Border Crisis on the Ballot
And, Potential Legal Issues for Prosecutors, Plus-- Border Patrol Numbers for October
Good Morning Friends,
Regular readers know how we feel about polling these days. It’s mostly trash. We’re not the only ones saying so— Karl Rove and others are pointing it out. Even so, it may be worth noting that the top three issues going into the election this morning appear to be:
The Economy
Crime
The Border
Many hard-core conservatives in Texas are watching the Governor’s race in Arizona very carefully— now that Republican Candidate Kari Lake has repeated and underlined comments that she’s “going to show Texas” how it’s done, when it comes to Border Security.
If elected, and after being sworn in, she said, “on day one, hour one,” she will declare an invasion. “We are going to declare an invasion initially and put everybody on notice that Arizona is taking control of their own border and ask the federal government to help and see if they’ll do it. Kind of don’t think they will.
“And then we’re going to work to stop people from coming over,” she added, “using our National Guard. We’re going to make sure that we don’t have trucks rolling in with drugs. We’re going to pressure the Mexican side of the border to help us out much like they did with President [Donald] Trump."
Lake said President Joe Biden "rolled out the welcome mat and told the whole world to come in,” she said, “and now he wants to just continue. Millions of people are pouring across the border … We don’t know who they are, what their backgrounds are. We are just not going to accept this kind of lawlessness in Arizona any longer.”
—Reporter Bethany Blankley, The Center Square
For his part, Governor Greg Abbott seems to have stayed focused on his race against El Paso’s Beto O’Rourke— making no highly visible comments about border security efforts in Arizona.
But it’s probably no coincidence that the Governor’s Office recently published a pretty decent roundup of Border Crisis spot news from around the State of Texas— gathering up a whole pile of scattered events, putting them under one umbrella, and also updating folks on the numbers of asylum seekers that have been bused to sanctuary cities like New York.
The governor’s roundup includes mention of a high speed pursuit in Kinney County, involving a wanted Honduran last week.
Here’s another, more recent, Kinney County-related stop involving DPS and a pair of smugglers from Arkansas.
It seems fairly routine to us— but folks who haven’t seen a bunch of these will probably be struck by the emotions exhibited by the driver when she realizes she’s about to be arrested. One suspects many people are being told by recruiters that all they have to do is claim they picked up a hitchhiker and they’ll be okay. As we’ve observed in the past, the hitchhiker excuse is perhaps the most used and abused.
We’re also sharing it with readers as another demonstration of how accused smugglers are coming from all over the place, hoping to make some easy cash.
Some critics of Operation Lone Star want to argue that these smugglers are simply poor people, trying to make a little money— in desperate straits. It makes us shake our heads. Poverty has never been accepted as a blanket excuse for criminality. Is it fair that wealthy criminals can afford better lawyers and perhaps escape a conviction? Of course it isn’t. But the solution would hardly seem to be giving accused lawbreakers a pass on the basis of their socio-economic background. Perhaps there’s a conversation to be had for greater latitude in punishment in the service of Justice, but that conversation hasn’t been had yet.
The news isn’t all sunshine and roses for Kinney County officials. Storm clouds may be on the horizon as documented in the Houston Chronicle.
Then again, maybe not. We’ll explain in just a bit.
Attorneys representing migrants are latching onto a recent official Opinion issued by the Attorney General’s office that seems to affect just who is eligible to serve as a visiting judge in Texas Courts.
In a nonbinding legal opinion dated Oct. 25, Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton found that former county judges — referring to county executives who serve on commissioners courts — who are not retired judges with the required experience are not qualified to serve as visiting judges.
Court precedent shows any orders issued by an unqualified appointed judge are an “absolute nullity” and “should be set aside as void.”
Because attorney general opinions do not have the force of law, the state could disagree with the analysis and fight any motions by defense attorneys to reverse the orders of the judge in question.
The request for the attorney general's opinion in this case was unrelated to Operation Lone Star and was made by Lampasas County Attorney John Greenwood. Officials in the small rural county wanted to know whether they could hire a former county judge to fill in as a visiting judge to help reduce a COVID-related court backlog.
Unlike county judges in large, well-staffed urban jurisdictions who serve only an administrative role, county judges in rural areas often have broad judicial duties, overseeing low-level cases from misdemeanors to probate matters.
