IMMIGRATION

As the number of immigrants seeking court permission to avoid deportation grows, foundations in Los Angeles have joined with local governments to direct millions of dollars to pay for lawyers to represent the immigrants, an effort they hope will be copied across the country.

The number of migrant encounters at the Texas-Mexico border has climbed from 109,456 in March 2021, the month the mission began, to 116,976 in August — a failure of Abbott’s office’s stated desire to “stop this revolving door and deter others considering entering illegally.”

In these historically Democratic border areas, some voters are turning to the Republican party, while others remain unmoved.

Texas lawmakers on both sides of the aisle talked schools, abortion and guns in advance of next year’s session in a range of panels at The Texas Tribune Festival.

A long-reliable political playbook of highlighting immigration in election season has been escalated by Govs. Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis.

In an interview for The Texas Tribune Festival, Adams called the Texas governor’s program shipping migrants to his city “inhumane” and “un-American.”

The lawsuit alleges an elaborate scheme of people luring migrants with hotel rooms, McDonald’s gift cards, hundreds of dollars in cash and false information about their final destinations.

One Venezuelan couple slept on a sidewalk after a perilous trip through seven countries with their baby. After two days in El Paso, they boarded a city-funded charter bus to New York City.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis chartered two flights to send migrants recruited in San Antonio to the tony Massachusetts vacation spot, a move that drew outrage after some migrants later said they were misled into getting on the planes.

The latest moves by Gov. Greg Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis this week have triggered outrage among immigration rights’ groups and Democrats who have accused the Republicans of engaging in human trafficking and treating migrants like “human cargo” to score political points.

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

Muriel Bowser will open a $10 million office to provide services to the migrants arriving as part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s busing program.

Both Gov. Greg Abbott and Beto O’Rourke hope to define the election on issues viewed as favorable to their own parties.

On Saturday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection confirmed that nine migrants had died while trying to cross the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass.

Texas’ migrant buses were meant to send a message about immigration and antagonize Democrats. But the program is also helping migrants get across the U.S. for free.

Texas has the second-largest population of immigrants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in the country. An appeals court is expected to rule soon on whether the program is legal.

Abbott late Wednesday announced Chicago would be a new destination for migrants bused from Texas in his strategy to draw attention to the influx of people at the southern border. Chicago leadership welcomed the migrants “with dignity and respect.”

Abbott’s office said Chicago will now also become a regular drop-off location in addition to New York City and Washington, D.C.

En algunos estados de México, donde el aborto todavía no es legal, redes de acompañantes proveen medicamento y apoyo emocional para que las personas puedan realizar abortos en casa. Debido a que el acceso al aborto en Texas es cada vez más limitado, estas redes están comenzando a formarse en Estados Unidos.

In this week’s epsidoe, we discuss how the busing of migrants to New York is affecting Texas, New York and the migrants themselves.

Two weeks after a federal judge allowed the Biden administration to end the Trump-era Migrant Protection Protocols, U.S. judges are beginning to allow migrants to stay in the country as their asylum claims are pending.

The policy is an expansion of the governor’s plan to antagonize President Joe Biden over border security by busing migrants entering Texas to Washington, D.C., but research suggests the policy could allow more migrants to stay in the country even longer.

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.

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.

In an expansion of the governor’s plan to bus migrants from the Texas border to East Coast cities, 64 asylum-seekers arrived in New York City over the weekend.

Abbott made the announcement Friday in the state’s latest confrontation with an East Coast city that is steeped in politics.

New data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University shows an increasing number of immigration court cases getting dismissed because required paperwork is not being filed.

Some experts say the actions create little change in immigration enforcement. Others say they invite a legal battle.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey are sending migrants to the nation’s capital to prove a point about President Joe Biden’s immigration policies.

Juan Wilmer Tulul Tepaz was one of the 53 migrants who died after being trapped in a tractor-trailer in San Antonio. His body was returned to his village, which has buried several youths who left to seek better lives in the U.S.

The men could face life in prison or the death penalty. The gruesome crime scene and large number of people who died drew international outrage.

Adela Betulia Ramírez Quezada was trying to reunite with her mother and two sisters in California. The morning that she climbed in to a trailer with dozens of others, she called her mother to say they would see each other soon.

