How Gov. Greg Abbott exported a border crisis to New York City
New York City was not initially a destination when the Texas governor began busing asylum-seekers east. That changed after NYC Mayor Eric Adams launched his war of words against Abbott, who’s now sending hundreds to the Big Apple.
ACLU calls on feds to investigate Abbott’s policy transporting migrants back to border
In July, Abbott authorized state law enforcement to transport migrants to ports of entry. It’s unclear how and why migrants are being detained, raising civil rights concerns and questions about whether the state is overstepping federal authority.
Texas troopers are causing car chase fatalities and racially profiling drivers under Abbott’s border crackdown, complaint claims
Two civil rights groups have expanded their request for a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into Operation Lone Star, citing evidence of risky pursuits and more frequent traffic stops of Hispanic drivers.
Gov. Greg Abbott spends an additional $30 million on Operation Lone Star to aid local governments
Abbott announced that his already $4 billion border mission would provide grant funding for cities and counties, following a press conference by some local officials calling on the governor to take more drastic action to secure the border.
Cash is piling up in Kinney County from bonds posted to free migrants arrested under Texas border crackdown
Friends, families and attorneys have posted more than $2 million to get migrants out of prison. Defense attorneys say the rural county is erecting barriers that will keep many from recovering the money when they’re entitled to it.
A minor trespassing case gives Gov. Greg Abbott’s border initiative its first courtroom win
The trial included four prosecutors, and so many potential jurors were summoned the town sandwich shop was shorthanded for lunch. But a Kinney County jury Monday convicted a Honduran national in the first jury trial for trespassing under Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star.
Gov. Greg Abbott redirects $500 million from other agencies to fund border security mission through end of fiscal year
Abbott said the money would be taken from the budgets of other Texas agencies, including nearly $210 million from the state’s Health and Human Services Commission over two years and about $160 million from the Texas Department of Public Safety.
New federal lawsuit seeks to halt Texas’ border trespassing arrests, give more than $5 million to illegally detained migrants
Thousands of men have been arrested on trespassing charges under Gov. Greg Abbott’s border crackdown. A new lawsuit claims the attempt to skirt federal immigration authority is unconstitutional.
Texas soldier who drowned trying to help migrants wasn’t equipped with flotation device
Spc. Bishop Evans died after jumping into the Rio Grande to save migrants. He and other members of Operation Lone Star were not provided safety equipment. Texas Military Department said an order for buoys and ropes was made but has not been fulfilled.
Beto O’Rourke carefully threads needle on border policy as Democrats grapple with the issue
For Democrats, especially in Texas, tackling border issues is difficult on the campaign trail as the party is not in agreement about various policies. O’Rourke has had to distance himself from President Joe Biden’s border policies, while going after Gov. Greg Abbott’s.
Abbott ends inspections that clogged commercial traffic at U.S.-Mexico border for more than a week
The deals Abbott made with three of the four Mexican border governors don’t include any new security measures south of the border. Abbott threatened to restart the inspections if Mexican states don’t slow migration to Texas.
Gov. Greg Abbott announces deals with two more Mexican governors to halt Texas’ vehicle inspections at the border
The announcements come a day after Abbott reached a similar deal with Nuevo León’s governor, who agreed to add security at a major border bridge in exchange for an end to increased vehicle inspections by Texas troopers.
Gov. Greg Abbott eases state inspections at one commercial bridge, as trade remains snarled across the border
The move provides little relief as trade between Texas and Mexico is hampered along the border because of Abbott’s order. The Colombia bridge is just one of 13 commercial crossings between the two countries and the only one connected to Nuevo León.
Biden administration, Mexican governors urge Abbott to end inspections that have bogged down border trade
Gov. Greg Abbott is slated to have a meeting and press event with Samuel Alejandro García Sepúlveda — the Mexican governor of Nuevo León, the state that includes a section of the border near Laredo — later Wednesday afternoon.
Analysis: Abbott’s border initiative is expensive, ineffective and not as tough as it sounds
The results of the state’s $3 billion border security effort don’t match the up-front promises, and Gov. Greg Abbott is flipping the political script with loud opposition to a change in federal border policy.
Gov. Greg Abbott’s plan to bus migrants to Washington, D.C., will be voluntary
Abbott said he’s responding to the Biden administration announcement that it will lift a pandemic-era emergency health order that allowed immigration authorities to turn away migrants at the border, even those seeking asylum.
Texas Guard’s border mission needs an additional $531 million to continue past this month, top general says
Texas Military Department leaders say they’ve addressed many of the issues that arose late last year when the mission ramped up to 10,000 service members — but more money is needed to run the mission at its current pace.
National Guard troops were dispatched to famous Texas ranches with private security as part of border mission
The dispatching of troops to the sprawling private ranches, far from the border, raises questions about the use of National Guard troops, who have widely decried the mission as aimless, political and oversized, as the cost of the effort has already ballooned to $2 billion a year.