Former Concho County Judge Allen Amos is the main target of the defense attorneys’ review, but they say they’re looking over cases to ensure no other unqualified judges issued orders in them.
—Reporter Taylor Goldstein, The Houston Chronicle
As we’ve always hastened to say here at the Dispatch, we are not attorneys and hesitate to try and analyze legal rulings too closely. That said— it’s not immediately clear to us if the AG even intended his opinion to have any bearing outside of the Lampasas matter. Also— it seems that if you read carefully, the Chronicle’s reporting even acknowledges the State may reject applying it to Lone Star cases.
One should also consider the fact that so much of the reporting on legal criticisms of Operation Lone Star and the statements and assertions made by activist attorneys have seemed to go nowhere— representing only their opinions. Educated opinions to be sure, but as we’ve noted in past dispatches, so many straight-faced legal assertions have seemed to ultimately go nowhere in these matters.
Here’s Texas Monthly examining that fact and trying to find a reason in a recent article: Why Activists are Struggling to Grapple With OLS in the Courts
Is it possible that the Chronicle and others are struggling to find legal opinions from people who disagree with obviously biased attorneys like Amrutha Jindal, who is presently overseeing the Lubbock Private Defender’s Office, coordinating Defense attorneys for arrested trespassers and smugglers? Of course it is. That doesn’t mean Jindal and the others are absolutely wrong of course— at most, it probably just means there’s an argument to be settled, and prosecutors are simply not talking to reporters.
Who knows.
But, we can’t mention the LPDO without linking to our past coverage of ongoing difficulties at the organization. Readers should be aware that Jindal was not the original overseer for the various defense attorneys. That job was held initially by a man named Philip Wischkaemper, who is presently facing accusations that he was attempting to force defense attorneys to go against their client’s wishes.
It was a whole thing— and one can’t help but notice, that despite what seems to us like compelling materials relevant to those accusations, few statewide publications have picked up on it, not even in an attempt to debunk the original reporting by Texas Scorecard.
And finally this morning— it’s been a little while since we’ve checked in on Charlotte Cuthbertson at the Epoch Times.
She has a solid look at the border crisis as a whole for the month of October, examining the latest numbers from Homeland Security and the various border sectors. People may want to argue about any conclusions, but to us here at the Dispatch, it paints a mostly negative picture— showing rising numbers of asylum seekers and “got-aways” in almost every location.
Border Patrol agents apprehended 209,664 illegal aliens along the southern border during October, according to provisional Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data obtained by The Epoch Times.
However, it’s the “gotaways” that make up the most notable increase.
Each month, Border Patrol agents record the number of illegal aliens that they detect but don’t catch, which they call “gotaways.” However, that number isn’t publicly available and the number that go undetected is impossible to estimate.
Gotaways are generally described as illegal aliens who would have no legal pathway to enter the United States, and they include previously deported aliens and criminals.
During the month of October, agents recorded almost 87,000 gotaways along the southern border, double the number recorded in August.
As always— thanks for reading. Speaking personally, it’s hard not to feel somewhat ambivalent about some of the courtroom jockeying.
It is honestly way down the list of concerns here at the Dispatch. And we suspect it is that way for a large portion of Texans who are concerned about the border crisis.
Indeed, one suspects that most folks could care less about filling up Texas prisons with immigrants and aliens— and would much rather see more cost-effective measures that stop illegal alien traffic before it crosses the Rio Grande.
Weird.
As it is, Operation Lone Star almost more resembles a jobs program for attorneys, bus drivers, aid workers, and others than it does a solid check on the Cartels. Indeed— more people are being smuggled and crossing than ever. Blame the feds, blame the law, blame whatever. Blame isn’t changing the reality of what’s happening.
Have a great morning— we’ll see you again soon. As always, this news letter is a personal and independent work product that we endeavor to keep separate from any work we perform on behalf of the Kinney County Sheriff’s Office. Any errors, misdeeds, goofy opinions, and other problems are entirely our own. Readers should not confuse the newsletter for any sort of official communication by Kinney County or its various entities.
Good information as usual. "As always, should you or any of your" staff be wrong "the" sheriff "will disavow any knowledge of your actions." And, "This" byline "will self-destruct in five seconds." "Good luck," Matt.