Senate negotiators release sweeping border and military aid bill
The $118 billion national security package is a top priority for President Biden, but Trump and his allies oppose it. Full Story
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![U.S. Capitol, Washington, DC - The U.S. Capitol is seen on Thursday, January 6, 2022.]()
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Gov. Greg Abbott defends migrant tactics in Eagle Pass amid escalating legal battle with Biden administration
DPS tells visiting governors that efforts to deter migrants are effective and razor wire and buoy barriers “save lives.” Full Story
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![Flanked by Republican governors, Gov. Greg Abbott speaks to the press in Eagle Pass on Feb. 4, 2024.]()
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Glitch in financial aid form is keeping students with immigrant parents from applying for college grants
Parents without a Social Security number still cannot complete the new FAFSA online. The U.S. Education Department has not said when it plans to fix the issue. Full Story
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![Diana Almaraz with her mother Guillermina in their home in Fort Worth on Jan. 28, 2024.]()
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House panel advances impeachment charges against Mayorkas with Texas Republicans backing
A member of the president’s cabinet has not been impeached in nearly 150 years. The full House is expected to vote next week. Full Story
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![U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas listens to U.S. Border Patrol chief Raul Ortiz near the border with Mexico in La Joya on May 17, 2022.]()
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Texas' standoff with the feds in Eagle Pass is igniting calls for secession and fears of violence
The calls for Texas to defend itself and defy the federal government have set fire to a long-simmering fight over states’ rights, emboldening right-wing figures. Full Story
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![A Texas National Guard humvee parked at the gates of Shelby Park, in Eagle Pass, on Jan. 16, 2024. Texas has closed off Shelby Park, cutting access to federal agents to part of the Texas-Mexico border and escalating tensions between the Biden administration and Gov. Greg Abbott.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
“Hold the line”: Republicans rally to Abbott’s defense in border standoff with Biden
From the Texas House to former President Donald Trump, Republicans around the country defended Gov. Greg Abbott’s challenges to the Biden administration's border policies. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott, displays SB 1900, one of six bills he signed during a border security bill signing session at the state capitol in Austin on June 8, 2023. The bills signed include SB 423, SB 602, SB 1133, SB 1403, SB 1484, and SB 1900. “Washington D.C. has failed to do its job to secure the border,” Abbott said. “As a result, Texas has had to take unprecedented steps in responding to the crisis caused by the Biden administration on the border, and in response the Texas legislature has stepped up to make sure that we will be able to more robustly respond.”]()
Credit: Joe Timmerman/The Texas Tribune -
Texas’ border standoff with feds continues, despite U.S. Supreme Court order
Texas officers are still erecting border wire and some Republicans are calling on Gov. Greg Abbott to defy the high court. Full Story
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![A Texas National Guard member walks past a line of buoys in Eagle Pass on Jan. 17, 2024. The U.S. Department of Justice, in a filing to the U.S. Supreme Court, stated that U.S. Border Patrol agents have been blocked off of a section of the border, accessible through Shelby Park.]()
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U.S. Supreme Court says Texas can’t block federal agents from the border
The high court’s order effectively maintains long-running precedent that the federal government — not individual states — has authority to enforce border security. Full Story
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![A Texas National Guard member at the bank of the Rio Grand at Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, on Jan. 16, 2024. Texas has closed off Shelby Park, cutting access to federal agents to part of the Texas-Mexico border and escalating tensions between the Biden administration and Gov. Greg Abbott.]()
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In Eagle Pass, a tense border standoff between Texas and the federal government is reaching a crescendo
A park on the Rio Grande is the new focus of a long battle over border enforcement that’s reached the U.S. Supreme Court. Full Story
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![A group of migrants wades through the Rio Grande under the watch of Texas National Guard members near the riverbank at Shelby Park in Eagle Pass on Jan. 19, 2024. Texas has closed off Shelby Park, cutting access to federal agents to part of the Texas-Mexico border, according to a federal legal filing. The situation is escalating tensions between the Biden administration and Gov. Greg Abbott.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Feds demand Texas stop blocking Border Patrol agents access to border
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security fires off cease and desist letter to Texas after three migrants drown crossing Rio Grande near Eagle Pass. Full Story
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![Texas National Guard troops patrol Shelby Park at the Texas-Mexico border in Eagle Pass, on Jan. 12, 2024.]()
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Feds say Texas is blocking Border Patrol from a section of the border, ask U.S. Supreme Court to intervene
The Justice Department says agents can’t access 2.5 miles of the border and a boat ramp in Eagle Pass. Full Story
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![National Guard members tell migrants that they cannot cross through that area and that they need to walk until the end of the property to turn themselves in Eagle Pass, Texas on July 29, 2023. They also tell them that they only have two bottles of water that they can give them for their children only, not for the adults. Minutes later other national guard members arrived with more water.
