Like thousands of other migrants, the family entered under the Biden administration’s rules in 2024. With Trump in office, they were locked up in Texas before deciding to abandon asylum.
A growing divide is emerging at City Hall over how to respond to a high-stakes threat from the state that could cost Houston $110 million in public safety funding tied to its recently passed immigration ordinance.
We now know exactly what funding is at risk and why the Governor says Houston could be forced to pay it all back.
Students at Sam Houston High School are grappling with fear, frustration, and heartbreak after learning that their classmate and soccer co-captain, 18-year-old Mauro Henriquez, has been deported.
For much of President Donald Trump’s second term, Texas city leaders have avoided opposing his immigration crackdown, but that’s changing — and sparking tensions with the state.
Things got heated at Tuesday’s Houston City Council meeting, a day after the State of Texas threatened to pull more than $110 million in public safety grants over the city’s recently passed ordinance limiting when the Houston Police Department can call U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Gov. Greg Abbott’s office told Houston Mayor John Whitmire Monday that the state will withdraw $110 million in funding if the city doesn’t axe the ordinance.
Houston is already feeling the impact of a growing dispute with the State of Texas over its newly passed immigration ordinance, as Governor Greg Abbott issued a sharp warning and police overtime has been halted.
Monday’s remarks from residents comes after a list of potential ICE facilities included a McAllen warehouse.
Houston Mayor John Whitmire says he is considering all options after receiving a letter from the State of Texas threatening to pull $110 million in state public safety grants from the city over its recently passed ordinance limiting when the Houston Police Department can call U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
In 2012, the New York Times interviewed Brad Bailey at the Republican National Convention about his efforts to get the party “stop the hatred language and fix the problem.”
While the federal government hasn’t made a public statement about its plans, official maps show a “virtual wall” going through the region rather than a physical barrier.
Texas has added 28 more measles cases in the last two weeks. Most infections so far this year have occurred inside West Texas Detention Facility in Hudspeth County.
The sweeping rule changes, all enacted outside the typical legislative process, have upended life for noncitizens, including those who are here legally.
Since Gov. Greg Abbott ordered Texas hospitals to start asking patients for their citizenship status in November 2024, reported visits by undocumented immigrants have dropped.
Most of the state’s measles cases reported so far this year are inside the West Texas Detention Facility in Hudspeth County, where four infected El Paso residents worked.
Waller County, near Houston, was the second fastest growing county in the U.S. Another three Texas counties were among the 10 fastest growing in U.S.
Federal officials have confirmed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are now operating inside U.S. airports to support security operations as staffing shortages continue to impact screening lines.
Officials approved the change after hearing from speakers who argued it would hamper the state’s economy and push immigrants to work without licenses in the black market.
After TSA security lines at major airports reached an all-time high, the Trump administration deployed ICE agents to help airlines and passengers.
The government is installing the first 17 miles of industrial-grade buoys in Brownsville. Experts warn the buoys could intensify flooding and change the river’s course.
Federal prosecutors, who can face discipline for not advancing the Trump administration’s priorities, are bringing military trespassing charges against immigrants with little evidence.
The Republican in Congress helped a migrant teenager she previously knew get released from federal custody. Scores of migrants are in similar situations with no clear exit.
Autoridades de la ciudad de Houston anunciaron el miércoles un cambio en la forma en que los oficiales de policía manejan ciertas órdenes de inmigración, una medida que, según dijeron, busca dar mayor claridad a los agentes en el campo mientras mantienen la seguridad pública.
The family, including the mother and her five children, detail in letters what they describe as neglectful medical care, inedible food and a disregard for their religious accommodations. They’ve been imprisoned at the nation’s only family detention center for more than nine months and are believed to be the longest held there.
The clips, from multiple angles, don’t include everything, including key audio. But lawyers for the man’s family argue they refute the Trump administration's explanation that his killing was self-defense
The Washington Post reported that a document was distributed to ICE staff indicating the agency was drafting a letter to potentially terminate the facility’s $1.2 billion contract.
