U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz hope to fund an operation to kill the parasitic fly before too much damage is done.

It’s the second military zone the Trump administration has created at the border, following one on the New Mexico-Mexico border, where a group of migrants were arrested on Monday.

Some are questioning whether lawmakers should commit billions more to border security with illegal crossings dwindling and a Trump immigration crackdown.

Senate Bill 4, the Texas law that makes illegally crossing the border a state crime, will continue to be challenged by two immigrant rights groups and El Paso County.

The state opened the facility in Jim Hogg County in 2022.

The estimated 1.7 million undocumented people in Texas are now targets of the Trump administration’s nationwide immigration crackdown. Here’s what we know about them.

The governor has requested the federal government reimburse Texas for his border hardening measures under Operation Lone Star.

Texas’ border spending exploded after Joe Biden’s election, then state leaders signaled a new willingness to reduce it when Trump won. That didn’t last long.

The tariffs, which also target China, are scheduled to go into effect Tuesday. They prompted immediate efforts to retaliate.

The 400 members of a special tactical unit left bases in Houston and Fort Worth on Monday morning, according to the governor’s office.

The Senate Judiciary Committee launched its investigation following the 2023 death of an 8-year-old girl at a facility in Harlingen.

In a letter to U.S. congressional leaders, the governor blamed previous border security policy for leaving Texas “defenseless,” forcing state officials to spend billions.

Hours after Trump’s inauguration, his administration canceled appointments allowing migrants to enter the U.S. to request asylum, leaving many of them stranded on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Schools near the border say it’s hard to prepare for the unknown. Immigration advocates say they should help communities understand students’ rights.

Mike Banks, a former Border Patrol agent, has served in his current role as a special advisor to Gov. Greg Abbott since January 2023.

The high court did not rule on the merits of the case, but allows Paxton to continue his investigation of Annunciation House.

Our journalists brought life to the experiences of everyday Texans, held powerful institutions accountable and surfaced stories that went beyond the daily news cycles.

Some Texas lawmakers including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick slammed the Biden administration over the auction of wall materials. But the sale was directed by Congress — and Texas has already bought some of it.

Thousands of people have been arrested under Texas’ human smuggling law. Now they face at least a decade in prison under sentencing guidelines that took effect this year.

Gov. Greg Abbott announced the new strategy, which will cost an estimated $100,000, during a press conference in Eagle Pass.

At least a third of landowners approached by state officials have refused to let wall be built on their properties. That’s forced the state to largely build on ranchland in remote areas, or erect sections that are full of gaps.

The congressman said he joined other Democrats in opposition to the use of the floating barriers and razor wire at Texas’ border because of the lack of permits.

Gov. Greg Abbott also announced that the state is adding more floating barriers to the Rio Grande.

With Donald Trump returning to the White House, Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick have both recently signaled new openness to winding down the state’ border security operation.

The amendment to a 1944 treaty will help Mexico catch up with its water deliveries to the U.S. and might help Rio Grande Valley farmers devastated by low rainfall.

Texas is positioned better than any state to help Trump carry out his ambitious anti-immigration agenda. But it is also vulnerable to those policy’s impacts.

A Starr County property was purchased to build border wall, while Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said the state has many options for a sprawling ranch in West Texas.

Residents say they can no longer access the park after the state seized it against the city’s wishes in January.

Reporters from both organizations spent a day documenting the reality on the border. Here’s a summary of what they found.

The Texas Tribune and The Associated Press visited five locations along the 1,254-mile span to separate the facts from the political narrative during a heated election year.

Abbott signed a proclamation declaring Tren de Aragua a foreign terrorist organization and directed Texas DPS to create strike teams targeting the gang.

The U.S. Homeland Security Secretary specifically called out the state’s policy of busing migrants to cities in other parts of the country.

The bus trips to Democrat-run cities stopped after June as the number of migrants apprehended across the southwest border plummeted.

Texas sued to stop an executive order issued by President Biden on his Inauguration Day to stop border wall construction and divert funds that had already been allocated for the project.

After Texas deployed the barrier, a panel ordered it removed. The full appeals court says it can stay while a lower court hears a case on the merits.

County officials issued a disaster declaration Tuesday, saying the state’s mass arrests at the border have cost the county millions of dollars and overwhelmed its criminal justice system.

Wednesday’s ruling is the second time a Texas judge has ruled against the attorney general for investigating shelters helping migrants.

Everything wrong with border security is the fault of the Democratic vice president, these Republicans say.

Poll after poll shows Texas voters rank immigration and the border as the most pressing issues.

Migrant apprehensions in Texas decreased by nearly one-third in June, the first month of a new order by President Joe Biden that widely limited asylum claims.

The federal government has deployed National Guard to the border for years, but more than a dozen states have dug into their own budgets to send even more personnel

Texas has sent thousands of soldiers to the border as part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s multibillion-dollar initiative Operation Lone Star. No border town has felt their presence more than Eagle Pass.

The state has built about 34 miles of wall spread out across at least six counties on Texas’ 1,254-mile border with Mexico.

Migrants in Mexico said they’ve been shot by the rounds, which leave bruises and disperse a chemical irritant. The state says Guard members are trained not to aim directly at people.

