Aug. 27 (UPI) -- A federal judge has granted a preliminary injunction that temporarily stops Texas from enforcing an executive order limiting ground transportation for migrants.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone granted the motion Thursday in a lawsuit over Gov. Greg Abbott's order to allow only law-enforcement members to provide ground transportation for migrants.
The injunction will be in effect until there is a resolution in a Department of Justice lawsuit that seeks an order permanently barring enforcement.
Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, which provides essential services to migrants at its Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen, Texas, had filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the issuance of the injunction.
"Our mission has always been to serve the most desperate that are standing right in front of us," Daniel E. Flores, the bishop of Brownsville, Texas, said in a written statement. "We are grateful that we can continue serving migrants -- most of whom are young women and children in desperate need of the basic necessities."
The brief says the order violates the First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion and the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Abbott has characterized the order as a move to combat COVID-19.
