Chaos at the Texas-Mexico border: Scenes from Tornillo to the Rio Grande Valley
The Tribune is at the border with reporters, photographers and videographers as we follow this fast-moving story. Here are scenes from the hectic weekend. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/6ff24417cee19498e8bb58e0250e8088/Genesis_Hernandez_RL_TT.jpg)
-
![Genesis waits with her brother Jose as her mother gets bus tickets in McAllen on June 23, 2018. Her family was camped out on the Brownsville/Gateway International Bridge for four days, seeking asylum.]()
Credit: Reynaldo Leal for The Texas Tribune -
Kids in exchange for deportation: Detained migrants say they were told they could get kids back on way out of U.S.
In a detention center near Houston, an asylum seeker from Honduras said he agreed to sign a voluntary removal order from the U.S. after federal officials promised to reunite him with his 6-year-old daughter. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/b1d26842a64cf87198b44ff22732b2a2/CBP_McAllen_4.jpg)
![Undocumented immigrant children at a U.S. Border Patrol processing center in McAllen, Texas.]()
Credit: U.S. Customs and Border Protection -
Trump administration says it has plan to reunite more than 2,000 migrant children still in federal custody
A lack of coordination between government agencies has led to weeks of confusion and swelling numbers of children at risk of being stranded in American foster care, thousands of miles from their parents. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/577680e42d8b31441378b81e699cbaa9/Families_McAllen_bus_stop_BD_TT.jpg)
![Article thumbnail]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
No "zero tolerance" for migrant families released in McAllen
As confusion swirls about the president's executive order to end family separations, undocumented immigrants with children continue to be apprehended in the Rio Grande Valley. But instead of being detained, some are being released from federal custody with ankle monitors. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/bc1da1117834af4a61a77ec0cb10f625/Bus_Station_McAllen_BD_TT.jpg)
![About 25 immigrant mothers and their children caught coming across the Texas-Mexico border are released at the McAllen bus station wearing ankle monitors, on June 22, 2018.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Congressmen Beto O'Rourke, Joaquin Castro visit tent camp for immigrant children near El Paso
Joined by a senator from New Mexico, the two Texas congressmen got a short tour of the detention camp and said nearly 300 minors are there, including some whose parents have been deported to their home countries. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/e89cb2e4ee7cfb5b5749fa12cecd8a8c/Castro_and_Beto_Tornillo_presser_JS_TT.jpg)
![U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, listens as Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D-El Paso, speaks at a press conference after touring the tent city at the Tornillo port of entry on June 23, 2018.]()
Credit: Jorge Salgado for The Texas Tribune -
Arguments, confusion, second-guessing: Inside Trump's reversal on separating migrant families
Under increasing public pressure, the president issued an executive order aimed at ending family separations at the border. But the federal agencies tasked with carrying out that order had different interpretations of what it really said. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/e12fe14a1cd86ad0c299a74aba46705c/Catholic_Charities_McAllen_1_BD_TT.jpg)
![Immigrant families released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) take respite at Catholic Charities in McAllen while waiting on disposition of their deportation cases.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Family separation crisis takes center stage at Texas Democratic convention
The family separations crisis quickly emerged as the top issue at the state Democratic biennial convention, fueling anger and enthusiasm as the minority party charges into a general election season determined to push back against Trump and his GOP allies in Texas. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/3533f198b1af585f910731489552b95a/Beto_and_Lupe_2_BD_TT.jpg)
![Lupe Valdez, Democratic candidate for governor, and U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D-El Paso, vying for the U.S. Senate, at the Texas Democratic Party convention in Fort Worth on June 23, 2018.]()
Credit: Joan Brook for The Texas Tribune -
Legal aid group trying to help immigrant children detained in Tornillo find their families
At the week-old immigration detention center for minors at the Tornillo port of entry near El Paso, a legal aid group is trying to reconnect parents and children because the government's system for doing so "is a bit of a nightmarish process." Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/f59e541dd5fb60ecc2bba55fd0e119dd/Tornillo_tent_city_1_IVP_TT.jpg)
![The tent city at Tornillo Port of Entry near El Paso on June 16, 2018. The facility was created to house immigrant children who were separated from their parents when they crossed the border.]()
Credit: Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The Texas Tribune -
"Not knowing anything about my daughter is torture.” Immigrant parents describe being without their children.
Three Central American immigrant detainees have sued the government to be reunited with their children. On Friday, they sent handwritten notes to the court pleading for information about them. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/6368419365aee4a9bac4d979dabc6f95/LettersFromParents.png)
![A handwritten letter by an immigrant parent asking a federal court for information on his child.]()
Credit: Court filings/U.S. Customs and Border Protection -
Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn tour shelters housing immigrant children separated from families
The state's Republican senators reaffirmed their commitment to keeping kids with their parents after they cross the border — so long as future immigration policy better deters people from entering the country illegally. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/0e59a77ffb245c23915c91afbd5b8f27/Cruz_Cornyn_weslaco_BD_TT.jpg)
![U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (left) and John Cornyn listen at a a roundtable discussion at a South Texas border patrol station in Weslaco on June 22, 2018.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
With charges dropped against some parents who crossed the border with families, is “zero tolerance” still in effect?
