When country music icon Willie Nelson got arrested for marijuana possession last week, he wasn’t the only Texas legend who figured in the story. Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West, who put Willie in the local pokey, is a reigning symbol of the years-long fight over border security and immigration.
Immigration
In-depth reporting on border issues, policies, communities, and the impact of immigration across the state, from The Texas Tribune.
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Demographics
“A Many-Headed Monster”
Mexican police think they’ve caught the drug kingpin behind the murder of a U.S. consulate employee and an El Paso sheriff’s deputy in Juárez in March. But it’s unlikely the arrest of a cartel leader will stem the tide of violence.
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Demographics
Border Troopers See More High-Speed Pursuits
Troopers on the Texas-Mexico border reported more high-speed chases than officers in any other region of the state. The Texas Tribune and the San Antonio Express-News analyzed data from nearly 5,000 DPS pursuit reports from January 2005 through July 2010. Of the 10 counties with the most chases, five were counties along the Texas-Mexico border. In this video, DPS Trooper Johnny Hernandez in Hidalgo County talks about why officers on the border see more pursuits than their colleagues across the state.
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Demographics
The Getaway
Troopers on the border are involved in far more high-speed chases than officers in any other region of the state, according to an analysis of nearly 5,000 Department of Public Safety pursuit reports by The Texas Tribune and the San Antonio Express-News. Nearly 13 percent of the chases (656) happened in Hidalgo County. Of the 10 counties with the most chases, five were counties along the border. The analysis also reveals that troopers use aggressive pursuit tactics — including firing guns and setting up roadblocks — that many other law enforcement agencies prohibit.
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Criminal Justice
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Hu on the Perry-Bush rift, Ramshaw on the adult diaper wars, Ramsey’s interview with conservative budget-slasher Arlene Wohlgemuth, Galbraith on the legislature’s water agenda (maybe), M. Smith on Don McLeroy’s last stand (maybe), Philpott on the end of earmarks (maybe), Hamilton on the merger of the Higher Education Coordinating Board and the Texas Education Agency (maybe), Aguilar on Mexicans seeking refuge from drug violence, Grissom on inadequate health care in county jails and my conversation with Houston Mayor Annise Parker: The best of our best from November 15 to 19, 2010.
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Energy
A Conversation With Annise Parker
For the 17th event in our TribLive series, I interviewed the mayor of Houston about why Bill White lost, how a state budget shortfall and ballooning federal debt impact urban areas and whether it’s possible for the fourth-largest city in the United States to go green.
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Demographics
Business as Unusual
“Fear is paralyzing,” says Jose Luis Mauricio, the president of LaRED, a group of Mexican professionals who have banded together and are networking in El Paso as a result of the violence that’s ravaged Ciudad Juárez.
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Demographics
“I Will Never Return”
Withing walking distance of the port of entry at Roma, a Lions Club community center in a tiny Mexican town is the temporary home to hundreds to citizens fleeing drug violence in Ciudad Mier, which was reportedly overtaken by the Zetas cartel on Nov. 5. An official with U.S. Customs and Border Protection says that despite the town’s proximity to Texas, agents are operating there without an increase in manpower.
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Demographics
TribBlog: Undocumented Students Rally for DREAM Act
In Austin, undocumented students spent the week risking deportation to speak publicly about their support of the DREAM Act.
