Texas to empty prison to make room for detained migrants

The move comes amid wider efforts by Governor Greg Abbott to stop migrants from coming through the US-Mexico border. The US state of Texas is transferring inmates from a state prison to make room for detained migrants, prison authorities said, amid sustained efforts by Governor Greg Abbott to rein in the number of Central American migrants coming from Mexico. “To address the ongoing crisis, Governor Abbott is directing state resources to arrest and confine those individuals crossing the border unlawfully and who have committed a state or federal crime.” More than 180,000 migrants attempted to cross the border in May, a 20-year high, according to the US Customs and Border Protection Agency. Abbott also announced he would spend $250m in state money as a “down payment” to continue the construction of a wall along the Texas border with Mexico that then-President Donald Trump started. On January 20 – his first day in office – Trump’s successor President Joe Biden issued an executive order that paused wall construction, saying: “A massive wall that spans the entire southern border is not a serious policy solution.” Biden’s order was the first in a series of moves to undo many of the Trump administration’s immigration curbs and to put in place what the Biden administration has called more humane policies.