Legal Win for Embattled County
And, Are Texas Soldiers Wasting Time in Operation Lone Star?
Hello again friends,
A tip of the hat to the Texas Tribune, and reporter Jolie McCullough, noting on twitter that a Texas appeals court will not be overturning Kinney County Judge Tully Shahan’s decision to send 3 judges packing— after accusations they were communicating ex-parte with defense attorneys and cutting deals on the side, without speaking with prosecutors in cases involving trespassers swept up in Operation Lone Star.
The judges in question have denied the accusations. They were replaced by a rotating slate of county judges from West Texas, sparking accusations in some quarters that Judge Shahan was selecting his friends and allies to hear cases, instead of the theoretically more-likely-to-be impartial judges appointed by the State.
Accusations like these have a corrosive life of their own— demanding their ongoing acknowledgement in follow up coverage for weeks and months after they are made. It’s also common for them to be made with no real evidence to speak of.
Here’s a piece McCullough produced with much of the background back in December. It should be noted however, that it was written prior to recent revelations that at least one of the organizations furnishing defense attorneys for the illegal aliens in Kinney County, stands accused of coercing attorneys to go against all ethical standards and ignore their clients’ wishes— essentially trying to potentially force them to cool their jets a forecasted 2 years for a trial, when they wanted to plea out and head home instead.
Find our summation of that matter, here:
It was just last week, for those who’ve been following along.
It’s not immediately clear if this is the end of the matter. But the statement from the court is so brief, so dismissive, that it comes across as a bit of a rebuke. Take our words on that matter with a grain of salt— we’re not exactly legal experts— it’s just how it reads to us as an admittedly biased reader.
Here’s a link to the PDF, which is rather dry. It doesn’t really get “juicy” until the end of the couple of paragraphs-long statement.
Mandamus is an extraordinary remedy, available only when the relator can show (1) the trial court clearly abused its discretion or violated a duty imposed by law; and (2) there is no adequate remedy by way of appeal. Walker v. Packer, 827 S.W.2d 833, 839–40 (Tex. 1992) (orig. proceeding). After considering the petition and the record, this court concludes relator did not show 1 This proceeding arises out of Cause No. 11254CR, styled State of Texas v. Frediz De La Cruz-De La Cruz, pending in the County Court, Kinney County, Texas, the Honorable Tully Shahan presiding. 04-21-00577-CR - 2 - he is entitled to the relief sought. Accordingly, the petition for writ of mandamus is denied.
The ruling would seem to vindicate the move by Judge Shahan, as an administrative matter, though it seems likely that critics’ claims of dishonest dealings will live on, even if now relatively toothless.
Word came Monday that Uvalde County is about to join Operation Lone Star, and begin actively pursuing cases against illegal alien trespassers and smugglers.
One wrinkle that may be unique to Uvalde, is that the local District Attorney will be prosecuting both the felony cases, and the misdemeanors— in most other areas, locally elected County Attorneys have been handling the misdemeanor cases.
Uvalde County is receiving a $ 3.3 Million dollar grant from the state to defray associated costs, which will include the acquisition of more office space— mirroring some of the challenges found so far in Kinney County.
Uvalde County joins Kinney County, Maverick County, Val Verde County, and others, as local governments around the border area seem to be taking note of the various hiccups and growing pains that are being slowly ironed out in the vacuum that’s been left by the Federal Government’s withdrawal from most active border enforcement efforts.
And finally this morning, news that soldiers associated with Operation Lone Star are attempting to unionize.
Sounds bizarre, and unlikely— will union reps and shop grievances have some bearing on lawful orders? The reporting out there says it’s doable, something to do with being assigned to long-term non-combat tasks while in State service. Reporter Davis Winkie at the Army Times has those details. Readers may recall, he’s the one that seemed to have the best, most accurate reporting of the recent death of a trooper at Fort Clark Springs. According to his reporting:
A federal law prohibiting members of the military from organizing unions “does not apply to Guard members on state active duty or in the Inactive National Guard,” DoJ lawyers wrote in a court filing last month.
We’ll see what happens there. In any event, one of the things we enjoy doing here at the Dispatch is dipping in and out of history, both recent and older for the kinds of perspective that are only visible after some remove from current events.
