More than 200 migrants have been charged with rioting following the chaos at the US-Mexico border last month which injured a number of Texas National Guard troops.
Texas has so far identified 222 migrants who barged through and pulled down razor wire fences along its border, before pushing past troops and running onto American soil on March 21.
118 members of the crowd were charged with participating in a riot on Friday, March 29, with a further 97 across the weekend; seven more were given the same, as well as criminal mischief charges at the end of last week.
El Paso magistrate judge Humberto Acosta said on Sunday that the "hundreds of arrestees" from the border riots were entitled to individual bail hearings within 48 hours of receiving charges.
Texas has so far identified 222 migrants who barged through and pulled down razor wire fences along its border
Reuters
Acosta also denied a request from the District Attorney for more time to prepare, and ordered 39 of the migrants who had appeared before him to be "released on their own recognisance" following a DA decision to group them together in one mass hearing rather than have them be seen individually.
But after the hearing, all rioters involved were moved from state custody to that of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The agency has confirmed it is waiting to take custody of those charged with rioting at the border, and will begin deportation proceedings against the whole group.
An El Paso county court statement said: "All individuals allegedly involved in the March 21 border breach had federal detainers filed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to have them returned to its custody once released from state custody."
MORE BORDER CHAOS:
US immigration agency ICE has confirmed it is waiting to take custody of those charged with rioting at the border
Reuters
On Monday, another hearing for 40 of the detainees was postponed after Kelli Childress, the public defender on the case, requested a delay.
Childress flagged the fact that if the migrants were released by the state, they would have no further access to lawyers under ICE custody.
At the same hearing, assistant District Attorney Jennifer Vandenbosch said that Texas was now prepared to proceed with individual hearings for each person charged with rioting.
The migrants accused of participating in the border fracas on March 21 had hoped US Border Patrol would apprehend them and allow them to stay in the country, but became agitated when officials began separating them into smaller groups, the New York Post reported.
US officials were pictured supporting makeshift barbed-wire fences as the altercation took place
Reuters
Authorities confiscated weapons including knives and 'shanks' from some of the migrants involved in the rush, while at least one migrant attempted to grab a soldier's gun, a National Guard source told the Post at the time.
In the aftermath of the chaos Everisto Benitez Martinez - a Honduran national - was charged with allegedly repeatedly stomping on a guardsman's knee, according to court documents seen by US outlet Border Report.
Additionally, a pair of Venezuelan nationals who received federal and state charges are being held on bonds of over $42,000 each in El Paso County jail.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has since bolstered National Guard and state troopers' presence in El Paso in order to respond to any possible further incursions, with up to 200 soldiers from Texas' Tactical Border Force deployed in the area.
