Border & Immigration
June 29, 2018
An Immigrant Teen Describes Life in Detention After Being Separated From His Mother
’You cannot imagine how awful it is to be there,’ the boy said of his nine-month separation by U.S. immigration officials.
Border & Immigration
Reporting and commentary on immigration and the Texas-Mexico borderlands
Border & Immigration
June 29, 2018
Battle Over Houston Child Detention Facility Heats Up
Austin nonprofit Southwest Key wants to open a facility for immigrant children in Houston’s East End. Mayor Sylvester Turner has other ideas.
Border & Immigration
June 28, 2018
Records Reveal Southwest Key Cited for Hundreds of Violations in the Last Three Years
While the nonprofit's shelters are generally well regarded among immigration advocates, the wealth of violations is alarming.
Border & Immigration
June 26, 2018
Texas Companies Turned Down Lucrative No-Bid Contracts to Expand Child Immigrant Camp
The refusal by the two firms to take on a yearlong contract came one day before Trump announced the end of family separation.
Border & Immigration
June 23, 2018
Relatives of Separated Children Are Now in ICE’s Sights
Unprecedented ICE access to ORR data turns safe placement screening into a mechanism for immigration enforcement, officials and activists say.
The National Podcast of Texas
June 22, 2018
Mo Knows Immigration: Houston Comic Mo Amer on His Own Journey to Citizenship
In our latest podcast, host Andy Langer speaks with Amer as the comedian prepares to record his first Netflix special.
Border & Immigration
June 21, 2018
Abbott Caught in His Own Duplicity on Family Separations
The governor declared that only Congress can fix family separations shortly before the president ended the policy.
Border & Immigration
June 21, 2018
Melania Trump Wears ‘I Really Don’t Care’ Jacket on the Way to McAllen Shelter for Immigrant Children
Her spokesperson claimed 'there was no hidden message.' And it certainly was not hidden.
Border & Immigration
June 20, 2018
Southwest Key Hired Child Case Manager Previously Arrested for Child Pornography
The man, a former Border Patrol agent, worked directly with children.
Border & Immigration
June 20, 2018
Does the Bible Justify Family Separation at the Border?
A day before Jeff Sessions and Sarah Huckabee Sanders used the Bible to justify separating immigrant families, a resolution from the Southern Baptist Convention in Dallas had already contradicted them.
Border & Immigration
June 20, 2018
El Paso County Sheriff Prohibits Staff From Moonlighting at Tornillo Tent City for Children
The move by Sheriff Richard Wiles marks a growing chorus of local law enforcement across Texas that is critical of the federal family separation policy.
Border & Immigration
June 19, 2018
A Pediatrician’s View Into a Border Patrol Processing Center
Dr. Marsha Griffin, co-chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics special interest group on immigrant health, tells us what she's seen and what separation traumas could mean in the long term for immigrant children.
By Katy Vine![Katy Vine's Profile Photo]()
Border & Immigration
June 19, 2018
How Public Figures Are Responding to the Family Separation Policy
Lawmakers, faith leaders, and others have largely spoken out against Jeff Sessions’s zero-tolerance policy.
Border & Immigration
June 19, 2018
Texas Lawmakers Speak Out Against Family Separation Policies
House speaker Joe Straus asks President Trump to stop the policy, while State Representative César Blanco asks Abbott to cease National Guard deployment.
Border & Immigration
June 16, 2018
Inside Texas’s New Tent City for Children
Texas congressman Will Hurd visits a new detention center and rips Trump's family separation policy.
Border & Immigration
June 15, 2018
What’s Really Happening When Asylum-Seeking Families Are Separated?
An expert on helping parents navigate the asylum process describes what she's seeing on the ground.
By Katy Vine![Katy Vine's Profile Photo]()
Border & Immigration
June 15, 2018
Court Rulings Could Open Path for Trump Administration to End DACA Very Soon
Clashing decisions by federal judges could allow Trump to deport 700,000 undocumented immigrants protected by the program.
Border & Immigration
June 8, 2018
Immigration Officials Taking Over 1,600 Beds in Federal Prison System
The move comes as immigrant apprehensions climb to levels not seen since the end of the Obama administration.
Border & Immigration
June 7, 2018
Taking Children From Immigrant Parents Is ‘Brutal, Offensive,’ Federal Judge Rules
A ruling allows a woman featured on our site, who was reunited with her son after months of separation, to sue federal government to stop the practice.
Border & Immigration
June 5, 2018
Mother and Son Are Reunited After Months of Separation by Immigration Authorities
They had entered the U.S. illegally, seeking asylum from an abusive home, and were completely unaware they would be separated.
Reporter
June 5, 2018
The Confrontation on the Bridge, and a New Tactic in the War Against Immigrants
Last weekend, border agents turned away legal asylum-seekers on the U.S.-Mexico border. In a ‘Texas Monthly Reporter’ podcast, reporter Robert Moore discusses this tactic and its effect on those being turned away.
Border & Immigration
June 2, 2018
Border Agents Are Using a New Weapon Against Asylum Seekers
Federal law allows immigrants to step into United States and claim asylum; agents are physically preventing them from doing so.
True Crime
May 30, 2018
Stolen Youth: Modern-Day Slavery in Texas
When Given Kachepa first arrived from Zambia as a young boy, he expected to sing in a choir and gain an education. Instead he was forced into servitude.
Books
May 29, 2018
The Americanization of Alfredo Corchado
By telling his own story, the widely admired Dallas Morning News reporter reveals how Mexican Americans have changed the United States—and how the United States has changed Mexican Americans.
