El Paso DA challenges ruling office wasn't ready to handle migrant 'border riot' cases

El Paso District Attorney Bill Hicks is challenging a magistrate judge’s ruling that his office was not ready to proceed with hundreds of “border riot” cases over the Easter holiday weekend.

“I was very surprised on Sunday when Judge Acosta asked my assistant district attorney if we had the cases in our office,” Hicks said. “That is completely irrelevant to whether we are ready to proceed with a bond hearing.

“We are not ready to go to trial on those cases because we don’t have those case in our office, but that is irrelevant to a bond hearing. We were prepared for the bond hearings.”

El Paso County Public Defender Kelli Childress, whose office is representing most of the migrants, said the arrests were illegal without probable cause. She said the arrest were political to "inflame the public."

El Paso County Magistrate Judge Humberto Acosta ruled Sunday, March 31, to release a large number of migrants arrested on riot charges. Acosta said he was releasing the migrants because the El Paso District Attorney's Office was not ready to proceed with detention hearings for each defendant.

The cases are still pending in court even if the accused rioters are released from jail.

The El Paso Council of Judges, which oversees the administration of justice by judges, said judges will continue to strictly follow the rule of law when handling all cases including jailed defendants being entitled to a bond hearing within 48 hours of being detained.

"The Courts in El Paso County, Texas will continue to hold required hearings and process cases brought before them in compliance with the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure," El Paso Council of Judges officials said in a statement. "The judges will manage all cases within the boundaries of the law, the evidence presented and the mandates of their judicial canons."

Hundreds of migrants were arrested by the Texas Department of Public Safety in connection with a March 21 stampede of asylum-seeking migrants — mostly men from Venezuela — who tore down razor wire barriers along the Rio Grande and rushed the border fence.

More: El Paso judge orders release of migrants accused of 'border riot'

Hicks said his office is able to handle the more than 200 cases but requested that Acosta push back the migrants’ bond hearings because of the Easter holiday. His office requested the bond hearing be held during the week.

“Our office asked for a reset of those hearings on Easter Sunday to move them into the regular work week so we would not tie up all the additional resources needed on Easter Sunday,” Hicks said. “We did this so staff could be with their families on Easter Sunday.”

Childress said she planned to waive her clients' rights to a bond hearing during Sunday's detention hearings because if released on bond, her and her staff's access to the clients would be hindered if they were transferred into federal custody.

On Monday, Childress waived bond hearings for more than 40 of the migrants.

"Over the weekend, approximately 220 migrants were transferred to our county jail after being arrested for the state crime of participating in a riot, a Class B misdemeanor," Childress said. "On Monday, I waived bond review hearings so that my clients would remain here in the county jail and accessible to me. I had intended to waive those hearings on Easter Sunday as well. But prior to the hearings, the court on its own volition released all of the migrants on signatures bonds."

Public defender: 'Charges against these migrants are false'

A group of about 425 migrants tore down razor wire barriers along the north side of the Rio Grande and rushed the border fence March 21 at Border Safety Initiative Marker No. 36 in the Riverside area of El Paso's Lower Valley.

The “riot” resulted in nine people being arrested on suspicion of assaulting a Texas National Guard soldier and felony riot charges. Two of the nine were released by U.S. Border Patrol and are being sought on state charges, Hicks said.

Some of the migrants allegedly assaulted and attempted to take guns away from the Texas National Guard troops, Hicks said.

"While I'm not particularly concerned about immigration cases, I am concerned about violence and destruction of property," Hicks said. "That (riot) grew and moved forward in a way that caused violence to the National Guardsmen. The National Guardsmen were punched in the face, the knees of Guardsmen were stomped on. That could obviously result in very serious permanent injuries. Someone tried to take a gun away from one of the National Guardsmen. Obviously, we don't have to talk about how dangerous that is.

"The violence that was perpetrated on the National Guardsman is extremely concerning to me. The property damage, the stomping of the concertina wire, the knocking down of the fencing. That kind of violence done to government property, and then the storming of the gate by 425 people. Storming the gate."

Another 221 people were arrested on misdemeanor riot charges. There were about 81 people who Texas Department of Public Safety troopers were not able to arrest because those migrants were moved by U.S. Border Patrol agents to a Houston jail, Hicks said.

More: Migrants breach concertina razor wire after Texas National Guard fail to hold them back

Those migrants were moved because of limited space in the El Paso County Jail, which houses people charged in state and federal cases. There are about 39 migrants still at the El Paso County Jail, Childress said. The majority of the migrants arrested in the riots are being represented by the El Paso County Public Defender's Office.

The allegations against the migrants are false with the migrants being used for political reasons, Childress said.

"There have been a number of misleading statements made over the last 10 days about an incident that occurred at Gate 36 of the border wall," Childress said. "The very limited footage that we've all been allowed to see, that has been released to the media, has been widely misconstrued. In time through the court process, the real incidents that had occurred on that morning, as well as going backwards into the evening before, will be revealed.

"The charges against these migrants are false. They're an attempt to inflame the public. We are armed with the truth and we are prepared to defend our clients in criminal court."

The District Attorney's Office is planning on moving forward with charging all of the migrants arrested. However, Hicks said his office will review each case individually to determine which ones merit prosecution.

"What we have to find is proof beyond a reasonable doubt to gain a conviction," Hicks said. "I'll tell you that the cases involving the instigators, from what I have seen of those cases and again we don't have the complete cases files, what I've seen of those cases and the videos that I've seen, I feel very confident that we're going to reach beyond reasonable doubt on those instigators that we've indicted for felony offenses."

Childress disagreed with Hicks saying the migrants were illegally arrested. She declined when asked if she believed the District Attorney's Office had the staff to prosecute the large number of arrests.

"I don't believe there was probable cause to arrest any of them," Childress said.

A message must be sent that El Paso will not tolerate migrants attacking National Guard troopers, or any other law enforcement officers, to try to gain entry into the U.S., Hicks said.

More: Death Trap: Juárez migrant detention center fire a year later

"I'm concerned that if we don't send that message that you can't come to Gate 36 or any place in El Paso and perpetrate violence to get into the United States," Hicks said. "If they think that they can come in and can perpetrate violence, can destroy property to get into the United States, what's going to stop them from coming across Paisano (Drive) and going into our neighborhoods.

"If they're willing to tear down government property, what's going to stop them from tearing down people's backyards, going through people's backyards? If they're willing to assault government officials, what stops them from assaulting our friends, our neighbors, our mothers and fathers in those neighborhoods? We have to send the message that you cannot do that. That we have to be a community of law and order."

Childress said the best course of action is for the cases against the migrants to be heard in state court, rather than just turning over the migrants to federal government on immigration charges. She said the allegations are targeting migrants to make them appear to be criminals.

"I don't believe we can stop bad behavior that we see directed at migrants, unless we take a stand against it and we make it known," Childress said. "The only thing the public's been allowed to see is some very limited video footage. There have been a number of interviews with people who have a very clear position about these issues, but until the full truth is revealed people should not be making up their minds about how to handle these situations.

"I think if we don't address it and take a stand against it first, I wouldn't be doing my job. There are a lot more people that stand to suffer behind these people if we don't stop to this."

Aaron Martinez may be reached at amartinez1@elpasotimes.com or on Twitter @AMartinezEPT.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: DA challenges ruling office wasn't ready to handle 'border riot' cases