After teasing border security rollback, Texas plunges in deeper
Texas’ border spending exploded after Joe Biden’s election, then state leaders signaled a new willingness to reduce it when Trump won. That didn’t last long. Full Story
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Alejandro Serrano writes about Texas politics and government, with a focus on immigration and education issues. Since joining the Tribune, he has helped investigate the 2022 Uvalde school shooting, lived for half a year in Eagle Pass during a temporary assignment covering immigration and documented a variety of major occurrences in the state from Houston, where he used to live. He previously covered education for the Houston Chronicle and breaking news for the San Francisco Chronicle. The Long Island, New York, native received his bachelor's degree in journalism from Northeastern University. He is based in Austin and speaks fluent Spanish.
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![Texas National Guard members load a raft to a pickup at the bank of the Rio Grand at Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, on Jan. 16, 2024. Texas has closed off Shelby Park, cutting access to federal agents to part of the Texas-Mexico border and escalating tensions between the Biden administration and Gov. Greg Abbott.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Texas National Guard to make immigration arrests under agreement with Trump administration, Abbott says
Gov. Greg Abbott said that the agreement was effective immediately. Full Story
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![Members of the Texas National Guard stand guard on the banks of the Rio Bravo river, the border between the United States and Mexico, with the purpose of reinforcing border security and inhibiting the crossing of migrants into the United States, as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, May 12, 2023.]()
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An immigrant faces deportation after a routine traffic stop in Texas, sparking more fear
Advocates worry that rapidly shifting federal and state immigration initiatives will prompt more city police to funnel migrants without criminal records to federal agents. Full Story
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![Jose Alvaro (his first and middle name), his wife Ashley, children 6-month old Jose, 1-year old Arrceli and 4-year-old Antonio at their home near Lubbock, Tx. on Tuesday, January 28, 2025. Jose Alvaro is in danger of being deported and working with an attorney to stay home with his family.]()
Credit: Mark Rogers for The Texas Tribune -
Abbott sends state troops to U.S.-Mexico border to work with Border Patrol
The 400 members of a special tactical unit left bases in Houston and Fort Worth on Monday morning, according to the governor’s office. Full Story
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![Gov. Abbott speaks to DPS Troopers and National Guard troops at a Thanksgiving dinner event in Edinburg on Nov. 26, 2024.]()
Credit: Michael Gonzalez for The Texas Tribune -
U.S. Senate investigation of migrant child’s death finds poor medical care at border protection facilities
The Senate Judiciary Committee launched its investigation following the 2023 death of an 8-year-old girl at a facility in Harlingen. Full Story
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![Unaccompanied minor asylum seekers are apprehended by Customs and Border Protection after crossing the border in Roma on Aug. 3, 2021.]()
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Some local officials in Texas cheer Trump’s immigration crackdown, others sound cautious note
The Trump administration this week threatened local officials with prosecution if they interfere with its planned immigration crackdown. Full Story
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![Asylum-seeking migrants from Central America, who were airlifted from Brownsville to El Paso, Texas, and deported from the United States, walk towards Mexico at the Paso del Norte International border bridge from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on March 24, 2021.]()
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Migrants at Texas border in shock after Trump canceled their asylum appointments
Hours after Trump’s inauguration, his administration canceled appointments allowing migrants to enter the U.S. to request asylum, leaving many of them stranded on the U.S.-Mexico border. Full Story
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![Margelis Tinoco Lopez was in line for her 1pm CBP One appointment when President Trump was sworn into office and issued an executive order that immediately canceled all CBP One appointments, including her own. Ciudad Juarez, Mexico on January 21, 2025.]()
Credit: Justin Hamel for The Texas Tribune -
Trump promised mass deportations. Here’s one way they could quietly happen.
The new administration could use the existing system of federal agents, local police and jails to funnel more people into the deportation pipeline. Full Story
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![Migrants from Central America that were apprehended crossing the Rio Grande in Brownsville were flown to El Paso for processing and then deported to Mexico across the Paso del Norte International Bridge on March 16, 2021.]()
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Trump to tap Texas “border czar” to lead U.S. Border Patrol, report says
Mike Banks, a former Border Patrol agent, has served in his current role as a special advisor to Gov. Greg Abbott since January 2023. Full Story
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![Texas Border Czar Mike Banks at a news conference regarding border security at the Texas DPS regional headquarters in Weslaco on Feb. 21, 2023.]()
Credit: Michael Gonzalez for The Texas Tribune -
Criminal appeals court to rehear election wrongdoing case involving Washington County Republican
The Court of Criminal Appeals will rehear a case it threw out last year. Three of the judges became targets of Attorney General Ken Paxton over another ruling and lost reelection. Full Story
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![The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Jan. 15, 2020.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune