The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Texas’ report, Trapped in Texas: How Federal — and Now State — Immigration Enforcement Traps People Trying to Escape Texas’ Abortion Ban, explores how immigration enforcement severely limits undocumented people’s access to abortions. Because of the state's extreme abortion ban, Texans in need of abortion care are forced to travel hundreds of miles to the nearest clinic. But on top of distance, time, and expense required, noncitizens and those in mixed-status families in south Texas face an additional obstacle to travel — federal immigration checkpoints and with them, the risk of arrest, detention, and deportation.
Interior Border Patrol Checkpoints Within 100 Miles of the Southern U.S. Border
U.S. Border Patrol, an agency within Customs and Border Protection (CBP), operates over 110 checkpoints and roving patrols well into the interior of the United States, within 100 miles of the international border. In Texas alone, there are around 19 interior checkpoints, stationed on the major (and sometimes only) roads in Texas within 100 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border. Every day, these checkpoints shape and constrict the movement of border residents who must pass through them and have their license plate and other information recorded just to drive through or out of their cities.
Driving Distance to Abortion Care for Texans in the 100-Mile Zone
In 2023, Texas, the largest state to ban abortion, had the traveling out of state for an abortion — and in many cases, they are traveling than anyone else in the country. A resident of Brownsville would need to drive over 870 miles — a minimum 12 hour drive one-way to reach New Mexico, while someone from Laredo would likely face a 10-hour drive. People living in south Texas are not only driving significant distances for an abortion; in most cases, they must also drive through one or multiple interior federal checkpoints, risking arrest and deportation if they are undocumented.
Read the full report below: