Former Lawmakers Vie to Return to Texas House
Whether they were edged out in 2014 by thin margins or bowed out years ago and had a recent change of heart, several former House members want back under the dome next year. Full Story
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Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman -
Border Communities Have Lower Crime Rates
Texas counties along the Rio Grande are relatively safe, state and federal crime statistics show, and they seem to be getting even safer as more law enforcement resources pour into the area. Full Story
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![There are many busy retailers near the international bridge where pedestrians may cross in and out of the United States, in historic downtown Laredo, Tx.]()
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Twelve Texas Death Row Inmates Were Undocumented
Of the 251 men and women on Texas death row, 12 committed their crimes while in the country illegally, according to an analysis of data obtained by The Texas Tribune. Full Story
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![The Texas State Penitentiary in Huntsville — often referred to as the Walls Unit — houses the state's execution chamber.]()
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Less Than 5 Percent of Texas Prison Inmates are Undocumented
About 4.6 percent of Texas prison inmates are undocumented immigrants with standing requests that they be turned over to federal authorities when their sentences are served. Full Story
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![Texas Department of Criminal Justice William G. McConnell Unit at Chase Field in Beeville in 2013.]()
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Accused Laredo Killer Crossed Border Easily
Martha and Kimberly Martinez would like to know how a man with Juan Francisco De Luna Vasquez's lengthy criminal history could be living illegally in the United States when he killed their sister. Full Story
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![Angie Martinez, a 27-year-old mother of three, was killed in Laredo in 2015. Her estranged husband, an undocumented immigrant, is charged with her murder.]()
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Pope Francis' Border Mass Awes El Paso Catholics
During a whirlwind, one-day visit to Ciudad Juárez on Wednesday Pope Francis delivered poignant remarks on immigration and corruption, keeping intact his reputation as a polite but no-holds-barred pontiff. Full Story
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![Pope Francis hugs two girls during a meeting with youths at José María Morelos y Pavón stadium in Morelia, Mexico on Feb. 16. 2016.]()
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Border Catholics Ready to Welcome Pope Francis
After weeks of planning and speculation about what Pope Francis might say during his visit to the El Paso/Ciudad Juárez area on Wednesday, hundreds of thousands of Catholics are finally ready for the all-day affair. Full Story
![Pope Francis hugs two girls during a meeting with youths at José María Morelos y Pavón stadium in Morelia, Mexico on Feb. 16. 2016.]()
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As Ciudad Juárez Prepares for Pope's Historic Visit, So Do Activists
From city officials working to rebrand Ciudad Juárez as a safe and organized metropolis to the mother and daughter who met along opposite sides of a border fence, Pope Francis' visit here is fraught with symbolism. Full Story
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![Maria Guadalupe Garcia Rodriguez of Juarez holds the hand of her daughter through the border fence in Juarez, Monday, February 15, 2016. She has not seen her daughter, Linda Rodriguez, since she was 6 months old.]()
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Texas Sheriffs, Jails on Immigration Front Line
The federal government stands poised to deport immigrants who commit serious crimes in the United States — provided someone else catches them first. The success of federal efforts to detain criminal immigrants depends largely on local sheriffs. Full Story
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![The badge of Captain Jaime Magaña in Webb County Jail in Laredo, TX, on Nov. 5, 2015. Photo by Martin do Nascimento]()
Credit: Martin do Nascimento -
Undocumented Student's Arrest a Cautionary Tale
Almost seven years ago, former University of Texas student Raul Zamora’s broken taillight landed him in the South Texas Detention Facility in Pearsall on the brink of deportation. Full Story
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![After being pulled over for a broken taillight while a student at the University of Texas at Austin in 2009, Raul Zamora found himself in an immigration detention center instead of class for a week.]()
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Families Accuse Bank of Laundering Gang Money
The families of several U.S. citizens murdered in Mexico filed a lawsuit this week against HSBC Holdings and its subsidiaries alleging the company supported various drug cartel activities by laundering millions of dollars for gangs. Full Story
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![A Juárez municipal police officer keeps patrol while at a murder scene in the outskirts of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico on May 28, 2010.]()
Credit: Ivan Pierre Aguirre -
After Deportation, Killer Returned Easily to U.S.
