After a brief tarmac meeting with President Barack Obama, Gov. Rick Perry returned to bashing the administration over border security.
Demographics
Explore population trends, diversity, and data shaping Texas communities, politics, and policy.
“We Need Your Help Here”
A government report finds the U.S. has been too slow to aid Mexico and other crime-ridden countries at a time when drug-related violence is escalating. Efforts to combat alien smuggling have also fallen short.
Crossing While Contagious
The 1,200-mile border it shares with Mexico makes Texas one the most vulnerable states when it comes to imported infectious diseases. In a majority of cases, Customs and Border Protection officers are unable to detect these public health threats at ports of entry, according to a new Centers for Disease Control study.
Tony Hefner: The TT Interview
The author and former security guard at the Port Isabel detention center for illegal immigrants talked with the Tribune last week about the torture, sexual abuse and drug smuggling he says he witnessed there.
TribBlog: Obama the Remover
A report released today from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University shows that during the first nine months of 2010, Immigration and Customs Enforcement removed 279,035 non-citizens, compared to 254,763 for the same time period during the final year of the Bush administration.
Checkpoint Blues
As more U.S. Border Patrol agents descend on the Texas-Mexico border, residents of some of the most remote West Texas towns say they feel harassed and disrespected by the new arrivals watching over their communities.
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Stiles’ and Torres’ three-parter on the changing Texas political map, Ramsey on questions about Brian Birdwell’s voting history and residency, Aguilar on the Obama administration’s immigration crackdown, Reed on hospitals that won’t induce early labor, Stiles on what Troy Fraser left off his financial disclosure form, the latest installment of Hu’s Face-Off video debate series, Grissom on the problem-plagued Driver Responsibility Program, Galbraith on the controversy over fracking and M. Smith’s interview with former Texas Supreme Court Justice Harriet O’Neill: The best of our best from July 26 to 30, 2010.
TribBlog: Last-Minute Border Plea
Border groups are urging Congress to rethink options for securing the border just days before National Guard troops arrive in the area.
TribBlog: Minding the Gaps
With two-thirds now over, it’s time to check in on the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s 10-years old, 15-year initiative to close the gaps between Texas and other states in student achievement in higher education.
Barack the Enforcer
Despite grousing from congressmen and state officials in Arizona and Texas — notably Gov. Rick Perry — that the Obama administration has abdicated its role in the protecting the nation’s borders from illegal immigration, the Department of Homeland Security’s largest investigative units this year each recorded their highest monthly number of cases referred for prosecution since the Bush administration, according to a report from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.

