U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw tapped to lead GOP response on Mexican drug cartels
The Houston Republican has alarmed Mexico and Democrats with previous calls for a military response to the criminal organizations. Full Story
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![Rep. Dan Crenshaw and other members of the GOP give a press conferences outside the CBP station after touring the facility and the border on Nov. 22, 2022, in El Paso.]()
Credit: Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The Texas Tribune -
Driver of SUV in Brownsville crash that killed 8 migrants had drugs in his system, police say
George Alvarez, the man charged in the deaths of eight people after his vehicle rammed a crowd in front of a Brownsville migrant shelter, had cocaine, benzodiazepines and marijuana in his system at the time, police said Tuesday. Full Story
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![Flora Zavala prays for the eight people dead at the site where a car ran into pedestrians waiting at a bus stop outside a shelter for migrants in Brownsville, on May 7, 2023.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Gov. Greg Abbott focuses on border security in first address since Allen and Brownsville tragedies
Abbott announced the deployment of new “Texas Tactical Border Force” units to El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley on Monday and Tuesday. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott greets Texas Army National Guard troops deploying from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport on Monday May 8, 2023, to secure the Texas-Mexico border in anticipation of the end of Title 42 later this week.]()
Credit: Jay Janner/American-Statesman/USA TODAY NETWORK via REUTERS -
As Title 42 comes to an end, El Paso declares state of emergency
El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser said asylum-seekers are camping out on the sidewalks and staying at shelters in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, under the false notion that they will be allowed to enter the U.S. once Title 42 expires. Full Story
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![Migrants stand in line to enter the makeshift shelter inside the gym of Sacred Heart Church in El Paso on Friday, Jan. 6, 2023.]()
Credit: Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The Texas Tribune -
Texas House backs death benefits for state troops in Operation Lone Star
The bill was amended to make the benefits retroactive, supporting the family of a soldier whose name is on the legislation. Full Story
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![Family members of Bishop Evans, a Texas National Guard member, stand to be recognized by members of the House during a memorial resolution remembering his life at the state Capitol on April 11, 2023. Evans drowned after jumping into the Rio Grande to save two migrants being swept away by the current in April 2022.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune -
Family of dead National Guardsman urges Legislature to make bill named for him retroactive
While the state guarantees law enforcement officers, like Department of Public Safety troopers, a $500,000 death benefit for their families if they die on duty, National Guard troops who stand shoulder to shoulder with those DPS officers on Operation Lone Star don’t have the same benefit. Full Story
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![Jo Ann Johnson sits for a portrait with a photo of her grandson, Bishop Evans, in her home in Arlington, TX on Dec. 7, 2022. 22-year-old Bishop Evans, who was serving on the Texas Army National Guard and assigned to work on Operation Lone Star, died after jumping into the Rio Grande to save two migrants. “When they told me why, I understood, because he saw someone who needed help. That was who he was — he helped people.”]()
Credit: Shelby Tauber for The Texas Tribune -
Homeland security chief calls Ted Cruz’s comments “revolting” in heated border hearing
“You’re willing to let children be raped to follow political orders,” Cruz told Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas at the hearing. “This is a crisis. It’s a disgrace.” Full Story
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![Sen. Ted Cruz speaks to Peter McCormack about bitcoin and freedom at the Texas Blockchain Summit in Austin, Texas, on Nov. 18, 2022.]()
Credit: Azul Sordo for The Texas Tribune -
Two dead, several injured near Uvalde after migrants found “suffocating” inside train car
Uvalde officials said U.S. Border Patrol responded to a 911 call alerting them about a group of people who were trapped for hours inside of a shipping container. Full Story
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This rancher doesn’t want a border wall on his land. He fears Texas will build it anyway.