Verónica G. Cárdenas for The Texas Tribune]()
Credit: Verónica G. Cárdenas for The Texas Tribune -
Abbott’s immigration rhetoric criticized again after interview response about shooting migrants
Asked how far Texas could legally go to secure the border, Gov. Greg Abbott said the state isn’t shooting people who illegally cross the border because the Biden administration would charge officials with murder. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott signs six bills relating to border security at the state Capitol in Austin on June 8, 2023. “Washington D.C. has failed to do its job to secure the border,” Abbott said “As a result, Texas has had to take unprecedented steps in responding to the crisis caused by the Biden administration on the border, and in response the Texas legislature has stepped up to make sure that we will be able to more robustly respond.”]()
Credit: Joe Timmerman/The Texas Tribune -
Texas officers take “full control” of Eagle Pass park against city’s wishes
The city’s mayor was told the state operation to halt illegal border crossings would last indefinitely. Full Story
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![The Texas Department of Public Safety closes Shelby Park in Eagle Pass on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024. 2024-01-11 07:29:40.727 -06:00 (1:29 PM CST)]()
Credit: Courtesy of Amerika Garcia Grewal/Border Vigil -
New York City sues bus companies that Texas hired to transport migrants
More than 33,000 migrants have arrived from Texas since August 2022. The city wants bus companies to pay more than $700 million. Full Story
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![Asylum seekers are transferred via city bus from the Port Authority bus terminal to a housing facility on May 14, 2023, in New York City, New York.]()
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U.S. Justice Department sues Texas to halt new state law targeting illegal immigration
Senate Bill 4 allows Texas police to arrest immigrants who cross the border between ports of entry. The federal government says the law is unconstitutional. Full Story
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![Migrants seeking refuge in the U.S. cross the Rio Grande back into Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, Mexico as others return to the U.S. carrying food supplies near Del Rio on Sept. 19, 2021.]()
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U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson visits border, demands that Biden administration crack down on illegal immigration
Johnson and 60 GOP House members went to Eagle Pass and said they won’t support financial aid for Ukraine or Israel unless the president backs their proposals to secure the border. Full Story
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![U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) takes questions following a press conference criticizing the Biden administration's immigration policies during a visit to a border town where migrants are arriving from Mexico to seek asylum, in Eagle Pass, Texas, U.S. January 3, 2024.]()
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Vouchers, border security, abortion: The issues you heard about in 2023 will continue to be hotly debated in 2024
After nearly a year’s worth of legislative sessions, several issues are poised to dominate Texas politics this year. Here’s a look at how things ended on several fronts last year — and where they’re headed next. Full Story
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![The Texas Capitol in Austin on Oct. 19, 2021.]()
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Texas 2023: Year in Photos
Texas photojournalists fanned the state, capturing historic news and intimate moments. Full Story
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U.S. Department of Justice says it’ll sue if Texas enforces new law punishing illegal border crossing
The state has until Jan. 3 to say it won’t arrest people accused of unauthorized entry from Mexico. If not, the Biden administration will sue, saying immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility. 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.]()
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Once a laborer, this immigrant now owns his farm. He and his daughter are among few Hispanic farmers in Texas.
According to the most recent census, Texas has fewer than 26,000 Hispanic farmers compared to 236,000 white farmers. Full Story
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![From left, Amaldo Serrato and his daughter, Yuleida Serrato look over a failed dry-land cotton field that they had to plow under because it was too dry. The Serrato family own and run their multigenerational family farm in and around Floydada. Amado Serrato, his wife and father came to the United States, where they and their American born kids have created a successful agricultural business.]()
Credit: Mark Rogers for The Texas Tribune