Hidalgo County sues former employee, Dannenbaum Engineering in federal court
The South Texas county filed suit against Godfrey Garza Jr. and the high-profile Houston-based Dannenbaum Engineering on Wednesday. Full Story
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![Godfrey Garza, the former general manager of Hidalgo County Drainage District No. 1, made more than $3.5 million in commissions on a South Texas border fence project that was largely bankrolled by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The county is now suing him, claiming he should not have received a commission on the federal money — and that he should have disclosed that project contractors hired his children's company to work on the project.]()
Credit: Courtesy The Monitor -
With federal agents redeployed to manage migrant caravan, Texas border-crossers expect long holiday waits
Keep calm and come on over. That’s the holiday message El Paso city and business officials are sending to their neighbors directly across the Texas-Mexico border. Full Story
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![A man waits outside his car as the CBP conducts "operational readiness exercises" at the Paso del Norte Port of Entry on Friday, November 9, 2018, in El Paso, Texas.]()
Credit: Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The Texas Tribune -
Mattis calls deployment to border "great training" as he visits troops in Texas
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis visited Base Camp Donna in South Texas Wednesday, weeks after President Trump dispatched thousands of active-duty forces to the border in anticipation of a Central American migrant caravan. Full Story
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![Units of the 1st Cavalry Division of the U.S. Army based at Fort Hood, Texas move south along U.S. 281 in Blanco County as convoys of troops head to the Texas-Mexico border on orders of President Donald Trump.]()
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Texas education board set to approve curriculum some say is historically inaccurate
After a politically charged September meeting, the State Board of Education meets this week to approve "streamlined" social studies curriculum standards. Teachers' responses are mixed. Full Story
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![Hilda Mondragon teaches U.S. History to a class of juniors at United South High School in Laredo.]()
Credit: Rachel Zein for The Texas Tribune -
Border arrests surged to highest levels of Trump presidency in October
Homeland security officials blame the growing numbers of arrests on what they decry as a flood of frivolous asylum claims by Central Americans attempting to game the U.S. immigration system. Full Story
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Credit: photo by Spencer Selvidge -
Border Patrol conducts "crowd control" exercise in El Paso
As a caravan of Central American migrants continues to make its way toward the U.S., the Border Patrol held a mobile field force training exercise near the Paso Del Norte international bridge. Full Story
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![A CBP helicopter participates in "operational readiness exercises" to prepare for the caravan moving through Mexico and heading towards the border, according to a CBP agent, at the Paso del Norte Port of Entry on Friday, November 9, 2018, in El Paso, Texas.]()
Credit: Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The Texas Tribune -
U.S. militia groups head to border, stirred by Trump’s call to arms
The Texas Minutemen, according to its president, have 100 volunteers en route to the Rio Grande who want to help stop the migrants, with more likely on the way. Full Story
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![The isolated United State Border Patrol inspection station on Highway 87 between the border town of Presidio, TX and Marfa, TX is responsible for checking northbound traffic for illegal aliens and drugs.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Texas' border lawmakers say they're in the dark on troop deployment
A day after federal officials announced that active-duty military will descend on the border to thwart the caravan of Central American asylum-seekers slowly approaching the United States, border lawmakers said they haven't been given details about the estimated 5,200-troop deployment. Full Story
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![Troops meet at the National Guard armory in far south Texas as they hear words of encouragement from Governor Greg Abbott while preparing for deployment at the Texas-Mexico border. Weslaco, April 12, 2018.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Ted Cruz targets conservative Hispanics in deep-blue Rio Grande Valley
The Rio Grande Valley has long been a Democratic stronghold. But U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz is trying to tap into an often overlooked conservative base in this stretch of the border in his re-election bid against U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke. Full Story
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![U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks to a crowd during a campaign stop in Laredo on Monday, Oct. 9, 2018.]()
Credit: Ulysses Romero for The Texas Tribune -
Department of Defense says it's sending 5,200 troops to U.S.-Mexico border
Officials say the deployment will include three helicopter units, mobile command and medical units, military police and more. Full Story
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![Texas National Guard troops man a observation post along the Rio Grande River in Hidalgo Co. on April 13, 2018.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Trump considering plan to ban entry of migrants at southern border, deny asylum