Anti-border wall activists are racing to find landowners along the Rio Grande before they sign contracts with the state. Full Story
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![Joseph Hein at his 580-acre ranch on the Webb and Zapata county lines on Feb. 15, 2023. Hein breeds horses at his ranch, but fears that if the border wall is built through a portion of his land, it will restrict access to the Rio Grande River and he will likely have to sell his horses.]()
Credit: Michael Gonzalez for The Texas Tribune -
House unveils bill giving state authority to “repel” and return migrants crossing from Mexico
House Bill 20 by state Rep. Matt Schaefer, R-Tyler, would test the boundaries of the state’s ability to enforce immigration law, which courts have historically ruled falls under federal purview. Full Story
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![Department of Public Safety agent arrest an undocumented migrant after he was caught on private property as part of Operation Lone Star in Kinney County near Brackettville, on Nov. 9, 2021.]()
Credit: Verónica Gabriela Cárdenas for ProPublica/The Texas Tribune -
U.S. Supreme Court cancels arguments over Title 42, the pandemic-era policy to quickly turn away migrants
The case is expected to become moot in May when the Biden administration lifts the nation’s COVID-19 emergency order. Once that order lifts, Title 42 is expected to automatically end. Full Story
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![People who were apprehended by state troopers after crossing the border were brought to the International Bridge in Eagle Pass, where they were handed over to Border Patrol custody on Thursday, May 28, 2022.]()
Credit: Sergio Flores for The Texas Tribune -
Texas Military Department says it needs $460 million more to keep border mission afloat this year
State officials have repeatedly had to move money from other departments to keep Gov. Greg Abbott’s multibillion-dollar border mission running this year. Full Story
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![Texas National Guard and Texas DPS officers position themselves on the banks of the Rio Grande, Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022, in El Paso. Over 400 personnel have been sent to this border sector by Governor Abbott after El Paso city officials declared a state of emergency.]()
Credit: Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The Texas Tribune -
Afghan soldier says he will live the “American dream” after being released from immigration detention center
U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee’s office mounted pressure on several federal agencies earlier this month leading up to Abdul Wasi Safi’s release on Tuesday. Full Story
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![Abdul Wasi Safi speaks at a Houston press conference on Jan. 27, 2023, following his release from a Texas detention center.]()
Credit: Annie Mulligan for The Texas Tribune -
U.S. Rep. Chip Roy says he’ll use debt ceiling threat to push through his border security plan
The debt ceiling has long been a political tool to force partisan agenda items across. But Roy is facing some resistance within his own party on his border plan. Full Story
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![US Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin, speaks with Major Garrett, chief Washington Correspondent for CBS News, at The Texas Tribune Festival on Sept. 23, 2022 in Austin, TX.]()
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Migrant shot and injured by National Guard soldier patrolling border
It’s the first-known incident where a soldier has shot a migrant since the mission began. The injury is non-life threatening. Full Story
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![A National Guard soldier oversees an area where the border wall ends in Del Rio, on Nov. 7, 2021.]()
Credit: Verónica Gabriela Cárdenas for ProPublica/The Texas Tribune -
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn eyes the seemingly impossible: a bipartisan deal on immigration
Riding the success of his historic congressional session last year where he helped pass the first gun safety bill signed into law in a generation, Cornyn is hopeful that his ability to strike deals across the aisle will help Congress achieve another elusive legislative goal: an immigration deal. Full Story
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![U.S. Sens. John Cornyn, center, and James Lankford, R-Okla., were shown items displayed by a Border Patrol agent after two Chinese nationals were detained upon entering the U.S. in Sunland Park, New Mexico on on Jan. 9, 2023. The senators were on a night tour of the border led by the National Border Patrol Council.]()
Credit: Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The Texas Tribune -
Joe Biden tours El Paso for first border visit of his presidency
He was greeted by Gov. Greg Abbott upon arrival at the El Paso airport. Abbott has been a chief critic of Biden’s immigration policies and has frequently called on him to visit the border over the past year. Full Story
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![President Joe Biden shakes hands with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott upon his arrival in El Paso on Jan. 8, 2023. This is Biden's first visit as president to the U.S.-Mexico border.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque -
Buses from Texas drop off more than 100 migrants in a bitterly cold Washington, D.C., on Christmas Eve
Gov. Greg Abbott reportedly sent the migrants, who arrived at Vice President Kamala Harris’ residence Saturday night. The governor has been busing migrants to Democratic-let cities since April and first sent buses to Harris’ home in September. Full Story
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![Two buses transporting migrants from Texas arrive at Union Station on April 21, 2022. Gov. Greg Abbott’s new plan in response to the end of Title 42, a pandemic-era emergency health order which allowed immigration authorities at the border to deny entry.]()
Credit: Shuran Huang for The Texas Tribune -
Texas GOP lawmakers warming to opioid harm-reduction policies they once opposed
Gov. Greg Abbott and other Republicans have expressed support for legalizing fentanyl test strips, which help users identify whether the drugs they are planning on taking contain the deadly synthetic opioid. Full Story
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![A fentanyl test kit in a storage unit in Dallas on Aug. 24, 2022.]()
Credit: Emil Lippe for The Texas Tribune -
Texas shelters prepare for twin emergencies: arctic cold and an increase in migrants
Cities and nonprofits are using a variety of strategies to keep unhoused people warm. But some organizations warn they’re already at capacity as El Paso sends migrants across the state. Full Story
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![The Dallas skyline during the wintery weather on Feb. 3, 2022.]()
Credit: Shelby Tauber for The Texas Tribune