Immigration judges are expected to be impartial. But they report to Jeff Sessions.
The structure of immigration courts, unique in the federal government, has long been criticized for its potential for conflicts of interest. Full Story
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![U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks about carrying out President Donald Trump's immigration priorities at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas in Austin on Friday, Oct. 20, 2017.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Hours after deadline, federal government lays out plan for reuniting kids with deported parents
The plan places a heavy burden on the American Civil Liberties Union, the advocacy group that successfully took the government to court this year to order the reunifications. Full Story
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![The main entrance to the Port Isabel Detention Center on Sunday, June 24, 2018. Port Isabel is about 20 miles northwest of Brownsville.]()
Credit: Reynaldo Leal for The Texas Tribune -
At prison reform meeting, Trump praises Texas’ “very successful” DACA challenge
The Trump administration has promised to phase out the Obama-era immigration program. But the president himself has also expressed sympathy for "Dreamers." Full Story
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![U.S. President Donald Trump participates in a roundtable discussion with state leaders (including Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton) on prison reform in Bedminster, New Jersey on August 9, 2018.]()
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Plaintiffs say Texas voter ID fight is over
In a court filing, opponents of the state's voter ID law told a federal district judge that the case was settled and that they would not pursue any other changes or remedies. Full Story
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Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman -
Texas is suing — again — to end Obamacare. This time it has some advantages.
Texas has sued to end Obama's landmark health care law before. But this time it has support from the Trump administration, a new tax code and a potentially sympathetic judge. Full Story
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![Obamacare sign in east Austin on Dec. 1, 2015.]()
Credit: Shelby Knowles/ The Texas Tribune -
ACLU sues Trump administration over decision to exclude most asylum-seekers fleeing domestic abuse, gang violence
“It’s clear the administration’s goal is to deny and deport as many people as possible, as quickly as possible," said Jennifer Chang Newell, an attorney with the ACLU's Immigrants’ Rights Project. Full Story
![U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks about carrying out President Donald Trump's immigration priorities at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas in Austin on Friday, Oct. 20, 2017.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Blocked from distributing plans for 3D-printed guns, "crypto-anarchist" is still in the DIY gun business
Cody Wilson's group Defense Distributed is known for attempting to upload the digital blueprints for 3D-printed guns. But he also helps customers make unregistered, unserialized conventional firearms. Full Story
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![Cody Wilson, gun rights activist and founder of Defense Distributed, a Texas-based company developing and publishing open source gun designs for 3D printing and manufacture.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
The government hasn’t found 410 migrant parents deported without their kids
For every migrant parent federal officials fail to locate, U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw said, "there will be a permanently orphaned child." Full Story
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![Undocumented immigrant children at a U.S. Border Patrol processing center in McAllen, Texas.]()
Credit: U.S. Customs and Border Protection -
Appeals court revives Empower Texans lawsuit seeking to gut the Texas Ethics Commission
The case had been dismissed by a Travis County judge, but an appeals court on Friday overturned that dismissal. Full Story
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![Michael Quinn Sullivan, president and CEO of Empower Texans, speaks during a Tea Party rally on the south steps of the Capitol in Austin on April 17, 2017.]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas Tribune -
Following lawsuits, Texas company's plans to upload blueprints for 3D-printed guns are on hold
An Austin organization founded by a self-identified anarchist is no longer releasing information on how to use 3D printers to make guns at home in light of legal challenges from states. Full Story
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How can the federal government reunify kids with deported parents? First step: Find them.
Some 400 parents were sent back to their native countries without their children. As an official with the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency put it, “we don’t keep track of individuals once they’ve been deported to foreign countries.” Full Story
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![Immigrant children are led by staff in single file between tents at a detention facility next to the Mexican border in Tornillo on June 18, 2018.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Mike Blake -
Mexican reporter and son released from immigration detention in Texas
Emilio Gutiérrez Soto and his son Oscar spent seven months in federal detention. Their release comes a day before a court-ordered deadline for federal officials to turn over emails about why the two were detained. Full Story
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![Emilio Gutiérrez Soto and son Oscar reunite after being released on July 26, 2018.]()
Credit: Julián Aguilar/The Texas Tribune -
As reunification deadline lands, hundreds of migrant families remain divided
Some parents have been declared ineligible because of "red flags" in their records. But many haven't been reunified because immigration officials already deported them. Full Story
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![A pile of kids shoes left by mayors from U.S. cities lays at the front gate outside of the children's tent encampment built to deal with the Trump administrations "zero tolerance" policy, in Tornillo on June 21, 2018.]()
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In re-election bid, Attorney General Ken Paxton emphasizes record as Democrat seizes on indictment
Paxton was indicted nearly three years ago in a securities fraud case that is unlikely to be resolved before Election Day. His Democratic challenger, Justin Nelson, sees the race as one of "integrity vs. indictment." Full Story
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![Justin Nelson (left) is the Democratic nominee facing incumbent Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.]()
Credit: Joan Brook: Nelson/Bob Daemmrich: Paxton -
The government has lost track of hundreds of migrant parents, likely delaying reunifications
For the second time, it looks like the government's efforts to reunify separated migrant families will be stymied by its own bureaucratic failings. Full Story
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![Immigrants, many wearing ankle monitors, are dropped off at the McAllen Central Station, where they are they are given bus tickets to other parts of the country. On Saturday, June 23, 2018. Reynaldo Leal for The Texas Tribune]()
Credit: Reynaldo Leal -
As Thursday deadline approaches, reunification remains uncertain for hundreds of migrant families
A federal judge has ordered immigration officials to reunite all migrant children 5 and older with their parents by Thursday — but officials' own data shows that will be near impossible. Full Story
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![Mercedes (right), a Salvadoran asylum seeker, is reunited with her daughter, Maria in Corpus Christi on July 13, 2018. The two were separated by U.S. authorities after crossing the Texas-Mexico border in mid-May.]()
Credit: Eddie Seal for The Texas Tribune -
Rotten meat. Chicken pox. Tearful separations. Migrants describe their experience in federal custody.
In court filings, more than 200 migrants describe long waits for medical care, minimal access to legal services, verbal abuse from guards and untreated diaper rashes. Full Story
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![Undocumented immigrant children at a U.S. Border Patrol processing center in McAllen, Texas.]()
Credit: U.S. Customs and Border Protection -
Federal government has reunited 450 migrant children over 5, leaving 2,000 still separated
The government has a court-ordered deadline of July 26 to reunify the rest of the children. But last time it came up against a deadline, the government declared almost half the children "ineligible." Full Story
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![Immigrant families enter the Catholic Charity in McAllen on June 29, 2018.]()
Credit: Reynaldo Leal for The Texas Tribune -
Senate confirms a top Abbott adviser, Andrew Oldham, to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals
Oldham is the third Texas nominee to be confirmed to the powerful, conservative-leaning appeals court since President Donald Trump took office. Full Story
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![Andrew S. Oldham testifies as the Senate Judiciary Committee holds a hearing to confirm him as United States Circuit Judge for the 5th Circuit, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., April 25, 2018.]()
Credit: Allison Shelley for the Texas Tribune -
Judge temporarily blocks immediate deportations of reunited immigrant families
Parents should have time to make an "informed, non-coerced decision" about whether they want to leave the country with their children, the ACLU had argued. Full Story
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![Mercedes (right), a Salvadoran asylum seeker, is reunited with her daughter, Maria, in Corpus Christi on July 13 2018. The two were separated by U.S. authorities after crossing the Texas-Mexico border in mid-May.]()
Credit: Eddie Seal for The Texas Tribune