Texas argues that Annunciation House is breaking state law by harboring undocumented immigrants, something the shelter's lawyers called "utter nonsense."

Both Democrats and Republicans have criticized the order, which limits asylum requests when illegal border crossings ramp up.

Herrera said he doesn’t expect the results to change, “but I feel I owe it to my volunteers, voters, and supporters to leave no stone unturned.”

President Joe Biden’s new executive order, unveiled Tuesday, will restrict the number of asylum seekers allowed to cross the border when crossings reach a certain level.

Gov. Greg Abbott inaugurated the base, which will be able to house at least 1,800 troops when construction is finished.

A bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers are demanding appropriators withhold funds for the country until Mexico lives up to its end of a 1944 water treaty that requires it to send 1.75 million acre-feet to the U.S. every five years.

Lawmakers created the program during last year’s legislative session.

Claudia González was 15 when she crossed the border into Texas to reunite with her mother. Now she’s back in Mexico, separated from her 15-year-old son and her husband in Houston.

Abbott has credited his Operation Lone Star for a recent drop in migrant encounters on the Texas-Mexico border.

News reports cite a Border Patrol bulletin that said an Indiana Guard member wounded a migrant who was stabbing another migrant at the border in El Paso.

Authorities said the 26-year-old turned around at a Border Patrol checkpoint and fled from police in Kinney County.

The Affordable Connectivity Program provides a $30 monthly subsidy to help low-income households pay for internet service. The program is slated to run out of money at the end of the month.

A new law allowing local authorities to deport migrants remains tied up in court. Even if it goes back into effect, logistical challenges could complicate enforcement.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments about whether to allow back into effect a law allowing state and local authorities to deport migrants.

Hours after the U.S. Supreme Court had allowed Senate Bill 4 to go into effect, a federal appeals court let an earlier injunction stand. SB 4 lets Texas police arrest people suspected of illegally crossing the Texas-Mexico border.

The ruling allows Texas to start enforcing SB 4 while a lawsuit over its constitutionality remains pending before a federal appeals court.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed Texas to enforce its illegal entry law amid an ongoing lawsuit.

Senate Bill 4 would allow Texas police to arrest people suspected of illegally crossing the border.

When the two presidents used the Texas-Mexico boundary as a backdrop for the national immigration fight, residents felt they were left out of the conversation.

For years, conservative religious groups and Texas politicians have accused groups housing newly-arrived migrants of encouraging, and profiting from, illegal immigration.

Immigration is a driving issue in the almost-certain presidential rematch between the Democratic incumbent and ousted Republican.

Paxton’s office demanded records of migrants that Annunciation House has helped and threatened to shut down the Catholic shelter network.

Annunciation House, a network of shelters that serves migrants, sought relief from the attorney general’s demand to immediately release information about its clients. Paxton accused the religious group of smuggling humans across the southern border.

Gov. Greg Abbott announced Friday that the base will hold up to 2,300 soldiers who have been deployed to the border.

An Austin judge will decide whether Senate Bill 4 will go into effect on March 5. The new law allows police to arrest people suspected of illegally crossing the border.

Despite all the hubbub about vouchers and the attorney general’s impeachment, it’s still about the border.

A Tennessee man arrested Monday hoped to travel to the southern border with a militia group that allegedly plotted to go “to war with the border patrol,” believing that the country was being invaded by migrants.

The Houston Democrat is recovering from abdominal surgery. Democrats did not expect him to attend the vote, but his surprise appearance sank the impeachment vote.

Senate Bill 4 bumps the minimum sentence from two years to 10 years for human smuggling or operating a stash house.

The calls for Texas to defend itself and defy the federal government have set fire to a long-simmering fight over states’ rights, emboldening right-wing figures.

Texas officers are still erecting border wire and some Republicans are calling on Gov. Greg Abbott to defy the high court.

The high court’s order effectively maintains long-running precedent that the federal government — not individual states — has authority to enforce border security.

A park on the Rio Grande is the new focus of a long battle over border enforcement that’s reached the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Justice Department says agents can’t access 2.5 miles of the border and a boat ramp in Eagle Pass.

Asked how far Texas could legally go to secure the border, Gov. Greg Abbott said the state isn’t shooting people who illegally cross the border because the Biden administration would charge officials with murder.

The city’s mayor was told the state operation to halt illegal border crossings would last indefinitely.

The state has until Jan. 3 to say it won’t arrest people accused of unauthorized entry from Mexico. If not, the Biden administration will sue, saying immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility.

The lawsuit asks a judge to prevent the state from enforcing Senate Bill 4, which will authorize Texas police to arrest immigrants suspected of crossing the border illegally.

The new law would authorize police to arrest people they suspect crossed the Rio Grande between ports of entry. Abbott also signed a bill earmarking more than $1 billion for more border barriers.

Border counties in Texas have some of the highest Alzheimer’s diagnosis rates in the nation, with rates ranging from 13% to 18% of people aged 65 and over.

Less than a week after a Del Rio-based federal judge ruled against Texas in the ongoing fight over the state’s razor wire, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals paused that decision while it reviews the case.

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.