The Trump administration says there is still "zero tolerance" for anyone who crosses the border illegally. But the top federal prosecutor in one of Texas' busiest border districts has dropped charges against immigrants who arrived with their families. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/51ffe2aa23212b485c447ba2f1f1e729/Crowd_at_Tornillo_IVP_TT.jpg)
![Marchers head towards the tent city at Tornillo Port of Entry to protest the tent city erected there to house children separated from their parents at the border.]()
Credit: Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The Texas Tribune -
Read all our coverage of the crisis at the border
A Trump administration "zero tolerance" policy regarding illegal border crossings has left more than 2,000 children separated from their parents and sowed confusion in federal immigration courts. Read all of our coverage from Austin, Washington and along Texas' 1,200-mile border with Mexico. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/2b873acc35d1cbae8d65a0a66c8628ee/Genesis_and_Jose_on_Brownsville_bridge_RL_TT.jpg)
![Genesis (left) and Jose Hernandez play with donated toys on the Mexican side of the Brownsville/Gateway Bridge. Their family was camped on the bridge for four days awaiting an opportunity to apply for asylum.]()
Credit: Reynaldo Leal for The Texas Tribune -
Japanese-Americans imprisoned at Texas internment camp in 1940s watch border crisis unfold with heavy hearts
For Japanese-Americans who were held at a South Texas internment camp, the trauma inflicted on migrant children who have been separated from their parents is all too familiar. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/6c79c6b5c293504fa7aebe4489d683f3/Nursery_School_Crystal_City_Hiroshi_Shimizu_TT.jpg)
![Article thumbnail]()
Credit: Courtesy Hiroshi Shimizu -
Trump wants to prosecute all illegal border crossings without splitting up families. That will be a challenge.
A lack of space and a legal settlement stand in his administration's way. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/e463a7cb923f09278c77fadaca583e36/Family_detention_center_Dilley_LS_TT.jpg)
![The South Texas Family Residential Center is an immigrant detention center in Dilley, about 70 miles southwest of San Antonio.]()
Credit: Laura Skelding for The Texas Tribune -
South Texas — already ground zero for immigrant family separations — hit with disaster-level flooding
Some migrants, unable to cross the border, have chosen to wait out the storms exposed on the bridges connecting the United States and Mexico. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/660a653101ced27f9f36d3e4e752cef0/Flooding_in_the_Valley_Armando_Sierra_TT.jpg)
![Flooding in a neighborhood in Mission on June 21, 2018.]()
Credit: Courtesy Armando Sierra -
Melania Trump visits shelters for immigrant children with history of delaying medical care for kids
The 12 deficiencies reported at the New Hope shelter in McAllen are among 37 that state inspectors found at its parent company’s two shelters in the past three years, records show. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/faec691182ce77aa34c4a3e2fa6bc6b2/Melania_Trump_at_border_REUTERS_TT.jpg)
![First lady Melania Trump and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar (left) listen during a roundtable meeting at the Lutheran Social Services of the South's Upbring New Hope Children's Center in McAllen on June 21, 2018.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque -
Amid immigration debate, feds moving ahead with land seizures for South Texas border wall
At a briefing in McAllen earlier this week, U.S. Customs and Border Protection told a group of South Texas officials the federal government plans to move forward with private land seizures in the Rio Grande Valley to build sections of President Trump’s border wall. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2017/12/27/Border_Wall_6_CR_TT.jpg)
![The border fence sits atop a levee on the periphery of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge in Hidalgo County in February 2017.]()
Credit: Callie Richmond for The Texas Tribune -
Mayors from across the country tried to visit a tent city holding immigrant children in Texas. They got no answers.
A Thursday trip by a group of mayors yielded no new information about what, if anything, will change inside the detention center for immigrant children after President Donald Trump's executive order to end family separations. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/e5dbece8e2d313a616d2890a37617d03/Mayors_in_Tornillo_IPA_TT.jpg)
![Mayors from around the country speak outside of the tent city erected in Tornillo to house children separated from their parents at the border on Thursday, June 21, 2018.]()
Credit: Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The Texas Tribune -
Pentagon asked to make room for 20,000 migrant children on military bases
The U.S. government has been examining for weeks whether it can use military bases to house migrant children. Federal officials recently visited three bases in Texas. Full Story
![Undocumented immigrant children at a U.S. Border Patrol processing center in McAllen, Texas.]()
Credit: U.S. Customs and Border Protection -
Texas shelter operator says it knows the locations of the parents of separated children in its care
A company official told Texas lawmakers Thursday that parents and children have the opportunity to be in contact. But it's still not clear how that may lead to family reunification. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/a217927975cc492d8cbfefb05b9f2a2f/Southwest_Key_HQ_2_RZ_TT.jpg)
![Southwest Key headquarters in Austin on June 19, 2018.]()
Credit: Rachel Zein for The Texas Tribune