Texas refugee aid group sues to unfreeze $36 million in federal funds
Catholic Charities Fort Worth says that its partners have had to lay off 750 people because of the freeze. Full Story
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Uriel J. García is an immigration reporter based in El Paso. Before joining the Tribune in 2021, he worked at the Arizona Republic where he covered police violence and immigration enforcement. He started his journalism career at the Santa Fe New Mexican where he covered the city's immigrant community and criminal justice issues. Originally from Mexico and a native Spanish speaker, Uriel grew up in Phoenix and graduated from Arizona State University.
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![Afghan refugees arrive at Dulles International Airport in Northern Virginia while en route to military facilities in the U.S. on Aug. 26, 2021.]()
Credit: Jack Gruber-USA TODAY via REUTERS -
Trump’s mass deportation plans have echoes of a 1950s federal crackdown that swept through Texas
Seventy-one years after the Eisenhower administration launched a high-visibility operation to arrest undocumented immigrants, President Trump is following some of the same playbook. Full Story
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!["Wetbacks," workers from Mexico board deportation buses at the McAllen (Texas) detention center, ca. early 1950s]()
Credit: Courtesy, Texas AFL-CIO Mexican American Affairs Committee Records, University of Texas at Arlington Special Collections -
Border Patrol chief calls report that agents will board buses to check students’ citizenship “absurd”
The chief’s comments came after Alice ISD sent a letter to parents Wednesday warning students may be detained and possibly deported if they can’t prove they’re in the country legally. The letter was later removed from the district’s website. Full Story
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![A school bus waits at an intersection while driving its morning pickup route before dawn on Sept. 12, 2023 in West Odessa.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune -
Justice Department restarts legal aid programs for detained immigrants
The agency’s reversal comes after a federal judge told the Trump administration it must continue to pay for grants and other programs it abruptly froze last month. Full Story
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![A woman commutes across the U.S-Mexico border crossing in Laredo on Nov. 9, 2021.]()
Credit: Pu Ying Huang for The Texas Tribune -
“A lot of fear going on”: Texas immigrant community on edge during Trump’s first weeks
Across the state, immigrants and their loved ones are changing their daily habits as the Trump administration orders at least 1,200 daily arrests of undocumented people. Full Story
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![People gather at Memorial Park in El Paso on Jan. 29, 2025 to protest ICE raids and deportations.]()
Credit: Justin Hamel for The Texas Tribune -
Abbott orders state police to help federal agents with immigration enforcement
According to the governor, 5,400 immigrants in Texas have a warrant for their arrest. Full Story
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![Department of Public Safety Special Operations agents escort a group of migrants through private property as part of Operation Lone Star after catching them in Kinney County near Brackettville, Texas on Nov. 9, 2021. The owner of the property did not sign the affidavit to allow DPS to arrest undocumented migrants in their property, so they will be processed by Border Patrol.
Verónica G. Cárdenas for ProPublica/The Texas Tribune]()
Credit: Gabriel V. Cárdenas for ProPublica/The Texas Tribune -
Department of Justice cuts off federally funded legal aid to detained immigrants
The decision to halt the program could prevent thousands of people detained in immigration detention centers from receiving legal advice. Full Story
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![South Texas Family Residential Center, an ICE detention center in Dilley, on Sept. 30, 2020.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
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.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez -
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.]()
Credit: Paul Ratje for The Texas Tribune