Facing sex discrimination lawsuits for targeting men under the state’s border security crackdown, Texas has begun putting migrant women in state prisons, too.
Since last week, women arrested under Gov. Greg Abbott’s yearslong Operation Lone Star have been sent to a state prison facility in Edinburg, prison and state police officials confirmed. By Tuesday, 25 women, most accused only of trespassing, were being held at the Lopez State Jail, which typically houses men convicted of low-level crimes.
Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesperson Amanda Hernandez said officials had cleared out one building in the facility to house up to 200 females.