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Julián Aguilar

Julián Aguilar’s staff photo

Julián Aguilar reported for the Tribune from 2009 to 2021, most recently on politics and on the Texas-Mexico border. He focused on immigration reform and enforcement, voter ID, international trade, border security, and the drug trade. His political coverage has included local, legislative and congressional races in Texas, as well as local and national elections in Mexico. Before joining The Texas Tribune, he was a freelance writer for the Fort Worth Weekly, a government and crime reporter for the Laredo Morning Times, and a political writer for the Rio Grande Guardian. A native of El Paso, he has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Texas and a master's degree in journalism from the Frank W. Mayborn Graduate Institute of Journalism at the University of North Texas.

Past Contributions

  • TribBlog: Cornyn Hits DHS on "Selective Enforcement"

    By Julián Aguilar

    In a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and six other Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee say the dismissals of cases against aliens is a result of a directive from ICE Director John T. Morton to staff attorneys ordering them to review and dismiss cases that do not involve Level 1 offenses—aggravated felonies or two or more felonies. Full Story 

    U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, at the state Republican convention in 2010.
    Credit: Bob Daemmrich

  • TribBlog: Delay of Game

    By Julián Aguilar

    A federal judge on Wednesday declined to rule on a request for an injunction filed by a group of high school sports officials seeking to prevent what they call a government takeover of an independent contracting agency. Full Story 

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  • Friday Night Lights Out?

    By Julián Aguilar

    The drama of the gridiron has found its way into a federal courtroom in a standoff between the Texas Association of Sports Officials and the University Interscholastic League. With the threat of a lockout of referees and their ilk, the result could be the hiring of scabs to replace them — or even the halting of games — just weeks before one of the year's most eagerly anticipated moments in Texas: the start of high school football playoffs. Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman

  • Dunnam on Trial

    By Julián Aguilar

    The trial-lawyer-as-epithet strategy, a perennial favorite of Texans Republicans, is playing big in the effort to oust longtime Democratic House member Jim Dunnam, D-Waco. Full Story 

    State Rep. Jim Dunnam, D-Waco, at a press conference in 2009.
    Credit: Bob Daemmrich

  • Calderón's Goal

    By Julián Aguilar

    The president of Mexico, Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, played a little soccer this week in Ciudad Juárez, but his real game was creating hope in a place where none exists. Full Story 

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    Credit: Julian Aguilar

  • The Mayor of Mayhem

    By Julián Aguilar

    “The scourge of drug trafficking, kidnapping, extortion, robbery and violence has dismantled our economy, has eroded our tranquility and has stained our social structures with blood,” said Ciudad Juárez's new mayor, Héctor “Teto” Murguía, at his inauguration Sunday. “This economic and social disaster deserves a desperate cry for help and solidarity.” Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman

  • ICE Under Fire

    By Julián Aguilar

    A year after Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced it would reform immigration detention, advocacy groups say the agency has fallen short on a few key counts: addressing alleged human rights violations and expanding alternatives to incarceration. Full Story 

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    Credit: Ben Hassan