(C) El Paso Matters.org This story was originally published by El Paso Matters.org and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Judge dismisses second group of migrants’ rioting cases; groups organize against Senate Bill 4 [1] ['El Paso Matters Staff', 'El Paso Matters', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Where Img', 'Height Auto Max-Width', 'Vertical-Align Bottom .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar'] Date: 2024-05-10 This is your weekly news roundup, which takes a quick look at some developments in government, politics, education, environment and other topics across El Paso. Migrant Rioting Cases Dismissed An El Paso judge on Wednesday dismissed more than 200 cases against migrants who had been accused of participating in a “riot” when attempting to cross into the U.S. from Mexico in March. The migrants faced misdemeanor charges of riot participation. The cases were dismissed by County Court at Law Judge Ruben Morales, who agreed with public defenders who argued the transfer order moving the cases from a district court to the county court was not filed, the El Paso Times reported. He ruled he therefore didn’t have jurisdiction and dismissed the cases from the March 21 arrests by Texas Department of Public Safety state troopers. El Paso District Attorney Bill Hicks on Thursday said he planned to appeal the decision. El Paso County Public Defender Kelli Childress on Friday said 37 of those migrants remained in county custody but didn’t yet know the custody status of the rest. El Paso County sheriff’s officials didn’t immediately respond to requests for information. Those cases are separate from another group of about 140 migrants facing similar charges from an April 12 incident at the border. Morales on April 23 dismissed the cases after ruling the state showed no probable cause to arrest them. Hicks a day later presented the cases to a grand jury, which signed off on their indictments. Those arrested were among a large group of migrants who pushed past Texas National Guard soldiers and concertina wire at the Rio Grande in an attempt to reach the border wall and U.S. Border Patrol agents to request asylum. Texas AG Petitions for Annunciation House Injunction Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Wednesday filed a petition for a temporary injunction against El Paso’s Annunciation House as part of the state’s efforts to shut down the migrant shelter network by stripping it of its state business license. The AG is asking that Annunciation House cease its operations while its lawsuit is pending. The filing comes after the AG’s office and Annunciation House deposed each other under an agreement reached in April following a flurry of court filings by both. The Attorney General’s Office on Feb. 7 served the organization with an order to examine records related to its operations. An El Paso district court judge the next day issued a temporary restraining order blocking the AG from enforcing the order. On Feb. 20, the AG filed a counterclaim seeking to overturn the restraining order. In early March, Annunciation House requested a temporary injunction, a step above the restraining order that would buy the organization time to consult with its attorneys. A district court judge denied the injunction, ruling instead that the case falls under the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, which govern the proceedings in civil trials. That ruling essentially blocked any action by Paxton until the court reviews the case. Paxton claims the nongovernmental organization’s operations “facilitate illegal border crossings” and “conceal legally present aliens from law enforcement.” Annunciation House founder Ruben Garcia has rejected the allegations. The shelter network has provided what Garcia calls “hospitality” for migrants and refugees since 1978. Construction Contracts for Fire Stations Awarded The El Paso City Council on Tuesday approved a $22 million construction contract with Dantex Construction to build the Fire Department Special Operations Division Station on South Campbell Street. It will include 10 apparatus bays, a dispatch office, decontamination showers and a two-story living facility. Construction is scheduled to begin this summer and be completed by the winter 2025. The council on April 22 awarded a $280,000 design-build contract to Jordan Foster Construction for the public safety training academy and fire department headquarters and vehicle maintenance center in Northeast. It also approved requesting $8.8 million from the Community Project Funding program for the reconstruction of Fire Station 12 on Fort Boulevard. The stations and centers are part of the $413 million public safety bond approved by voters in 2019. We Will Resist Coalition Calls for Repeal of SB 4 The Border Network for Human Rights based in El Paso this week convened more than 50 civil rights organizations from across Texas under the We Will Resist Coalition to call for the repeal of Senate Bill 4 and the end of Operation Lone Star. Members of the coalition, which works to increase community education, action and organization for human rights activism, marched in Downtown El Paso protesting the initiatives. The coalition on Friday afternoon is expected to announce “a series of community actions” it plans to mobilize against SB 4 and Operation Lone Star, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s controversial border security initiative that has put thousands of state National Guardsmen and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers at the border. SB 4 is the law approved last year that would allow local and state law enforcement officers – including police, sheriff officers and state troopers – to detain people suspected of entering or attempting to enter Texas from Mexico without authority. The law was to go into effect in March but remains blocked by the courts until lawsuits filed against it are settled. The ACLU filed lawsuits seeking to stop SB 4’s implementation on behalf of El Paso County and Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, among other groups and organizations. Abbott has defended Operation Lone Star as a way to protect the border, saying insufficient federal immigration policies have left “dangerous gaps” in border security. 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