Border & Immigration
May 22, 2018
Podcast: Valdez and White and Tuesday’s Runoff
Ethnic politics has been an undeniable factor in the Democratic race to replace Republican Governor Greg Abbott.
Border & Immigration
May 9, 2018
Irasema Cavazos: Stay in the Workforce to Support Other Women
"Educated women, professional women—we need you up there, changing the world for the benefit of all of us down here. You can love your family and be there for them all you want, but hire a domestic worker. Don’t give up your career."
Border & Immigration
May 7, 2018
Homeland Security Promises to Prosecute 100 Percent of Illegal Immigration Cases
The policy shift means that parents will be separated from their children if caught while crossing borders illegally.
Border & Immigration
May 4, 2018
‘The Making of a Massacre’ Tells the Story of a DEA Operation Gone Wrong
In the podcast, narrated by ProPublica’s Ginger Thompson, survivors and DEA agents explain living in a town controlled by drug traffickers.
Border & Immigration
May 1, 2018
Paxton Sues to End Protections Against Deportation for Young Immigrants
President Obama may be gone, but he’s not forgotten in the politics of Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Border & Immigration
April 25, 2018
Sessions Reverses Controversial Decision to Shut Down Immigration Program
The attorney general told a congressional committee he was deferring to its concerns about stopping funding.
Border & Immigration
April 23, 2018
Successful Immigration Program to End April 30
The Legal Orientation Program provides guidance to those facing deportation and is praised for saving taxpayer money.
Film & TV
April 20, 2018
‘Home + Away’ Shows How Sports Help Students Overcome the Realities of the Border
The film captures the lives of three student-athletes in El Paso and the dual nature of the U.S.–Mexico border.
Border & Immigration
April 19, 2018
Poll Says Texans Support Sending Troops to the Border
At the same time, a majority of Texans polled oppose the idea of building a border wall.
Politics & Policy
April 17, 2018
Speaking Truth to the Powerful
A small-town sheriff took on his president and his governor and learned that facts can get in the way of a good political narrative.
Border & Immigration
April 13, 2018
Is it a Border Wall or a Fence or a Barrier?
As construction begins for Trump’s project near El Paso, debate turns to nomenclature instead of immigration.
Border & Immigration
April 11, 2018
American Troops and Mexican Politics: Are We Underestimating Our Neighbor?
As Texas moves to send the National Guard to the border, Mexico moves to new business markets.
Border & Immigration
April 5, 2018
Trump’s Deployment of Troops to the Border: What You Need to Know
National Guard troops are once again heading to the U.S.-Mexico border. So what?
Border & Immigration
April 4, 2018
Trump to Deploy National Guard Troops Along the Border
Presidents Obama and Bush, as well as former Texas governor Rick Perry, made the same decision several times before.
Border & Immigration
April 3, 2018
Federal Border Wall Funding Spares Wildlife Refuge, But Not Much Else
The omnibus bill allocates money toward border wall construction along 33 miles in the Rio Grande Valley.
Border & Immigration
March 30, 2018
ICE to Stop Releasing Pregnant Women From Detention to Comply with Trump’s Order
Immigrant advocates are concerned about the directive, which reverses an Obama-era policy.
Border & Immigration
March 29, 2018
All You Need to Know About the Census Controversy and the Question of Citizenship
With at least a dozen states suing over a Trump administration decision to ask people their citizenship status in the next census, we separate facts from myths
Border & Immigration
March 13, 2018
Appeals Court Upholds State ‘Show Me Your Papers’ Law
A three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Texas cities are unlikely to win constitutional challenge to the law.
Border & Immigration
March 13, 2018
In SXSW Panel on Sanctuary Cities, Reexamining Use of Technology Is a Must
When technology is developed by biased sources, it disproportionately harms immigrant communities.
Border & Immigration
February 15, 2018
Ted Cruz Lashes Out at Fellow Republicans Over Immigration
Senator Ted Cruz told the Senate that Republicans did not campaign to grant amnesty to undocumented immigrants.
Border & Immigration
February 8, 2018
FBI Investigation Finds No Evidence That Border Patrol Agent Was Murdered
Despite some earlier claims, it appears that Rogelio Martinez was not the victim of an attack.
Border & Immigration
January 23, 2018
The Trump Effect on Immigration
Donald Trump has profoundly discouraged people from coming over our borders. But is his influence wearing off?
By Jeff Salamon![Jeff Salamon's Profile Photo]()
Border & Immigration
January 3, 2018
U.S. Immigration Director Threatens to Jail Elected Officials in Sanctuary Cities
Texas mayors call ICE Director Thomas Homan’s desire to prosecute elected officials ”hogwash” and un-American.
Border & Immigration
December 1, 2017
The Young Americans of DACA
Pedro Villalobos is a star prosecutor. Gerardo De Loera is a musician. Joseph Ramirez is a tech entrepreneur. They’re young, they’re smart, they make America great. They’re also undocumented. And now, they face being sent back to a place they’ve never called home.
By Michael Hall![Michael Hall's Profile Photo]()
Border & Immigration
November 9, 2017
Austin and San Antonio Promise a Lawyer to All Residents Facing Deportation
Access to representation can make an immigrant twelve times less likely to be deported, according to a similar program in a New York City courtroom.
By Dan Solomon![Dan Solomon's Profile Photo]()
Border & Immigration
October 25, 2017
Undocumented Teenager Gets Abortion in Texas After Month-Long Court Battle
The federal government argued that an undocumented minor did not have the right to abortion while in federal custody.