U.S./MEXICO BORDER

Senate Bill 3 would also appropriate $40 million for state troopers to patrol Colony Ridge, a housing development outside of Houston, and allow the state to send money to local jurisdictions to offset the cost of enforcing another immigration-related bill.

Judge Alia Moses ruled in the federal government’s favor but chided the Biden administration for not allowing migrants to use international bridges to claim asylum.

The Pew Research Center analyzed unauthorized immigrant data from 2021 finding that there’s been a significant shift in migrants’ country of origin and where they choose to live in the U.S.

Mexico said Texas’ Senate Bill 4 will violate the human rights of Mexican immigrants living in Texas. Gov. Greg Abbott said he plans to sign the proposal into law.

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 Senate revved to life Thursday, holding committee hearings with little advance notice and advancing four bills that satisfy Abbott’s agenda.

Immigration experts say the most recent proposals would raise constitutional challenges in the U.S. and Mexico, as federal courts have repeatedly ruled that immigration law enforcement falls under federal jurisdiction.

The Senate on Sunday afternoon failed to take action on a border security bill, leaving virtually no time to pass the bill before the special session ends on Tuesday.

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.

Border Patrol agents have cut through the state’s wire to free migrants or take them into custody. Judge Alia Moses will hear arguments from Texas and the Biden administration next week to determine whether her temporary order will continue past Nov. 13.

Attorney General Ken Paxton’s latest lawsuit against the federal government claims Border Patrol agents cut through concertina wire purchased and deployed at the border by the state.

Gov. Greg Abbott said the barrier — two rows of wire strung between metal posts near Interstate 10 — was necessary because migrants are crossing the border at New Mexico and walking into El Paso.

Two Texas House members and an immigration lawyer sat down with Matthew Watkins, the Tribune’s managing editor of news and politics, to discuss the current state of Texas’ border and immigration bills that lawmakers are weighing during the special session.

If the settlement is approved, the federal government would be prohibited from adopting a similar policy for the next eight years. Affected immigrants would be allowed to be in the country legally and receive work permits and other benefits.

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

Gov. Greg Abbott announced the items lawmakers can consider when they return Monday. His agenda also includes COVID vaccine mandates and the Colony Ridge development outside Houston.

Mexican immigration officials said they will negotiate with five countries’ governments to ensure they will take back their citizens. The agreement was announced after shelters in El Paso said they are over capacity.

Thousands of migrants have crossed the border into Eagle Pass and El Paso in recent days, the highest number since the emergency health order known as Title 42 expired in May.

The UT poll also touched on a range of other topics, including Texas voters’ opinions on the upcoming presidential election and the U.S. Senate race.

Nearly three months after Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the deployment of the 1,000-foot line of buoys and mesh in the Rio Grande, an Austin federal judge ordered the state to remove the barrier and stop building further obstructions in the river. One day later a higher court sided with Texas.

The Texas Military Department confirmed Friday the National Guard member who is accused of shooting across the Rio Grande and wounding a man was placed on paid leave.

In a court hearing over the barrier near Eagle Pass, the U.S. Justice Department argued it was installed without federal authorization, while lawyers for the state said it notified the proper authorities.

The migrants, mostly from Venezuela, voluntarily took the bus ride from Brownsville to Los Angeles even as Tropical Storm Hilary crossed into Southern California.

The lawsuit alleges that four migrants who were arrested under Operation Lone Star remained locked up as long as six weeks after their criminal trespassing cases were dismissed or they served their sentences.

After a 3-year-old began showing signs of distress, the bus of asylum-seekers traveling from Brownsville to Chicago pulled over and an ambulance was called. The child later died at a hospital in Illinois.

After initially supporting the governor’s efforts to stem illegal immigration, many residents say Operation Lone Star has gone too far.

Texas authorities believe the person drowned upstream and floated into the buoys near Eagle Pass. Mexico criticized Texas’ placement of the buoys along the river.

In this week’s episode, we discuss the half-million people booted from Texas’ Medicaid rolls and the state’s deployment of razor wire and buoys along the border in Eagle Pass.

The string of buoys is a safety hazard that violates treaties and harms relations with Mexico, Justice Department lawyers tell a federal judge.

Operation Lone Star originally targeted single men suspected of crossing the border illegally in mass trespassing arrests, but some claimed that not arresting women violated equal protection laws.

The U.S. Department of Justice made good on its warning last week that it would sue Texas unless the state agreed to remove the barrier in the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass.

The Office of the Inspector General is investigating the claims, which include pushing small children and women with nursing babies back into the river and turning away a 4-year-old girl who later passed out on the riverbank from the heat.

The Mexican government plans to send an inspection team to see if Texas’ buoys have crossed into Mexico’s side of the border.

