As Trump vows mass deportations, Texas lawmakers want to require sheriffs to work with ICE
Some sheriffs worried that Senate Bill 8 could create an unfunded mandate, while civil rights advocates warned about possible racial profiling. Full Story
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![U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers carry out a raid as part of Operation Cross Check in Sherman on June 20, 2019.]()
Credit: Courtesy Charles Reed/U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement -
Texas to close border site used to process arrested migrants
The state opened the facility in Jim Hogg County in 2022. Full Story
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![A pedestrian films a video of Texas National Guard soldiers repairing concertina wire along the U.S.-Mexico border after a migrant swam north across the Rio Grande to the United States Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, in Brownsville. President Joe Biden visited Brownsville on Thursday, receiving briefings from U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, USCIS, and ICE along the border before giving remarks at the Brownsville Border Patrol Station.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune -
These are the proposals lawmakers hope will save Texas’ water supply. Track them here.
Most lawmakers — as well as Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — want to invest big in water. Here are the proposals that would do it. Full Story
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![Cotton fields near the High Plains town of Ralls, about 30 miles east of Lubbock, on Wednesday, June 22, 2022. Like much of Texas, the High Plains and Panhandle are facing drought conditions and extraordinary heat.]()
Credit: Trace Thomas for The Texas Tribune -
Sylvester Turner eulogized as a man of faith, family and public service to Houston
The former Houston mayor’s funeral drew more than 1,000 mourners on Saturday, including 20 of his congressional colleagues from both political parties. Full Story
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![Mrs. Ashley Paige Turner Captain, Sylvester Turner’s daughter arrives at her father, the late Congressman Sylvester Turner’s funeral service at The Church without Walls in West Houston, Saturday, March 15, 2025, in Houston. (Lexi Parra / Houston Landing)]()
Credit: Lexi Parra/Houston Landing -
Texas Republicans seek to clarify when doctors can intervene under abortion bans
A Senate bill filed Friday does not expand abortion access, but aims to give doctors clarity while operating under laws that come with up to life in prison. Full Story
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![A surgical suite at Eastland Memorial in Eastland on March 11, 2019.]()
Credit: Gary Rhodes for The Texas Tribune -
Paxton says trans Texans can’t use court orders to change sex on driver’s licenses, birth certificates
Per the attorney general’s nonbinding opinion, state agencies should change gender markers on government documents back to a person’s sex assigned at birth. Full Story
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![Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks to the media during a press conference in front of the Supreme Court in Washington on Jan. 15, 2025.]()
Credit: Luke Johnson for The Texas Tribune -
Texas lawmakers push harsher criminal penalties
Proposed legislation includes increased penalties for retail theft, car burglaries and forgery, among others. Full Story
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![Inmates are monitored at a security station at the Harris County Detention Center on April 16, 2024, in Houston.]()
Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune -
Texas lawmakers will debate saving the state’s water supply after key legislation is introduced
The state House and Senate have similar proposals to solve the state's water crisis, but there are stark differences on how to invest billions of dollars to resolve. Full Story
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![A water tower in Starr County near the Falcon Dam on Aug. 18, 2022.]()
Credit: Michael Gonzalez for The Texas Tribune -
DOJ drops fight against Texas political maps as Trump administration retreats from voting rights cases
The Biden administration had challenged a Republican-led redistricting plan that diluted the political power of minorities. Other legal challenges will continue. Full Story
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![Census data from 2020 and redistricting maps at The Texas Tribune office in Austin on Oct. 7, 2021. The state population grew by nearly 4 million and was driven mainly by people of color.]()
Credit: Michael Gonzalez/The Texas Tribune -
Paxton investigates Dallas for alleged sanctuary city policies
Attorney General Ken Paxton said a recent statement by Dallas’ interim police chief raised concerns that the city might be violating a state law against so-called sanctuary city policies. Full Story
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![Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton addresses the crowd during a rally at the Tarrant County Republican Party Headquarters in Fort Worth on January 6, 2025.]()
Credit: Photo by Emil T. Lippe for The Texas Tribune -
Want to understand Texas’ water crisis? Start with the guide to water terms.
