Big employers no strangers to benefits of cheap, illegal labor
Two cases illustrate how big-name employers benefit from illegal labor and why undocumented workers are easily exploited. Full Story
![Target and HEB stores in Austin.](https://thumbnails.texastribune.org/pZV9r0Wd6uINcd3GZA_nBSoyG0w=/850x570/smart/filters:quality(75)/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2016/12/15/HEB-Target-1.jpg)
Throughout 2016, The Texas Tribune took a deep look at the issues of border security and immigration, topics never far from the headlines — or the presidential trail. The Tribune reported on the reality and rhetoric around issues like the removal of undocumented criminal offenders, the stemming of government corruption and the conditions many immigrants are fleeing to seek sanctuary in the U.S.
Two cases illustrate how big-name employers benefit from illegal labor and why undocumented workers are easily exploited. Full Story
An underground labor market provides abundant employment opportunities for undocumented immigrants in the United States. But working in the shadows often means accepting low pay and exploitation. Full Story
An estimated 1.6 million adult Texans have substance use disorders, many addicted to drugs that arrive illegally from Mexico. Full Story
No issue stirred more passion in the 2016 elections than border security and immigration. In Beyond The Wall, a Texas Tribune documentary, we look past the heated rhetoric to explore why people and dope keep pouring across the border. Full Story
Border Patrol Agent Joel Luna was found guilty of engaging in organized criminal activity, but a Cameron County jury acquitted him of murder. Full Story
Devoted public servant who protected the nation’s borders and erred only by helping out his family? Or leader of a drug- and gun-trafficking enterprise? Those were the two portraits that emerged of Border Patrol Agent Joel Luna at his two-week murder trial. Now, a jury will decide his fate as early as Monday. Full Story
The fate of Border Patrol Agent Joel Luna and his Mexican-born brother Eduardo, both charged with drug trafficking and the murder of a would-be snitch, is set to fall to a Cameron County jury Friday after almost two weeks of testimony and sparring over evidence. Full Story
Hoping to bolster their murder case against Border Patrol Agent Joel Luna, prosecutors showed jurors a safe they say he used to store $90,000 in smuggled money. Full Story
Joel Luna, the Border Patrol agent on trial for capital murder in Brownsville, was linked to hundreds of thousands of dollars in smuggled money by the prosecution's star witness — Luna's older brother Eduardo. Full Story
The star witness against a Border Patrol agent accused of murder — his own brother — gave tearful testimony in a Brownsville courtroom Wednesday. Full Story
A state judge ruled that a statement Border Patrol Agent Joel Luna voluntarily gave authorities can be used in his murder trial. Sparring over evidence marked the first day of his trial in South Texas, in a case that has stoked concern about alleged law enforcement corruption on the U.S. side of the border. Full Story
The capital murder case began in 2015 with the discovery of a headless body floating off South Padre Island. The trial of two men charged in the case — a U.S. Border Patrol agent and his Mexican-born brother — begins today in South Texas. Full Story
Trying to get beyond the rhetoric on border security or immigration at the state or federal level is often a fool's errand. Here are eight secrets in those often shadowy arenas. Full Story
In Houston and Austin, some builders are voluntarily trying to ensure that construction workers are paid well and their safety is protected. Full Story
The president-elect's tough border talk propelled him to victory, the U.S. Supreme Court dashed President Obama's deferred action hopes and the Texas border surge drew questions. Full Story
An estimated 1.6 million adult Texans have substance use disorders, many addicted to drugs that arrive illegally from Mexico. Full Story
The state's top elected officials are happy to go on about border security, but they get tongue tied if the conversation turns to cracking down on employers of undocumented immigrants. Full Story
For all their condemnations of illegal immigration, Texas lawmakers — Republican and Democratic — have shown little interest in cracking down on businesses that employ undocumented workers. Full Story
Supporters of legal marijuana say it would help ease problems with drug smuggling at the southern border, but experts say drug cartels would probably just switch to other products. Full Story
Often overlooked in border security debates is the river of guns and ammunition that flows from the United States — especially Texas — into Mexico, arming cartels and smugglers. Full Story
A fundamental truth underlies the nation's collective failure to stop illegal immigration and smuggling over the southern border: The United States demands the cheap labor and drugs. Full Story
The number of illegal border crossers from far flung places— including countries deemed sponsors of terrorism — has been increasing, but they remain a small fraction of total border apprehensions. Full Story
In two key counties, less than a quarter of the “high-threat criminals” arrested by Department of Public Safety troopers for felony drug offenses during the state’s border surge have been sent to prison. Full Story