A year after the nation’s deadliest human smuggling event, federal prosecutors say seven people face a maximum of life in prison. One of the suspects, who was not identified, has not been arrested.

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.

The Republican from Texas introduced the legislation after meeting with Mexico’s president and calling for more cooperation between the two countries.

The governor revealed plans for a floating river barrier at a Capitol signing ceremony for six new laws related to border security. The first 1,000-foot section will be set up near Eagle Pass.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says the Senate won’t accept a property tax relief bill the lower chamber left behind before adjourning for the special session. An anti-migrant smuggling bill also appears imperiled.

The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office didn’t say who it has accused of unlawful restraint in connection with last year’s flight to Martha’s Vineyard paid for by Florida. On Monday, California announced it’s investigating similar flights from El Paso to Sacramento.

After discovering that contracted medical staff ignored the mother’s pleas to take the girl to the hospital as her condition declined, the federal agency said it is taking action to ensure an in-custody death “never happens again.”

The mistake meant about 7,400 soldiers sent to the Texas-Mexico border under Operation Lone Star were hit with higher-than-expected federal income taxes.

The House has already passed the bill, but the two chambers will need to iron out the differences in their versions before it is sent to Gov. Greg Abbott.

U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar’s legislation, dubbed the Dignity Act in partnership with a Florida Republican, also seeks to change asylum processes.

The legislation was named for Bishop Evans, who drowned last year trying to rescue migrants in the Rio Grande.

State Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, tacks two of his stalled bills onto legislation that would create a border police unit and increase state spending in border communities.

The child and her family were in custody at a border station in Harlingen before she was transported to a local hospital. The death comes less than a week after the expiration of Title 42, which had allowed authorities to quickly expel migrants from the U.S. during the pandemic.

Although border encounters have fallen since Title 42 ended Thursday, Texas’ top Republican asks for “all available law enforcement personnel and resources.”

Federal officials had about 10,000 encounters with migrants per day at the U.S.-Mexico border before the emergency health order ended late Thursday. Since Friday they have had about 5,000 encounters per day.

Despite no major influx in border crossings, state troopers will be relocated to border cities. Austin and the Texas Department of Public Safety faced criticism for the racial disparities in state trooper arrests in the capital.

The Houston Republican has alarmed Mexico and Democrats with previous calls for a military response to the criminal organizations.

Although migrants lined up by the hundreds in El Paso and other border crossings as the public health order was winding down, a Biden administration official said there wasn’t a rush to the border when Title 42 was lifted.

Long lines formed again next to the border wall in El Paso — a scene repeated in other parts of the southern border — as migrants anticipated the end of a policy that has allowed immigration agents to quickly expel them.

As the Biden administration prepares to end the Trump policy that quickly expels migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, Gov. Greg Abbott orders two more buses to take migrants to Vice President Kamala Harris’ residence.

Hundreds of migrants have waited on the U.S. bank of the Rio Grande for days to be apprehended. Others say they want to follow the rules to enter legally — if they could just get the government phone app to work.

Abbott announced the deployment of new “Texas Tactical Border Force” units to El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley on Monday and Tuesday.

The two-term Republican, criticized by his own party for breaking with the GOP on key votes, is not inclined to change his ways.

A Venezuelan couple with two children waited in Mexico for weeks for a chance to claim asylum. They decided to cross the border after a relative died in a detention center fire and other family members successfully made it across.

El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser said asylum-seekers are camping out on the sidewalks and staying at shelters in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, under the false notion that they will be allowed to enter the U.S. once Title 42 expires.

As it prepares for the end of Title 42, which lets U.S. officials rapidly expel migrants, the Biden administration said it will open centers in Guatemala and Colombia where people can apply to legally enter the three participating nations.

The bill would take fentanyl test strips off the state’s “drug paraphernalia” list, meaning it would no longer be a crime to carry them.

While the state guarantees law enforcement officers, like Department of Public Safety troopers, a $500,000 death benefit for their families if they die on duty, National Guard troops who stand shoulder to shoulder with those DPS officers on Operation Lone Star don’t have the same benefit.

“You’re willing to let children be raped to follow political orders,” Cruz told Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas at the hearing. “This is a crisis. It’s a disgrace.”

Mexico’s president said the fire started in the Ciudad Juárez center when migrants learned they would be deported and set fire to mattresses in protest. Twenty-nine injured migrants were sent to local hospitals.

Uvalde officials said U.S. Border Patrol responded to a 911 call alerting them about a group of people who were trapped for hours inside of a shipping container.

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

House Bill 20 by state Rep. Matt Schaefer, R-Tyler, would test the boundaries of the state’s ability to enforce immigration law, which courts have historically ruled falls under federal purview.

