BORDER WALL

The Texas House also voted to spend $1.5 billion on new state border walls, though that measure must be reconciled with the Senate version before it’s sent to Gov. Greg Abbott for consideration.

The governor, lieutenant governor and House speaker generally agree on building more border barriers and making illegal border crossings a state crime. But disagreements over strategy and personal animosity mean those measures face long odds this special legislative session.

Along with the money to build more border barriers, Senate Bill 6 would devote $49 million to beef up law enforcement of the Colony Ridge development that’s become a target of far-right media.

Even as the president says the barriers don’t work, his administration says it will waive environmental laws to build them quickly.

The Florida governor calls for deputizing local law enforcement to police the border and deport migrants, saying his plan is “more aggressive” than the former president’s proposals.

Anti-border wall activists are racing to find landowners along the Rio Grande before they sign contracts with the state.

The governor said Mike Banks, a recently retired Border Patrol agent, will work with the Texas National Guard and state troopers to find ways to deter people from crossing the border illegally.

Securing the land rights to build Texas’ portion of a border wall is proving to be a tedious and daunting process according to officials with the Texas Facilities Commission. The comments came during a Jan. 4 TFC meeting when another border wall construction contract was awarded.

The Texas Facilities Commission continues negotiating with private landowners for the rights to build segments of a state-funded border wall. Without these agreements, the state can’t move forward with building more segments of the wall.

The two companies awarded contracts on Thursday will erect border barriers in Del Rio and the Rio Grande Valley.

Among voters near the Texas-Mexico border, immigration and border security are a leading cause for flipping from Democrat to Republican.

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.

The governor has ordered thousands of state troopers and National Guard members to the border since last year. Here’s what you need to know about the initiative.

The administration says it’s filling in wall gaps for agent safety and flood control, and documents suggest an environmental assessment for 86 miles of wall in South Texas is a stalling tactic.

Texas plans to repurpose the panels, left over when the Biden administration halted work on former President Donald Trump’s wall, to erect 1.3 miles of border barrier.

The 2016 Facebook post said, "Better to be a Mexican, than to be a citizen of a country that elects Trump as President."

Abbott unveiled the first 900 feet of border barrier Saturday. But the state has been mum on where it plans to build additional barriers and how many miles it can afford.

After seeing modest decreases during late summer and early fall, the number of people either caught illegally crossing the United States’ southern border or deemed inadmissible to the country increased during the month of November. According to Customs and Border Protection, agents reported 173,620 encounters last month, a 5% increase from Oct and a 142% increase from the same month last year.

Political observers say the move is a gamble. All three other major Republican candidates for attorney general, including incumbent Ken Paxton, have strong stances on border security.

Abbott launched the construction of a wall along the Texas-Mexico border using state money and crowdfunded private donations. The state has at least $1.05 billion for the border barriers.

Construction is expected to begin soon on a 1.7-mile portion of the Texas border wall.

One of the companies being considered previously built a 3-mile barrier that is at risk of falling into the Rio Grande.

Timothy Mellon is the Wyoming-based grandson of banking tycoon Andrew Mellon. He is responsible for nearly 98% of the donations to Texas’ border wall fund.

Gov. Greg Abbott said Texas was stepping up to do the federal government’s job after Biden’s immigration policies had “opened the floodgates” to illegal immigration and crime.

Patrick’s comments mirrored a far-right theory that says political elites are replacing white populations through mass migration and demographic changes. He called the increase of migrants at the border an “invasion.”

The two firms awarded the contract have previously built barriers and designed ports of entry for the federal government.

The state is expected to award the contract in mid-September to begin the construction of a Texas-Mexico border wall.

After two months, the donations had petered out around $1 million. But the effort saw a major boost in August.

Proponents of House Bill 9 denounced the Biden administration’s approach to border security, saying the state had no choice but to step in to ramp up enforcement.

The bill would nearly triple border security funding from the last biennium. The legislation needs one more vote of approval from the House before moving to the Senate.