The latest outbreak comes after a spate of COVID-19 and tuberculosis cases were reported at Camp East Montana, which holds more than 3,000 immigrants.
More than 70 GOP House members signed a letter asking Congress to stop legal immigration until “proper vetting protocols” are in place.
Days out from the March primary, Republicans called for changes to immigration law. Democrats repeated their calls for stricter gun laws.
Three deaths have been reported recently at the hastily constructed camp. One was ruled a homicide involving staff. Claims of medical neglect and unsanitary conditions are rife.
El año pasado hubo más muertes dentro de los centros de detención de ICE que en ningún otro en las últimas dos décadas. Casi una cuarta parte de esas muertes ocurrieron en Texas.
Residents and elected officials are speaking out against a proposed border barrier through Texas’ biggest state park and one of the jewels of the national park system.
The involvement of federal immigration agents in the fatal shooting of Ruben Ray Martinez on South Padre Island in March had not been disclosed in initial reports.
His death is the first homicide in ICE custody in recent history, experts said. It comes after the deadliest year in ICE detention in decades.
A Houston-area woman says a chance conversation at a taco truck turned into months of fear, financial loss, and alleged threats against her family.
Paxton said his office is examining claims that administrators and faculty helped organize the demonstrations.
Government sources and advocates for the children worry the goal is to concentrate them in Texas, where abortion is banned.
ProPublica is tracking the historic rise in challenges filed by immigrants claiming their detention is illegal.
The administration’s push for mass deportations has resulted in more than 18,000 habeas petitions, a historic high. Texas and California account for about 40% of cases this year.
Aaron Reitz, who is running for Texas attorney general, issued the threat after an interview of Wu was shared online of him discussing non-white voting strength.
As student-led protests tied to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity continue to spread across Texas and the Houston area, federal officials connected to the ICE Houston Field Office are pushing back against what they describe as an increase in violence and disruptions tied to recent demonstrations.
Gov. Greg Abbott took to X to respond to the ongoing student-led walkouts tied to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity on Tuesday.
ICE bypassed the county medical examiner in favor of a military facility for the autopsy of a Nicaraguan man and won’t release a ruling to the public.
Student-led protests tied to Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity are growing across the country, and similar actions are now unfolding in the Houston area.
The cases come amid renewed nationwide scrutiny of the facility following the transfer there of Liam Conejo Ramos, a 5-year-old Ecuadorian boy who federal agents arrested along with his father in Minneapolis.
A Houston mother says she fell victim to an alleged immigration fraud involving fake lawyers and ICE impersonation. Authorities say these cases are increasing.
Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez fired on Pretti during a protest in Minneapolis last month, according to government records viewed by ProPublica.
Images of Liam Conejo Ramos, with a bunny hat and Spiderman backpack being surrounded by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officers, sparked even more outcry about President Donald Trump's administration's immigration crackdown.
A Houston father is speaking out after his son, Keith Porter Jr., was shot and killed by an off-duty U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent on New Year’s Eve in Northridge, California.
The Harris County Attorney’s Office is raising concerns following the arrest of journalist Don Lemon and three other individuals during an anti-immigration protest at a church in Minnesota.
Houston is set to join a nationwide day of action this weekend as residents plan multiple demonstrations calling for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, to leave their communities.
Because Geraldo Lunas Campos died at a military base, the El Paso District Attorney says any criminal case may fall to federal prosecutors. But criminal law experts say the state doesn’t have to defer to them.
A Houston man says he was stopped by ICE agents while driving to work, despite being a U.S. citizen. He believes he was targeted because of his work truck and says the agents left after he began recording the encounter.
State troopers deployed pepper spray at protesters at the family detention center near Dilley where a 5-year-old Ecuadorian’s detention has drawn nationwide attention.
Among Texas congressional lawmakers, Johnson has made the second-highest number of trades, amassing a volume of $4.24 million.
Other Texas Republicans have called for the Trump administration to double down on sending immigration officers to Minnesota and blamed Democrats for the violence, while others have remained silent.