The case is expected to become moot in May when the Biden administration lifts the nation’s COVID-19 emergency order. Once that order lifts, Title 42 is expected to automatically end.

State officials have repeatedly had to move money from other departments to keep Gov. Greg Abbott’s multibillion-dollar border mission running this year.

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.

U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee’s office mounted pressure on several federal agencies earlier this month leading up to Abdul Wasi Safi’s release on Tuesday.

A Texas Tribune analysis of state data found that at least 279 people in Texas were killed by heat last year, and a large portion of those deaths were likely migrants who died after crossing the border.

In Maverick County, 26 bodies pulled from the Rio Grande were buried, some without attempts to identify them. Teams of Texas State students are trying to learn their names so their families can be notified.

It’s the first-known incident where a soldier has shot a migrant since the mission began. The injury is non-life threatening.

Riding the success of his historic congressional session last year where he helped pass the first gun safety bill signed into law in a generation, Cornyn is hopeful that his ability to strike deals across the aisle will help Congress achieve another elusive legislative goal: an immigration deal.

Abdul Wasi Safi’s physical and mental health are deteriorating as he waits at a detention center near the border.

He was greeted by Gov. Greg Abbott upon arrival at the El Paso airport. Abbott has been a chief critic of Biden’s immigration policies and has frequently called on him to visit the border over the past year.

Migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela will be allowed entry and given work permits. The administration will also expand the use of Title 42 to expel more migrants to Mexico.

The president, who has been criticized by some Republicans for not visiting the border since he took office, hasn’t announced where his visit would take place.

The court ordered the Biden administration to continue enforcing the policy while Texas and other states that want to keep the Trump-era rule in place prepare their legal arguments.

Gov. Greg Abbott reportedly sent the migrants, who arrived at Vice President Kamala Harris’ residence Saturday night. The governor has been busing migrants to Democratic-let cities since April and first sent buses to Harris’ home in September.

After surviving the fallout from a war in his home country and a global trek, Abdul Wasi Safi was arrested at the Texas-Mexico border on a misdemeanor charge, delaying his chance for asylum.

Cities and nonprofits are using a variety of strategies to keep unhoused people warm. But some organizations warn they’re already at capacity as El Paso sends migrants across the state.

As cities on the Texas-Mexico border continue preparing for a possible influx of migrants and Title 42 remains in limbo, a shallow spot in the Rio Grande where thousands have recently crossed became the scene of a standoff Monday.

Title 42, an emergency health order invoked at the start of the pandemic, allows immigration agents to quickly remove migrants from the country. It was scheduled to be lifted on Wednesday.

With Title 42 ending Wednesday, El Paso officials expect the number of migrants crossing the border could double. Declaring a state of emergency should open more options to provide migrants shelter from below-freezing temperatures.

The Biden administration attempted to end Title 42 earlier this year before a federal judge blocked the move. A different federal court has now ordered that the federal health order be lifted.

The Biden administration stopped enrolling new asylum seekers into the Trump-era program in August.

In April, Bishop Evans drowned after jumping into the Rio Grande to save two migrants being swept away by the current. His family members will receive no financial payment, but they would if he worked for DPS or was under federal deployment.

The governor did not say what prompted the call or whether it’s in response to a recent Fox News story on Mexican nonprofits aiding migrants. The reporting did not allege any improper action by U.S.-based nonprofits.

The service member is expected to recover.

A Nicaraguan fisherman planned to spend the night in a parking garage with other migrants, then a good Samaritan offered him a place to sleep. The city is struggling to handle a sudden influx of migrants that has overwhelmed local resources.

State police often rely on federal immigration officials to lock up migrants on state trespassing charges, according to a new complaint by the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas. The collaboration contradicts federal and Texas officials’ attacks on each other’s immigration policies.

Abdul Wasi Safi was trying to reach his brother, who immigrated legally to Houston after helping the U.S. military. Legal experts say Wasi may have to serve a criminal sentence before he can pursue asylum.

In the days since Abbott was reelected for a third term, he has embraced the word like never before, using it in a letter to President Joe Biden, echoing the intensifying language many Republicans have adopted in recent years.

Title 42 was invoked early in the pandemic by the Trump administration and continued under President Joe Biden. Since then, immigration officials have used it more than 2 million times to turn away asylum-seekers at the border.

Texas voters cast their ballots Tuesday with a wide variety of issues on their minds, including the state’s grid and the Uvalde shooting.

The historic pace of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border has fueled Republicans’ focus on the crisis, but despite the efforts of Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star, encounters in Texas have increased.

While not detailing how the distribution might be funded, Abbott said the medication, Narcan, should be distributed to law enforcement agencies as well as some hospitals and schools.

The move clears a pathway for those people to get a special visa to stay in the country that they otherwise would not have received.