A sheriff from a Texas community near the Mexican border has been charged with ordering his agents to routinely and illegally seize property and cash from undocumented immigrants they stopped for traffic violations.
Texas Rangers detectives and the Texas Attorney General's Office raided four properties linked to Sheriff Nathan Johnson as part of their criminal investigation, The Texas Tribune reported.
According to the criminal investigation,
Johnson seized the money and vehicles of the immigrants he detained before turning them over to Border Patrol agents
.
[They reveal unpublished evidence of the case of the Latino trucker who caused four deaths on a Colorado highway]
Sheriff Nathan Johnson of Real County, Texas Facebook
"Confiscating money from undocumented immigrants and their drivers has been a routine way of operating since he has worked in the Real County Sheriff's Office," said the state agent investigating the case, Ricardo Guajardo, according to the aforementioned media. .
It is not clear at this time if Texas authorities have already filed charges against Johnson or are close to doing so.
If charged with robbery by a public agent, a third degree felony in Texas, you could face up to 10 years in prison and a $ 10,000 fine, The Washington Post reports.
Johnson told The Texas Tribune that his attorneys are currently reviewing the case.
According to court records consulted by that outlet, the sheriff told detectives in November that he sometimes withheld money and vehicles as evidence for possible criminal cases.
A minor from El Salvador who crossed the border only meets with family thanks to a Telemundo News report
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After the raids he was subjected to,
Johnson said in a Facebook post that he did not know why he was being investigated.
"I have taken a strong stance against human traffickers, drug traffickers, and the transit of illegals in our community and will continue to do so," he wrote.
Johnson was appointed sheriff of Real County, an area 120 miles from San Antonio where about 3,400 people reside, in 2017. Before that, he served several years as a sheriff's deputy.
Real County is 100 miles from Del Rio, Texas, a migrant crossing point on the southern border that last year saw more than 15,000 Haitian migrants arrive.
The area has become a political battleground between Democrats and Republicans
over their respective immigration policies at the federal and state levels.
[Texas threatens to close the border to stop 8,000 migrants waiting under a bridge to request asylum]
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has threatened to close the border in the face of the arrival of migrants and has taken a series of punitive measures to discourage them from crossing, including threatening to jail them for trespassing on private property.
Asset forfeiture laws allow federal, state and local authorities to seize private property without having to prove or even formally charge its owners with a crime.
Agencies can sell confiscated assets and incorporate the proceeds into their budgets.
Data shows that black and Hispanic communities have been harmed more by these laws than white ones, reports The Washington Post.
Some 300 migrants tricked by coyotes are stranded on the US-Mexico border.
Jan. 3, 202200: 54
Johnson has been involved in several incidents
, according to the Texas Rangers report.
In May 2021, recordings show Johnson ordering his agents to seize money and a 2008 Toyota Tundra pickup from undocumented immigrants that they stopped while driving.
According to Guajardo, the money was reported as abandoned and it was deposited to the Real County account.
While the vehicle was deemed abandoned after 30 days and was sold at auction.
The Texas Rangers investigation began after this and another couple of similar incidents that were reported in the media.
The prosecution has required Johnson to report and initiate the corresponding request for the confiscated assets, following reports in the media that he was not following established procedures.