A peaceful, student-organized walkout is currently taking place at Channelview High School, according to an email sent to parents and staff by campus officials.
Senate Bill 4 returns to the 5th Circuit with border crossings at record lows, a sharp reversal from the influx that inspired Texas’ law authorizing state police to arrest undocumented immigrants.
Immigration officials initially said the 55-year-old Cuban detainee died of “medical distress” but later changed the cause to suicide. The medical examiner ruled he was suffocated while being restrained.
The Trump administration is going all in on accelerating mass deportation efforts. Here’s how ICE operations look in Texas, home to an estimated 2 million undocumented immigrants.
The Republican U.S. senator praised Trump’s border initiatives and said fully securing the border should take priority over changing immigration law.
Houston Mayor John Whitmire sat down with 2 Investigates first on Wednesday morning to discuss reports that left Houstonians questioning whether the Houston Police Department played a role in referring thousands of individuals to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for arrests.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced plans to expand on Texas’ controversial floating barrier during a Wednesday visit to the Rio Grande Valley.
Venezuelans in Houston face uncertainty over asylum, TPS and deportation after Maduro’s removal; attorneys warn against social media and urge seeking verified legal help.
The Tribune’s team of data journalists produced a congressional redistricting tool, covered several education data releases, visualized the measles outbreak and more.
More than 300 people attended an impromptu meeting that industry leaders in the Rio Grande Valley hosted to draw attention to the chilling effect ICE arrests have had on construction.
Immigrant rights advocacy group FIEL has joined an El Paso family’s search for 24-year-old Sydney Marquez, who disappeared more than a month ago while visiting friends in southwest Houston.
District attorneys in Harris, El Paso and other counties say some cases, including murders, have been hobbled or lost because witnesses were detained, deported or too scared to come to court.
Last month the Trump administration made people from 19 nations ineligible to obtain legal status. “Fear won,” said one woman who came from Venezuela nearly a decade ago.
Houston police are investigating a deadly incident involving a recovered body that officials believe was the girlfriend of a Honduran national. The man remains in the Harris County Jail with an ICE hold.
Sister Norma Pimentel with Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley founded the shelter in McAllen, which serves undocumented immigrants released from federal custody.
After his corruption indictment last year, the Laredo Democrat forfeited his role as the top Democrat on the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees more than $65 billion in annual spending.
The ACLU and other groups interviewed more than 45 migrants held at the detention center and call it a “human and civil rights catastrophe.”
The wave of legal challenges is in response to the Trump administration’s intensified immigration enforcement and its new policy expanding mandatory detention for undocumented immigrants.
A Houston mother who spent more than 20 years as a permanent resident said fear, money and uncertainty kept her from applying for citizenship.
Galveston County law enforcement agencies are expanding their partnership with ICE through the 287(g) program. The program allows trained local officers to perform certain immigration enforcement actions under federal supervision.
Laws include restricting transgender people’s access to public bathrooms, allowing lawsuits against abortion pill providers, and replacement of the STAAR test.
Congressman Al Green is being joined by officials from FIEL to discuss an order from a federal judge to release a missing teenage boy from a detention center.
A Salvadorian national is now in custody after being accused of attacking and sexually assaulting a woman before leaving her for dead in the woods more than two years ago.
Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans officially ended this month, removing legal protection for thousands of families who built their lives in the United States.
Abbott framed his campaign as a means to keep Texas as a conservative bastion, touting efforts to lower property taxes, bolster education and strengthen public safety.
Before dawn on Halloween, families in southwest Houston experienced chaos during a federal ICE operation. Among those affected was Erik Cornejo, a lifelong Houstonian and U.S. citizen, who says masked agents surrounded him and sprayed him with mace without warning.
In the heart of Denver Harbor, a small bakery that’s been open for 55 years is fighting to stay alive. Owner Rene Porras, a Vietnam veteran, says fear of immigration raids has driven away the customers who once filled his tables.
The city learned about plans to build a new barrier along the southern border during a regular meeting with the Department of Homeland Security.