In Houston and Austin, some builders are voluntarily trying to ensure that construction workers are paid well and their safety is protected.
Bordering on Insecurity
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.
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Bordering on Insecurity
Trump’s rhetoric, border surge colored immigration debate in 2016
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.
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Bordering on Insecurity
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.
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Bordering on Insecurity
In Texas, undocumented immigrants have no shortage of work
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.
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Bordering on Insecurity
Texas fights drugs at the border, but is that the right place?
An estimated 1.6 million adult Texans have substance use disorders, many addicted to drugs that arrive illegally from Mexico.
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Bordering on Insecurity
When asked, won’t tell: top three officials duck specifics on illegal hiring
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.
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Bordering on Insecurity
In Texas, lawmakers don’t mess with employers of undocumented workers
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.
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Bordering on Insecurity
Texas wages a war on drugs at the border. That might be the wrong place.
An estimated 1.6 million adult Texans have substance use disorders, many addicted to drugs that arrive illegally from Mexico.
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Bordering on Insecurity
Legalizing marijuana might have negligible impact on border security
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.
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Bordering on Insecurity
While people and drugs come north, guns pour south into Mexico
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.