US sues Texas governor to halt new migrant order

Justice Department aims to block an order framed as a public health measure to battle COVID that targets undocumented immigrants.

The US Justice Department on Friday sued Texas and its governor, Greg Abbott, seeking to block an order targeting undocumented immigrants that state claimed was a  public health measure to contain surging COVID-19 infections. The order interferes with the administration of federal immigration law, the Justice Department said in its complaint filed with the US District Court for the Western District of Texas in El Paso. On Wednesday, Abbott signed the order which stated that “no person, other than a federal, state, or local law-enforcement official, shall provide ground transportation to a group of migrants” who have been detained by federal immigration officials for undocumented border-crossings.