President Donald Trump is weighing a plan to shut the U.S. border to Central Americans and deny them the opportunity to seek asylum, asserting similar emergency powers used during the early 2017 “travel ban,” according to administration officials and people familiar with the proposal. Full Story
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![In this Sept. 15, 2015 file photo, a farmer passes along a border fence that divides his property in Mission. As President Donald Trump's administration fights to fund a new, multibillion-dollar border wall, government lawyers are still settling claims with Texas landowners over the fence Congress approved more than a decade ago.]()
Credit: AP Photo/Eric Gay -
Trump administration to send hundreds of troops to the U.S-Mexico border, reports say
President Donald Trump has raised alarm about a caravan of migrants heading for the border. He tweeted Thursday morning that he is "bringing out the military for this National Emergency." Full Story
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![National Guard troops leave Austin for the U.S.-Mexico border on April 6, 2018.]()
Credit: Callie Richmond for The Texas Tribune -
Migrants seeking safe harbor in the U.S. must survive shootouts and shakedowns in Mexico
Few would dispute that life has gotten tougher for people who are in the United States without legal permission. But in recent years, it’s grown even more dangerous for immigrants in Mexico — mostly Central Americans trying to make their way to the United States. Full Story
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![Nicaraguan migrant Bernardo Calero wraps a bandage around the leg of his son, Grisber, on Sept. 13, 2018, in Reynosa, Mexico. The Caleros were traveling toward the Texas-Mexico border in a van with roughly 20 other migrants when uniformed assailants opened fire on them, leaving Grisber seriously injured.]()
Credit: Verónica G. Cárdenas for The Texas Tribune -
Trump administration weighs new family separation effort at border
The White House is considering plans in hopes of reversing soaring numbers of families attempting to cross illegally into the United States. Full Story
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![Immigrants who turned themselves in to border patrol agents after illegally crossing the border from Mexico into the U.S. wait to be transported for processing in the Rio Grande Valley sector, near McAllen, Texas, on April 2, 2018.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Loren Elliott -
Trump administration discloses plans for construction of new border barrier in Texas
On Wednesday, the Federal Register pre-published a notice by the Department of Homeland Security that outlines plans for about 17 miles of a new barrier in Hidalgo County. Full Story
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![A small opening at the base of the border fence in Brownsville is meant to let small, endangered wild cats like the ocelot through. The “cat holes,” which are the size of a piece of printer paper, appear every 500 feet or so.]()
Credit: Callie Richmond for The Texas Tribune -
Homeland Security moves to plug gaps in South Texas border fence
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security gave notice that it plans to waive environmental laws to install gates along a stretch of border fence in the Rio Grande Valley. Full Story
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![A section of border fence near Brownsville.]()
Credit: Callie Richmond for The Texas Tribune -
In age of Trump, Republican U.S. Rep. Will Hurd's independence again on the ballot in 23rd District
U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, R-Helotes, is looking to hold on to the 23rd District once more as Democrats argue he is not as much of an outlier in his party as his image suggests. His opponent this time is Gina Ortiz Jones, a former Air Force intelligence officer. Full Story
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![Left: U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, R-Helotes, speaks at a town hall in Alpine on Sept. 16, 2018. He stopped in the city as part of his annual end-of-summer swing through the district. Right: Gina Ortiz Jones, the Democratic nominee challenging Hurd, smiles as she is introduced during a Women at the Top Rally in San Antonio on Sept. 23, 2018.]()
Credit: Patrick Svitek: Hurd/Robin Jerstad: Ortiz Jones -
Texas Border Patrol agent accused of "serial killing spree" in Laredo
Juan David Ortiz, an intel supervisor for the Border Patrol, has been accused of killing four women, including one transgender woman, and kidnapping a fifth woman, who escaped and alerted law enforcement. Full Story
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![Border Patrol Agent Robert Dominguez.]()
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Border Patrol apprehensions of families increased 38 percent in August
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson attributed the spike, in part, to smugglers and traffickers exploiting immigration laws. Full Story
![Immigrants who turned themselves in to border patrol agents after illegally crossing the border from Mexico into the U.S. wait to be transported for processing in the Rio Grande Valley sector, near McAllen, Texas, on April 2, 2018.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Loren Elliott -
Trump’s border wall threatens to end Texas families’ 250 years of ranching on Rio Grande
When Congress approved $641 million toward building 33 miles of border wall in the Rio Grande Valley, Fred Cavazos became one of about 30 people left standing between the president and his primary campaign promise. Full Story
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Credit: photo by Spencer Selvidge