The latest border news from The Texas Tribune.
Residents of Ciudad Miguel Alemán, across the border from the South Texas town of Roma, fear their town could be the next to fall to drug-related violence after a pre-dawn battle by Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel last week. Full Story
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Dear federal government: Texas needs help covering the cost of border security. Signed, the Texas Senate. A resolution adopted by the state Senate today is intended to send a message to Washington demanding more action on illegal immigration. Full Story
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Aaronson on a freshman lawmaker's rogue antics, Aguilar on how cartel violence affects tick eradication, Galbraith on Midland's water woes, Hamilton on the exit of a higher ed reformer, Murphy maps voting age by county, Philpott on the data breach at the Comptroller's office, Ramsey on why Susan Combs needs to eat crow, my TribLive interview with U.S. Sen John Cornyn, Ramshaw on Cornyn's refusal to take the "nickel tour" of Planned Parenthood, M. Smith annotates the contracts of superintendents, Stiles on a GOP-friendly redistricting map and Tan on a possible Rainy Day Fund raid: The best of our best content from April 18 to 22, 2011. Full Story
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A Texas congressman is seeking to designate seven of the top Mexican cartels as “foreign terrorist organizations." Critics of the proposal fear such a designation could harm Mexico’s ability to wage its own fight against the cartels. Full Story
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An unexpected casualty of the drug-cartel-fueled lawlessness in Mexico: the cattle industry. Full Story
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The Ciudad Juárez mayor on why his city isn’t the most violent in Mexico, why negotiating with cartels would be giving in to the criminals’ demands and why, despite a cartel presence, there aren’t shootouts in the streets of El Paso. Full Story
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The Ciudad Juárez mayor on why his city isn’t the most violent in Mexico, why negotiating with cartels would be giving in to the criminals’ demands and why, despite a cartel presence, there aren’t shootouts in the streets of El Paso. Full Story
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The U.S. Department of Transportation released preliminary details today on a program that would again open up U.S. roadways to Mexican truckers. Full Story
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Were you circumcised at birth and was it a part of a religious ceremony? If so, who was there and why? It may sound far-fetched, but some applicants for U.S. passports may soon have to answer such questions. Full Story
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The Texas Department of Public Safety says it has seized as much as $140 million of the $28 billion that moves annually from the U.S. into the hands of Mexican drug cartels. Mario Carrillo of KUT News and ReportingTexas.com reports on what happens to that seized money and how some would like to see it used. Full Story
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The U.S. government announced today it is offering a reward of up to $5 million for information that leads to the arrest and possible conviction of the assailants who murdered a U.S. federal agent in Mexico last month. Full Story
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The Mexican government's chief spokesman on security issues spoke at the University of Texas on Monday about drug violence south of the border. But as Mose Buchele of KUT News reports, not everyone there was comforted by his presentation. Full Story
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The former U.S. ambassador to Mexico, South Texas native Antonio Garza, said he thinks his successor’s resignation this weekend was the right move if he felt he was no longer up to task. Full Story
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A top adviser to President Barack Obama conceded last week that terrorists seeking to unleash havoc in the United States could use Texas’ porous border. But some security experts say that isn't likely to happen. Full Story
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Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples has no plans to pull down a state-run website that allows border ranchers and farmers to document their daily struggles with drug cartels and undocumented immigrants. Full Story
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State Sen. José Rodríguez, D-El Paso, today asked Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples to take down the border website his office launched last week, protectyourtexasborder.com, saying it has become a “forum for promoting violence.” Full Story
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Texans advocating extreme solutions to secure the border — including land mines and booby traps on Texas farmland along the Rio Grande — have a new forum to share their views: a website operated by the Texas Department of Agriculture. Full Story
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The U.S. and Mexican governments announced today that they have reached a tentative agreement to re-start the cross-border, long-haul, trucking program. Full Story
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The Texas Department of Public Safety is recommending — again — that Texans avoid traveling to Mexico for vacation. It's the second warning in less than five weeks. Full Story
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