El Paso County Judge Ruben Morales dismissed rioting charges against 211 illegal aliens. 

On March 21, hundreds of illegal immigrants stampeded the southern border at El Paso to cross into Texas. They were caught on video tearing down razor wire and trampling Border Patrol and other law enforcement protecting the border. 

The charges against them have all been dismissed based on a technicality. 

Judge Morales said his "hands are tied." The state did not provide a required transfer order, which is a simple document, to move the cases from district to county court. The District Attorney said he will appeal the ruling.

“If I don’t have jurisdiction, there’s nothing I can do on these cases [except dismiss them],” he said during the hearing.

The move is a huge blow for District Attorney Bill Hicks, who had been pursuing the cases. At a press conference Thursday he said: “Our office feels strongly … the procedure was appropriate and proper.

“We feel Judge Morales’ order is an improper order. We have the intention of appealing.”

El Paso County Assistant District Attorney Kyle Lasley had argued that Morales’ court oversaw misdemeanor cases and that he did have jurisdiction. 

Residents in border communities just can't catch a break as the Biden border crisis rages on. Some of the rioters will be granted the ability to claim asylum and be released into the country. Hicks said that Border Patrol will process them. Many might qualify for asylum but most will not. Some will be deported, many will not. 

Some of the rioters have criminal histories but most do not. 

“If eventually the court of appeals reverses and we end up with charges here… we’ll issue warrants for their arrest. For those here in the country they may be subject to arrest, for those who are deported, if they come back, they will be subject to arrest.”

What a mess.

Public Defender Kelli Childress said that "processes were ignored" when transferring the cases. Judge Morales agreed with her but said his hands were tied without the order transfer documents. 

The rioting illegal aliens injured law enforcement at the border as they tried to stop them from moving across the border. They attacked border guards, with one having his knee stomped in the chaos. They will be released to federal custody with the Border Patrol. 

The riot charges carried a maximum penalty of 180 days in jail and up to a $2,000 fine.

Most of the illegal aliens are adult males. Nine of them were singled out as the ringleaders during the stampede. Eight of them are in custody. They face additional felony charges. Those charges will be heard separately. 

The ninth ringleader is on the loose. He is Venezuelan migant Gabriel Enrique Angarita Carrasquero, 22, who was released by the Border Patrol into the United States after the riot. He is alleged to have assaulted a Texas soldier according to an internal federal memo.

Some of the stampeding rioters have already been released. The first group was released on Easter Sunday when a teleconference bond hearing was held. They were released on their own recognizance. Presiding Magistrate Judge Humberto Acosta said that the El Paso District Attorney's Office was not ready to proceed with detention hearings for each defendant. 

Another group of stampeders was released later in April by a county court-at-law judge who found no probable cause to continue holding 140 illegal aliens at the El Paso County Jail. They were detained on state riot charges. A public defender said the arrest affidavits didn't specify what each illegal alien did or name an officer or agent who saw them do it. She said the illegals followed the crowd and may not have been aware of the violence going on at the front of the crowd. 

Nonetheless, they were all here illegally after pushing their way past border agents and taking down razor wire. That alone should have been enough to get them deported back across the border.

District Attorney Bill Hicks held a press conference on Thursday. He said his office disagreed with the ruling and intended to appeal.

"We argued that it was appropriate and proper, and we feel that very strongly, and we feel that … it was done appropriately and that his order is an improper order," he said. "We have intentions of appealing his order to the Court of Appeals.

"It is not a good order. Because of that, and because we feel that the law is on our side, we have every intention of appealing his dismissal orders."

Good luck with the appeal process. The illegal aliens should be sent back to wherever they came from but they are being released into the United States because of paperwork. Unbelievable.