Fewer students from Mexico have enrolled at border schools like the University of Texas at El Paso, UT-Pan American, and Texas A&M International since 2006, while their ranks have grown at schools farther from the Rio Grande, like UT-Austin and Texas A&M. Can the drop be attributed to the drug war, or is the growing violence simply compounding the decades-old problem of border “brain drain”?
West Texas
West Texas is home to the nation’s largest oil field, the Permian Basin. The region is defined by its energy production and wide-open spaces. It also includes Big Bend country and cities such as El Paso, Midland and Odessa.
Posted in
Demographics
Floundering and Flourishing
Depending on whom you ask, anywhere between 100,000 to half a million Juarenses have left Mexico since drug violence exploded in 2008. In a tragic irony, neighboring El Paso is flourishing economically as Juárez descends further into terror.
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Criminal Justice
On the Records: How Public Servants Make Their Money
The Texas Ethics Commission recently released more than 3,000 personal financial statements — documents that detail state officials’ financial interests and liabilities. Read, download or embed them with our new application.
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Demographics
Gimme Shelter
Despite the drug war raging on the other side of the border, the number of Mexican nationals applying for asylum in the United States is declining. Approvals are down even further.
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Health care
Quite an Undertaking
When a family member dies, accessing bank accounts and collecting on insurance policies requires proper paperwork. Despite a state mandate to process death certificates in a timely fashion, however, doctors are dragging their heels, funeral directors say, leaving survivors in the lurch.
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Demographics
TribBlog: U.S. Troops Will Be Sent to the Border … Again
U.S. National Guard troops will soon patrol the United States’ border with Mexico — again.
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Demographics
TribBlog: Border Hostages
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn is pushing hard for the FAA to approve a second aerial drone to surveil the Texas-Mexico border — holding an Obama nominee hostage until Texas gets its way.
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Demographics
Border Bickering
Five members of the U.S. House are lashing out at Gov. Rick Perry for what they say is his refusal to allocate more of the federal funding that moves through his office to the border. Perry claims his hands are tied and insists the congressmen need to check their math. While the back and forth continues, residents of the border fear for their lives.
Posted in
State Government
2010: Rick Perry’s Mom Made His Underwear
The governor reveals that and other nostalgic tidbits to Texas Monthly.
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Demographics
TribBlog: Drone Finally Coming to Texas
An unmanned aerial drone will begin patrolling Texas’ border with Mexico next month.