Water is complex. So are the terms used to describe it. Get to know the language as Texas debates how to save its water supply. Full Story
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![The secondary clarifier at the Bustamante Waste Water Treatment Plant expansion in El Paso on March 5, 2025.]()
Credit: Justin Hamel for The Texas Tribune -
Texas is running out of water. Here’s why and what state leaders plan to do about it.
The state’s water supply faces numerous threats. And by one estimate, the state’s municipal supply will not meet demand by 2030 if there’s a severe drought and no water solutions are implemented. Full Story
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![Water gushes from Rick Bradbury’s truck to Shannon Montague’s reservoir as the Bradbury’s make a delivery Saturday, March 16, 2024 in Terlingua.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune -
In Texas, private firms cash in on property tax late fees, piling debt onto struggling homeowners
Texans who fall behind on their property taxes face one of the most punitive systems in the nation, where private collection companies can tack up to 20% onto their bill. Full Story
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![Sarah Rojo disscuses hardships of being delinquent property taxpayers on Febuary, 23 2025 in Gardendale, Texas.]()
Credit: Callie Cummings for The Texas Tribune -
Texas House bill would weaken renters’ rights, advocates say
The proposal is part of a push by Republican legislators aimed at helping property owners deal with squatters. Full Story
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![A writ of possession and a notice to vacate are taped to the door at an apartment complex in Houston on April 11, 2023.]()
Credit: Annie Mulligan for The Texas Tribune -
Texas Senate majority unveils bill requiring voters to prove their citizenship
All 20 GOP senators signed on to Senate Bill 16, which would apply to currently registered voters, and restrict some to only congressional elections. Full Story
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![Jessika Morales, 33, assists Francisco Jubera, 63, who just moved into the county, to register to vote at the Nueces County Courthouse in Corpus Christi, Texas on Sept. 11, 2024.]()
Credit: Gabriel V. Cárdenas for Votebeat -
How state lawmakers are trying to crack down on illegal immigration
From requiring law enforcement agencies to cooperate with federal officials to forcing state contractors to use E-Verify to spot undocumented workers, here are the bills that could reshape the state’s immigration policies. Full Story
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![People who were apprehended by state troopers after crossing the border were brought to the International Bridge in Eagle Pass, where they were handed over to Border Patrol custody on Thursday, May 28, 2022.]()
Credit: Sergio Flores for The Texas Tribune -
Will lawmakers let Texas’ maternal mortality committee review abortion deaths?
The Legislature is considering bills that would lift long-standing restrictions on how Texas’ panel can investigate maternal deaths and near-misses. Full Story
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![Arika Rodriguez with her newborn son Parker at the Holy Family Birthing Center in Weslaco on Sept. 28, 2017.]()
Credit: Reynaldo Leal for The Texas Tribune -
Texas Senate panel sends message to Trump: Get our water from Mexico
Farmers and elected officials told a Senate committee Monday that the lack of water is becoming dire, with little relief in sight. Full Story
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![Water marks are seen on the dam gates and concrete at the Falcon Dam in Starr County on Aug. 18, 2022. This area of the reservoir is normally under water, but because of an extended drought, water levels have been below 20% full since earlier this year. The Falcon Dam was dedicated by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Mexican President Adolfo Ruiz Cortines in 1953.]()
Credit: Michael Gonzalez for The Texas Tribune -
Federal appeals court reverses Texas death row inmate’s conviction
Brittany Marlowe Holberg was convicted in 1998 of robbing and murdering an 80-year-old man in his Amarillo home. The appeals court said critical evidence was withheld. Full Story
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![The Huntsville Unit Texas State Penitentiary houses the execution chamber of Texas and is located in Huntsville on Jan. 31, 2024.]()
Credit: Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune -
With crumbling public health infrastructure, rural Texas scrambles to respond to measles
The measles outbreak in rural Texas has exposed how hospital buildings are ill-equipped. Meanwhile, long distances between providers makes testing people and transporting samples difficult. Full Story
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![A sign lets people know that measles vaccines are available in the Old City Hall in Andrews, Tx.]()
Credit: Mark Rogers for The Texas Tribune