Houston Newsmakers: ‘Mattress Mack’ teams up with Crime Stoppers of Houston, and more

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.

Immigration law enforcement falls under the jurisdiction of the federal government. In recent months, a fringe legal theory has found more mainstream supporters who are calling on state leaders in Arizona and Texas to deport migrants with state resources.

News of the trailer full of bodies struck horror in cities and villages accustomed to watching their young people leave, trying to flee poverty or violence in Central America and Mexico.

In an interview with The Texas Tribune, the Roman Catholic prelate cited the school shooting in Uvalde, an intensified narcotics trade and the deaths of 53 migrants in a tractor-trailer in San Antonio. He urged comprehensive immigration reform.

For this week’s episode, Patrick speaks with Tribune reporters about the latest Texas headlines on immigration, abortion and the Jan. 6 investigation.

A federal agency estimates that about 75 trucks are reported nationally each year with copied or stolen state and federal ID numbers, which industry experts say is likely a significant undercount.

The Trump administration created the Migrant Protection Protocols, also called “remain in Mexico,” in 2019 before the Biden administration canceled it in 2021. The ruling sends the case back to a Texas federal court.

It was the single deadliest migrant smuggling case in U.S. history, according to a Homeland Security official. Citizens of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador were among the victims.

DPS said the checkpoints won’t occur at the ports of entry, which is different than in April when Abbott mandated all commercial vehicles entering from Mexico be checked by state police. The order snarled trade with Mexico at the time.

San Antonio’s mayor joined several dozen people who said they wanted to honor the 51 migrants who died Monday on the city’s southwest side.

To immigration experts, the astounding loss of life illustrates just how difficult it is to stem migration into the country, even as Abbott has spent the last year pouring billions of state dollars into securing the border.

A 73-year-old Houston man entered a guilty plea to conspiracy to transport an undocumented immigrant, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has announced.

The victims included migrants from Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras. Most were men; five were minors.

The withdrawal comes after the congressional vote to confirm Gonzalez, a vocal opponent of Donald Trump’s immigration policies, stalled for months.

While exact details are not yet finalized, KPRC 2 has learned Catholic Charities and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will partner to provide respite services for migrants being bused from the border to Houston.

The Department of Homeland Security is planning to transport migrants awaiting immigration proceedings from U.S. cities along the southern border further into the interior of the country, beginning with Los Angeles in the coming weeks, according to internal documents obtained by NBC News.

Texas has filed a lawsuit seeking to shut down the Central American Minors Program, which could allow the woman’s 22-year-old son join her in the U.S.

Abbott’s announcements come as thousands of migrants — mostly from Haiti — have gathered under an international bridge in Del Rio.

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.

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

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

When Gayatri graduated two years before Aditya, she started working first at a call center for IBM and later as SAP support at KPIT Technologies in 2008. She was very passionate about her job, Aditya said. They got married, Aditya started a new job just 10 days later and Gayatri moved across the world to be with the love of her life. For four years, Gayatri didnt have the option of working on the H-4 visa since work authorization was not available until 2015. Gayatri felt as though shed lost her identity and both Aditya and Gayatri admit it put a strain on their relationship.

The aim of the bill was to prevent the Department of Homeland Security from revoking the EAD for H-4 visa holders. Save Jobs USA claims it is comprised of American tech workers who lost their jobs and were replaced by H-1B workers. In September 2016, the U.S. District Court of District of Columbia ruled in favor of the Department of Homeland Security and the H-4 EAD rule remained unaffected. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the District Court decision, in favor of Save Jobs USA. You can follow the progress of the Save Jobs USA vs. DHS case here.

On CBS' "Face the Nation," Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) lays out his plan on Immigration, stating that his plan will raise wages and increase the amount of jobs for people in this country.

Immigration activists took aim at the Republican presidential candidate during a GOP policy summit in South Carolina on Saturday, interrupting the Florida senator with shouts of "Rubio does not represent our community" and "undocumented and unafraid."

Jeb Bush's immigration plans "also includes a path to legal status" Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush outlines a more moderate stance on immigration at this year's Conservative Political Action Conference.

Could Congress actually act on immigration? Clarence Page, David Ignatius, Susan Page, Mark Leibovich, and Michael Gerson discuss the prospects for bipartisan legislation on immigration in the wake of President Obama's executive action.