The Texas Department of Public Safety has charged over 200 illegal aliens arrested for participating in the March 21 riot at the United States-Mexico border in El Paso.
State authorities charged 214 individuals with a state Class B misdemeanor, while another nine were charged with felony rioting and/or criminal mischief and assault charges.
Amongst the nine charged with felonies, seven are under federal indictment, and two have warrants out for their arrest.
News of the arrests comes four days after New York Post reporter Jennie Taer wrote that Texas authorities had arrested 70 illegal aliens involved in the riot. That was on top of nine others who were arrested previously.
The 214 illegal aliens arrested and booked on state misdemeanor charges received a federal immigration detainer, which mandates that they be released within 48 hours of booking and handed over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
On Sunday, Presiding Magistrate Judge Humberto Acosta permitted the release of the illegal aliens to ICE and accused the state of being unprepared to stand trial.
At least 175 illegal aliens were detained and handed over to ICE this week, where they are now housed in an undisclosed location, El Paso Matters reported.
The remaining 39 are still at El Paso County Jail at the behest of their public defender, Kelli Childress, who waved their rights to bond hearings to stay in contact with them.
El Paso District Attorney Bill Hicks has pushed back against Acosta’s claims that Texas was unprepared to stand trial. He argued in a Tuesday press conference that the state only needed to be prepared for bond review hearings.
“We are not ready to go to trial on these cases because we don’t have the cases in our office. But that is irrelevant to a bond hearing,” Hicks said. “We were prepared for the bond hearings. We had run rap sheets on all the 200+ individuals.”
In regards to pursuing state charges for other illegal aliens involved in the riot, Hicks explained that the state was in the review process and would decide how to move forward on a case-by-case basis.
Hicks later told local media that he wanted to go after nearly double the number of illegal aliens currently detained. However, he fears many have already left the country.
State misdemeanor riot charges can carry up to 180 days in jail, a fine of up to $2,000, or both.
Late last month, Texas Scorecard reported on Taer’s initial footage of the riot, where illegal aliens could be seen breaking through a hole in border fencing that the Texas National Guard was attempting to fix.
A National Guard source informed local media that authorities confiscated knives and shanks from some of those involved. The source said at least one alien even attempted to grab a Guard member’s firearm.
Several members of the Guard also checked into a nearby hospital for minor injuries.
Meanwhile, Senate Bill 4—a Texas law making it a state crime for individuals to enter the country illegally—is currently on hold.
The law is pending further review by the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
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