Gov. Greg Abbott replaces Texas military leader who has overseen heavily criticized border mission
Maj. Gen. Thomas M. Suelzer will take over as the military department’s new leader. He replaces Maj. Gen. Tracy Norris, who was criticized for her handling of Operation Lone Star, as adjutant general of the Texas Military Department.
Feds seek to protect rare Texas plant in the path of border wall construction
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed a rule earlier this week to list the prostrate milkweed, which lives along the Texas-Mexico border, as an endangered species. The rare plant is threatened in part by border security activities, scientists say.
Deplorable conditions, unclear mission: Texas National Guard troops call Abbott’s rushed border operation a disaster
The governor has sent waves of troops to the border as Guard officials scramble to execute a massive mobilization that would normally take months to plan. Some Guard members say the operation has set back their income, education and well-being.
Texas judge opens door for widespread constitutional challenges to Gov. Greg Abbott’s border initiative
A Travis County judge Thursday tossed out the trespassing charge of an Ecuadorian man who said he came to the United States seeking asylum. His lawyers argued that the governor’s directive to arrest migrants on state charges unconstitutionally usurps federal immigration law.
Probe of Texas National Guard border mission demanded over suicide attempts, abysmal conditions and delayed pay
The call for action from Texas Democrats comes as another service member based in the city of Pharr survived a suicide attempt on Sunday, according to an incident report obtained by Army Times and The Texas Tribune.
Allen West blasts Gov. Greg Abbott over suicides, pay problems among National Guardsmen at the border
Abbott’s political challenger said guard members deployed to Operation Lone Star are facing late pay, being exposed to COVID-19, experiencing supply shortages and dealing with added stress that has led to multiple suicides tied to the mission.
Bangladeshi National Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Bring Aliens to the United States
A Bangladeshi national formally residing in Tapachula, Mexico, pleaded guilty for his role in a scheme to smuggle aliens from Mexico into the United States. Mohamad Milon Hossain, 39, admitted that from March 2017 to June 2019, he conspired to bring, and brought, Bangladeshi nationals to the United States at the Texas border in exchange for payment. Hossain operated out of Tapachula, Mexico, where he maintained a hotel that housed aliens on their way to the United States. Hossain provided plane tickets and other assistance for the aliens to travel from Tapachula to Monterrey, Mexico where co-conspirator Moktar Hossain assisted their illegal crossing into the United States. Hossains brazen scheme to smuggle Bangladeshi aliens into the United States put our national security at risk, said Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Departments Criminal Division.
justice.gov12 weeks of paid parental leave for 2.1 million federal employees included in defense bill
ALL of @POTUSs priorities have made it into the final Natl Defense Authorization Act:Pay Raise for our TroopsRebuilding our MilitaryPaid Parental LeaveBorder SecuritySpace Force @realDonaldTrump will proudly sign this historic defense legislation this week! Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) December 17, 2019WASHINGTON -- The federal government's 2.1 million employees are expected to get paid parental leave for the first time as part of a defense bill the Senate voted to send to President Donald Trump on Tuesday, and Trump indicated he will sign it into law.The Senate greenlit the National Defense Authorization Act, which combines a $738 billion Pentagon budget blueprint with legislation that gives 12 weeks of paid parental leave for employees who give birth, adopt or foster a child.The bill already passed through the House earlier this week with a sweeping 86-8 vote and now heads to the president's desk. Trump indicated at a White House summit Thursday that he would sign the bill, calling it a "historic deal. "The agreement follows a compromise between the Democrat-controlled House and the GOP-led Senate. In order to fudge parental leave into the bill, Democrats agreed to drop a provision to block Trump from transferring money from Pentagon accounts to construct a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border.
abc13.com12 weeks of paid paternal leave for 2.1 million federal employees included in defense bill
ALL of @POTUSs priorities have made it into the final Natl Defense Authorization Act:Pay Raise for our TroopsRebuilding our MilitaryPaid Parental LeaveBorder SecuritySpace Force @realDonaldTrump will proudly sign this historic defense legislation this week! Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) December 17, 2019WASHINGTON -- The federal government's 2.1 million employees are expected to get paid parental leave for the first time as part of a defense bill the Senate voted to send to President Donald Trump on Tuesday, and Trump indicated he will sign it into law.The Senate greenlit the National Defense Authorization Act, which combines a $738 billion Pentagon budget blueprint with legislation that gives 12 weeks of paid paternal leave for employees who give birth, adopt or foster a child.The bill already passed through the House earlier this week with a sweeping 86-8 vote and now heads to the president's desk. Trump indicated at a White House summit Thursday that he would sign the bill, calling it a "historic deal. "The agreement follows a compromise between the Democrat-controlled House and the GOP-led Senate. In order to fudge paternal leave into the bill, Democrats agreed to drop a provision to block Trump from transferring money from Pentagon accounts to construct a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border.
abc13.comTexas ramps up border security to stem influx of illegal immigrants
Texas ramps up border security to stem influx of illegal immigrants Texas Gov. Rick Perry authorized spending an extra $1.3 million on border security. Local law enforcement officials along the border say they are overwhelmed. Anna Werner reports.
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