The latest border news from The Texas Tribune.
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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The bill would broaden the scope of employers subject to scrutiny — and extend penalties for violators to include possible jail time and big fines. Exempt? People who hire undocumented workers as domestic help. Full Story
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U.S. Sen. John Cornyn said it was time for the White House to re-think its policy concerning Mexico after the shooting death of a U.S. immigration agent Tuesday. “My hope is that the president would tell us what his plan is, because what’s happening now does not seem to be working,” he said. Full Story
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Gov. Rick Perry had the ultimate guest to further his border security message at today's State of the State: the young woman whose husband was apparently murdered by a band of Mexican pirates on Texas' Falcon Lake. Full Story
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A final ruling in the case of a Mexican reporter seeking asylum in the U.S. with his teenage son has been postponed until 2012 after his attorney was subpoenaed to appear in federal court in an unrelated case and asked for a rescheduling. Full Story
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The police chief in the border city across the Rio Grande from Laredo was killed late Wednesday, less than five weeks after taking office. Full Story
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In case you were planning any trips to violence-ridden Mexico, the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety says don't — again. Full Story
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The Trib staff on the sweeping cuts in the proposed House budget, Grissom on what's lost and not found at the Department of Public Safety, Galbraith on the wind power conundrum, Hamilton on higher ed's pessimistic budget outlook, Stiles and Swicegood debut an incredibly useful bill tracker app, Ramsey interviews Rick Perry on the cusp of his second decade as governor, Aguilar on a Mexican journalist's quest for asylum in the U.S., Ramshaw on life expectancy along the border, M. Smith on the obstacles school districts face in laying off teachers and yours truly talks gambling and the Rainy Day Fund with state Rep. Jim Pitts: The best of our best from January 17 to 21, 2011. Full Story
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The asylum hearing for Mexican journalist Emilio Gutiérrez ended Friday afternoon in El Paso without a ruling from a U.S. immigration judge. Gutiérrez has been seeking asylum since June 2008, when he fled the small Chihuahua town of Ascensión after receiving death threats for his reporting on alleged corruption in the Mexican military. The hearing is scheduled to resume Feb. 4. Full Story
There are two paths to asylum in the United States. Mexican journalist Emilio Gutiérrez, whose life was threatened by the Mexican military, may have taken the wrong one. Full Story
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