Acosta mentioned “hundreds of arrestees” were entitled to individual detention hearings within 48 hours.
A request by Assistant District Attorney Ashley M. Martinez for a continuance to have the hearings at a later date was rejected by Acosta.
“So if the DA’s office is telling me that they are not ready to go, what we’re going to do is we’re going to release all these individuals on their own recognizance,” Acosta said at the hearing.