A border sheriff told lawmakers that some landowners who are afraid of migrants crossing their property have asked him, "When can I shoot?"

The barrier in Eagle Pass is the first glimpse into how much a state-funded border wall could cost. But Abbott’s office says it’s a “concrete barrier” that is separate from his border wall push.

On Wednesday, Abbott issued the order, allowing Texas Department of Public Safety troopers to reroute civilian vehicles back to their origin point or a port of entry, or seize the vehicles, if police suspect the driver is transporting migrants who have COVID-19.

One day after Abbott told state troopers to pull over vehicles with migrants suspected of having COVID-19, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said the governor's order violated federal law.

In a letter to the major general of the Texas National Guard, Abbott said “more manpower is needed” at the border.

Despite promises from Abbott that transparency in the crowdfunding process for the border wall would be paramount, donor information released to The Texas Tribune for the first week of collections was bereft of any way to verify the identities of the majority of the donors.

One month ago, Gov. Greg Abbott announced plans to build a border wall that would be funded, at least partially, through donations.

The lawsuit says the president had no legal right to put a stop to wall construction on the Texas-Mexico border because Congress had already appropriated the funds.

The agenda for the special session that begins today previews some of the issues you're likely to hear about during the 2022 election cycle.

The governor said Texas needs to build a border wall to reduce migrant apprehensions and fentanyl seizures. But immigration and drug treatment experts say Abbott's oversimplifying the issue.

Some landowners who sued the Trump administration say they aren't "just going to roll over and give up" now that Abbott has taken on a border wall project. Others say a wall is needed to protect people and property on the border.

The former president is touring the border Wednesday with Abbott, who has promised to build a state-funded border wall.

The disaster declarations give the governor broad power to suspend state laws and regulations that hinder a jurisdiction’s recovery from a disaster and to allow the use of available resources to respond to the disaster.

Gov. Greg Abbott pledged $250 million in state funds for a Texas-Mexico border wall and is soliciting donations to fund the rest.

Former President Donald Trump plans on touring Texas’ southern border with Gov. Greg Abbott later this month.

The prison — Dolph Briscoe Unit in Dilley — will have capacity for about 1,000 people.

“If people die again, blood will be on your hands,” U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, wrote in a tweet.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott held a news conference Wednesday at 3 p.m. from the Capitol in Austin to address the Texas border wall.

The governor did not specify how long the wall would be or where it would be built. He directed the Texas Facilities Commission to hire a program manager to begin that research.

Abbott announced last Thursday that Texas would build its own border wall to stem the flow of migrants from Mexico.

Abbott made national headlines with his announcement Thursday in Del Rio that Texas would build its own wall at the Mexico border, though he provided no further details and said he would lay out the plan this week.

In this week's TribCast, Matthew speaks with Ross, Patrick and James about Gov. Greg Abbott's border wall idea, the politics of South Texas and the GOP statewide ticket in 2022.

A panel of experts will discuss the policy decisions that have created confusion at the border, what to expect in the coming months and possible paths to reform.

Work on President Trump’s border wall continues during the pandemic, the Dallas Morning News reports. Contractors are building a “mancamp” to house up to 80 workers, and work is continuing — with side-by-side laborers working on the wall near Columbus, New Mexico — near El Paso. A spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers told the paper the wall is considered “essential business” and was under the impression — incorrectly, according to the News — that the workers were following White House and CDC guidelines for social distancing. To see the photograph, click here and scroll through the News’ story. — Texas Tribune staff

He has blamed former chief of staff John F. Kelly and former homeland security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen for not focusing enough on the wall, senior administration officials said. The wall adds to Kushner’s growing portfolio of responsibilities, which some of his critics have said border on comical. But he remains the most influential adviser in the West Wing and enjoys a level of trust from the president that makes him unique within the administration, according to current and former administration officials. Administration officials acknowledge that building in those areas amounts to the lowest-hanging fruit for the border wall project. Still, Kushner has told others that a wall has to be built because his father-in-law promised it would be.