Deported to his native Mexico for sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl, Juan Leonardo Quintero returned to Houston and easily resumed his life. When he killed a police officer in 2006, Quintero became a poster child for loose border enforcement. Full Story
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![Juan Leonardo Quintero, an undocumented immigrant pictured here in 2015 in a visitation booth at the maximum-security Allred Unit near Wichita Falls, is serving a life sentence for the 2006 murder of Houston Police Officer Rodney Johnson.]()
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"Criminal Aliens" Flashpoint of Border Security Debate
How to deal with, or talk about, foreigners who commit crimes in the United States — the government’s term for them is the politically incorrect “criminal aliens” — has prompted heated calls for vastly different solutions. Full Story
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![A group of undocumented Mexican national ex-offenders enter Mexico at the US-Mexico border crossing at Brownsville/Matamoros after being deported from the United States on Nov. 4, 2015.]()
Credit: Martin do Nascimento -
ICE Chief a Bipartisan Punching Bag in Immigration Debates
When she was a federal prosecutor in Texas, Sarah Saldaña was seen as hard-nosed and nonpartisan. Since President Obama appointed her to lead U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, she's learned to take hits from the left and right. Full Story
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![Sarah R. Saldaña, director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, at ICE headquarters in Washington, D.C., December 9, 2015.]()
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Houston Sheriff Still Shielding Killer's Record
The Harris County Sheriff's Office has decided to keep secret its investigative files on a Mexican national whose 2015 shooting spree in Houston left two people dead and three injured. Full Story
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![Victor Reyes, shown in 2001 jail mug shot from Hidalgo County. Authorities say Reyes, an undocumented immigrant, went on a January 2015 shooting spree in Harris County that killed two and wounded three.]()
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Bongs and Fruitcakes Infuse Central Texas Republican House Race
Fourteen years after first being elected to the Texas House, state Rep. Byron Cook, R-Corsicana, faces what some consider his toughest re-election battle to date. Full Story
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![Republican candidates incumbent Byron Cook, left, and Thomas McNutt, right, run in the 2016 election for Texas House District 8.]()
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As Supreme Court Prepares to Hear Historic Immigration Case, Texas Explains its Strategy
As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to hear a case challenging President Barack Obama's executive order on illegal immigration, the two top lawyers for Texas spoke to the Tribune about what the state is fighting for. Full Story
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![Texas First Assistant Attorney General Chip Roy and Solicitor General Scott Keller sat down with Tribune reporter Julián Aguilar on Feb. 1, 2016 to discuss an upcoming case on illegal immigration headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.]()
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Indicted Border Patrol Agent has Two Birth Certificates
In an unusual twist to an already unusual case, federal immigration authorities are questioning the nationality of a U.S. Border Patrol agent accused of capital murder and drug cartel ties in deep South Texas. Full Story
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![U.S. Border Patrol agent Joel Luna is charged along with his brothers in a brutal Cameron County murder case.]()
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As Feds Plan to Cut Surveillance at Border, Texas Officials Demand Explanation
Gov. Greg Abbott and U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Laredo Democrat, pressed the Department of Homeland Security on Monday to explain why the agency plans to reduce its aerial surveillance on the Texas-Mexico border. Full Story
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![A Customs and Border Protection vehicle patrols on the Texas border near the Rio Grande, Thursday, July 24, 2014, in Mission, Texas. Texas is spending $1.3 million a week for a bigger DPS presence along the border.]()
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Houston Slayings Fueled Border Security Debate
One year ago today, Spencer Golvach waited for the green light at a Houston intersection. An undocumented Mexican national pulled up next to him, pointed a pistol at Golvach’s head and pulled the trigger. The killing ignited a political firestorm. Full Story
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![Dan Golvach, father of Spencer Golvach, at his son's grave in Houston Tuesday, October 20, 2015.]()
Credit: Michael Stravato