The governor, lieutenant governor and House speaker generally agree on building more border barriers and making illegal border crossings a state crime. But disagreements over strategy and personal animosity mean those measures face long odds this special legislative session.
border
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Politics
Leader of anti-immigration group Texans for Strong Borders also runs anonymous, hate-filled social media accounts
Chris Russo has anonymously aligned himself with Nick Fuentes’ white supremacist movement on various social media platforms under the username “Optics Respecter.”
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Immigration
Biden administration presses forward with border wall plans in Texas, angering allies
Even as the president says the barriers don’t work, his administration says it will waive environmental laws to build them quickly.
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Immigration
Texas border cities scramble to shelter thousands of newly-arrived migrants
Thousands of migrants have crossed the border into Eagle Pass and El Paso in recent days, the highest number since the emergency health order known as Title 42 expired in May.
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Operation Lone Star
Slim majority of Texans support Gov. Greg Abbott’s border buoys, poll finds
The UT poll also touched on a range of other topics, including Texas voters’ opinions on the upcoming presidential election and the U.S. Senate race.
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Immigration
Texas can keep buoys in the Rio Grande while legal challenge continues, federal appeals court rules
Nearly three months after Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the deployment of the 1,000-foot line of buoys and mesh in the Rio Grande, an Austin federal judge ordered the state to remove the barrier and stop building further obstructions in the river. One day later a higher court sided with Texas.
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Operation Lone Star
Lawmakers call for federal investigation into Texas Guard intel ring
The lawmakers’ remarks came after an investigation published Tuesday by Military Times and The Texas Tribune revealed how Texas Guardsmen at the state’s border with Mexico spied on migrants via WhatsApp and allegedly mishandled secret documents.
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Operation Lone Star
Texas National Guard disbanded intelligence wing after members used WhatsApp to spy on migrants
Four members of the unit working on Gov. Greg Abbott’s border mission have been punished after whistleblowers reported the surveillance operation violated long-standing rules against state-run spy operations.
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Immigration
Child dies while en route to Chicago as part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s migrant busing program
After a 3-year-old began showing signs of distress, the bus of asylum-seekers traveling from Brownsville to Chicago pulled over and an ambulance was called. The child later died at a hospital in Illinois.
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Politics
U.S. seeks court order requiring Texas to remove floating barrier in Rio Grande
The string of buoys is a safety hazard that violates treaties and harms relations with Mexico, Justice Department lawyers tell a federal judge.