Law enforcement authorities worry that some immigration-related legislation would silence immigrant crime victims and witnesses, who may stop cooperating with the police out of fear that their undocumented status will be discovered.

New U.S. census data shows the Hispanic population in Texas increased by 42 percent since 2000 and makes up 38 percent of the population. The state's total population increased by 4,293,741 since 2000.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn said it was time for the White House to re-think its policy concerning Mexico after the shooting death of a U.S. immigration agent Tuesday. “My hope is that the president would tell us what his plan is, because what’s happening now does not seem to be working,” he said.

Janet Napolitano minced few words about the killing of a U.S. agent in Mexico today: “Let me be clear: Any act of violence against our ICE personnel — or any DHS personnel — is an attack against all those who serve our nation." 

A loophole in state law allows cockfights in Texas to flourish and be a breeding ground for more serious criminal activity, including drug use, prostitution and trafficking associated with Mexican drug cartels, state lawmakers say.  

Freshman state Sen. José Rodríguez, D-El Paso, filed SB 600 on Friday, which would prevent law enforcement from asking the immigration status or nationality of a witness to or victim of a crime “except as necessary to investigate the offense.”

Unlike the debate over voter ID, in which Senate Democrats stood united in their opposition, a combination of politics, religion and personal histories have made the sonogram bill more divisive in their caucus. 

Even before state Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, tweaked a bill requiring a woman seeking an abortion to have a sonogram performed, he said lawmakers and the media had misunderstood his intent. 

A final ruling in the case of a Mexican reporter seeking asylum in the U.S. with his teenage son has been postponed until 2012 after his attorney was subpoenaed to appear in federal court in an unrelated case and asked for a rescheduling.

The police chief in the border city across the Rio Grande from Laredo was killed late Wednesday, less than five weeks after taking office.

At least half a dozen bills have been filed in the Texas House mandating the use of the federal electronic employment verification system known as E-Verify. But is the system so fraught with errors that it actually hinders employers who use it to check the eligibility of new hires? 

The number of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. remained relatively unchanged in 2010, with a population of about 11.2 million. That’s about 3.7 percent of the country’s total population. Texas, however, was one of the few states that saw an increase over the last few years, according to a new study released by the Pew Hispanic Center.

The voter ID legislation passed by the Texas Senate on Wednesday night may be controversial, but it’s a familiar debate, as is the issue of “sanctuary cities.” Less well known but no less controversial are many of the provisions found in more than three dozen immigration-related bills filed so far. Some Hispanic Republicans in the Texas House say they are not going to support bills they believe are too extreme. 

The Obama administration's "drug czar" on the federal drug control strategy, curbing drug addiction in the United States, helping to end drug-related violence in Mexico — and why legalizing illicit drugs is not the answer.