We thought it might be useful to examine recent assertions that Texas Military forces are accomplishing nothing while they sit along the border.
In this case, we’re going back to the 90s, and early 2000’s and a military border enforcement effort that was called “Joint Task Force 6.”
It was largely focused on border areas to the West of Kinney County— El Paso, and Arizona, mostly— though memory recalls there was also an Alex Jones-like undercover black helicopter component that was active in Webb County. People look at us funny when we mention it, but we know the reporter and photojournalist that broke that aspect of the story at the time. One soon went to work in El Paso and later Denver— the other to San Antonio. Black helicopters in civilian hangars, undercover military personnel dressed in civvies, using their first names hesitantly— trying to avoid using rank—all quaintly controversial at the time.
In any event, we are told that in the lead up to a long-term operation in the Nogales area, there was no shortage of chatter in military circles about how “we’re gonna bust so many damn cartel guys— they won’t even know what hit them!”
Imagine the frustration, when instead, the soldiers sat. And sat. And waited. And waited some more. In many cases, wherever they were posted, the border went dark. No traffic. Nada. No busts. Just a lot of embarrassed thumb-sucking out in the dark desert nights.
In the after-action reports, we’re told many military figures at the time were visibly glum and chastened. Perhaps embarrassed at their perceived failure to bust anything besides “Jack” and “Squat.”
Imagine their confusion, when across the table, their border patrol counterparts seemed ecstatic. “We’ve never seen anything like it! You guys shut it down completely,” is how we’re told the comments went.
The absence of an activity is telling in and of itself. The rerouting of traffic in response to military presence along the border offers a bonanza of opportunity for intelligence analysts. Law-enforcement will sometimes use the word “interdiction,” when describing certain activities— this would be a perfect illustration.
By loitering along sections of the border— by forcing traffic to go elsewhere, the soldiers associated with Joint Task Force 6 performed a mission of interdiction that succeeded so completely, they assumed in their ignorance that they had failed.
Are we seeing the same here with Operation Lone Star? Unknown. Too soon to tell perhaps. One does feel somewhat confident in suggesting however, that many of the complaints associated with the duty would be settled if the state Military Department would get its act together on getting soldiers paid and winter equipment issued.
Who is to blame? Some say the Governor. Others say it lies with Major General Tracy Norris, hinting that she is an unqualified diversity selection, promoted beyond her talents. Others still, chalk it up to bureaucratic revenge-seeking by entrenched, faceless figures in the Texas Military establishment and offer a gallic shrug of the shoulders as if to suggest there’s nothing to be done— that a bureaucratic deep state of long-term secure pencil pushers and paper shufflers in Austin are capable of holding up the whole thing and getting away with it too.
From here, one imagines that many of the suggestions for blame have more to do with personal axes to grind than they do with actual solutions— but we don’t have any real ones to offer either, other than suggesting that a threatened campaign of decimation in the Texas Military department may pay dividends. A policy stating something like: “Get it straight, or we’re firing a ton of you, starting with the longest serving,” would be powerful medicine. Like all medicine, it would not taste good at first, but would inevitably lead to some kind of reform. It may be that the problem will not require such drastic measures, but who knows in the absence of a clear, authoritative voice on the subject— able to outline just what the heck is going on.
For now, we suggest folks try and reconsider the perception that these Texas soldiers are wasting their time. As history taught in the case of Joint Task Force 6, such perceptions can be misleading.
That’ll do it for now. We hope it’s been informative, or at least a little entertaining. Expecting much warmer weather soon. A good time to schedule some TLC for any yard projects that have been sliding because it’s too cold.
As always, we should mention our ongoing employment with the Kinney County Sheriff’s Office, alerting readers to the potential conflict of interest there. This newsletter is an independent work product that predates our hiring, and is fashioned without the input or oversight of Kinney County officials.
Have a great day, and get ready for that weekend. Folks in Central Texas and the Hill Country have had the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo underway since the 10th.
Tim McGraw takes the stage Saturday. Personal favorite Ryan Bingham closes it out the following Saturday on the 26th. If you have the option of attending, highly recommend exercising it.