Lone Star Defenders Office

This year we express our gratitude for many positive events that have taken place amid unprecedented times. We are grateful for the support and camaraderie of the organizations that shape the Operation Lone Star (OLS) defense program. We’re thankful for the opportunity we had to come together in the spring for our annual conference. Seeing each other in person allowed us to share information on how to better serve our clients. We continued challenging the constitutionality of OLS head-on and were able to have the cases of many clients dismissed. Thank you to our clients for trusting us and for sharing their stories with us which fuel our desire to continue fighting for them. #Gratitude #Thankyou #OperationLoneStar #GivingTuesday #LSDO

?? Governor Abbott’s Operation Lone Star: Targets Father of Five in Unconstitutional Overreach ?? A father of five was convicted under Abbott’s border scheme for simply giving a ride. This program criminalizes kindness, wastes billions, and violates federal law. Texans deserve justice and dignity.

??Community, mark your calendars!??? Join us in our mission to support persons arrested at the border under #OperationLoneStar (OLS). #GivingTuesday * - which is coming up on December 3rd - is a day that gives people the opportunity to directly support the causes they believe in. Now, more than ever, organizations fighting for immigration justice need your support. Lone Star Defenders Office is on the front-lines of that fight. Over the last three years, over 16,000 individuals have been arrested at the Texas-Mexico border under OLS. Our clients are mostly immigrants who are seeking asylum, safety, and economic opportunities but instead are funneled into the state criminal legal system, where they face inhumane jail conditions and constitutional rights violations. From litigating criminal cases to providing family support, the team at LSDO is committed to representing our clients with excellence and compassion at every stage. We would love for you to support our work this Giving Tuesday.* If you’re unable to make a financial contribution, please follow us on social media and share our content to help amplify the voices of our clients and to bring visibility to our work. *LSDO is not currently recognized as a 501(c)(3) organization. LSDO has submitted its 501(c)(3) application and anticipates that such recognition will be forthcoming. If you’re unable to make a financial contribution, please follow us on social media and share our content to help elevate the voices of our clients and to bring visibility to our work. #LSDO #PublicDefenders #PublicDefense #Donate #Support

?? OLS JAIL CONDITIONS??? Yesterday, on November 14, 2024, our Director of Case Management, Claudia Molina, testified before the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission about the awful conditions of confinement #OperationLoneStar clients face in Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) custody. Even though #OLS clients are in pretrial detention – and presumed innocent – they are held in prison units instead of jails. Client after client has told us stories of food covered in mold, rats in dorms and bathrooms, and guards being verbally abusive. ? This isn’t the first time we’ve rung the alarm about OLS jail conditions. In April, LSDO Resource Attorney Morgan Shelburne testified before the Board of TDCJ about our clients’ experiences in the Briscoe, Segovia, and Lopez Units, including how our female clients are repeatedly strip-searched. Over 16,000 individuals have been arrested and subjected to these inhumane conditions over the past 3 years of OLS. They deserve better. #LSDO #TXLege

Ending the week on a positive note - Lone Star Defenders Office got 6 cases dismissed yesterday and today! ???? All 6 clients were immigrants seeking a better and safer life in the US who were charged with trespassing. Let this be a reminder that even when things can feel overwhelming and exhausting, the fight for justice continues. I want to give a huge shout-out to the strong warriors who are relentless in their duty to their clients. The mental strength and fierce dedication it takes to process current events and still wake up the next day and fight for your clients/fight for what’s right is extraordinary. That people like this exist gives me hope. I hope it gives you hope too. ??

Our Executive Director, Amrutha Jindal, was featured in the Immigration Legal Providers Summit organized by the Texas Immigration Law Council. ?? ?? #LSDO #PublicDefenders #TxILCSummit #Collaboration #OLS #CriminalLaw

It's LSDO's first birthday! ?? Today marks one-year since we launched Lone Star Defenders Office to serve as the indigent defense hub for Operation Lone Star (OLS). It's been quite a journey! We started off as a team of 14, and in the past year we've more than doubled to a team of 31!!! Building and growing this organization has only been possible because of the incredible LSDO team - a group of dedicated attorneys, client advocates, case managers, finance, and administrative staff. Their work, expertise and passion have helped us make huge strides in the services that we provide our clients. We're looking forward to achieving even more in the upcoming year.

Both the 14th Amendment of the U.S Constitution and the Equal Rights Amendment of the Texas Constitution guarantee equal protection of the laws to any person within its jurisdiction. What does that mean? Our Legal Director, Doug Keller, puts it in practical terms: “The State can’t generally consider race, sex, or religion when making decisions about whom to arrest and prosecute. Whether someone loses their liberty shouldn’t depend on the color of their skin, whether they are male or female, or what faith they chose.” But for the first 19 months of Operation Lone Star (OLS), the State violated this equal protection guarantee by choosing to arrest only men and not women for the crime of trespass. When law enforcement encountered migrants at the border, they were separated into two groups. Women and minors were turned over to Border Patrol for immigration processing, but men were arrested and detained and charged with criminal trespass. LSDO challenged this discriminatory practice, and in the lead case on the issue, Ex Parte Aparicio, the Fourth Court of Appeals found that the evidence was “undisputed” that the “decision to prosecute Aparicio, and not the women found allegedly trespassing with him on private property, was motivated by his sex.” The court’s decision that the OLS trespass program was unconstitutional for violating equal protection could impact thousands of cases. Over 5,000 men were prosecuted for trespass during this time period and many have had their cases dismissed. The Aparicio case is now before Texas’s highest criminal court, the Court of Criminal Appeals – with a decision expected in the near future. Landmark cases such as Brown v. Board of Education, Plessy v. Ferguson and Loving v. Virginia, for example, have also been decided on grounds of Equal Protection. #LSDO #OperationLoneStar #PublicDefenders #EqualProtection

The Rural Association for Court Administration held its annual conference this week in San Antonio and welcomed JCMH Executive Director Kristi Taylor to speak about Mental Health in the Criminal Justice System.

Our Legal Director, Doug Keller, will participate in the 2024 Legislative Conference today, organized by the Texas Association of Counties. He will be speaking during the "Border Barriers" panel, which will discuss "the current challenges counties are facing, as well as the potential new challenges they may encounter if Senate Bill 4 goes into effect." #Texas #LSDO #TexasLegislature #operationLoneStar #TXLege