CHECK IT OUT: February meteorites found in South Texas now on display at the Witte Museum
Five of these meteorites are now on display at the “Welcome to Earth” exhibit at the Witte Museum. You can check them out through the summer months and even touch a 4.56 billion-year-old meteorite that was discovered in Morocco back in 2000!
Uvalde parents demand stricter gun laws ahead of Abbott, O’Rourke gubernatorial debate
Before the gubernatorial debate between Greg Abbott and Beto O’Rourke in the Rio Grande Valley, the parents of Robb Elementary students stepped up to the microphone to voice their opinions on one of the state’s most divisive topics: gun control.
Business on the border a concern for those in the Rio Grande Valley
It has been nearly six months since the trucker-blockade at the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge in response to Governor Greg Abbott’s additional inspections. Alicia Barrera is back in the Rio Grande Valley to see what's changed since the order was lifted.
High-poverty schools struggle to earn Texas’ highest rating. Some in the Rio Grande Valley break that trend.
The Texas Education Agency has dismissed the notion that the accountability ratings are a poverty rating. As evidence, they point to districts like those in the Rio Grande Valley, which have achieved high marks while serving a high number of economically disadvantaged students.
Texas needs to do more to help Hispanic students graduate from college, university leaders say
In a Texas Tribune event Tuesday, university leaders discussed why Hispanic students finish higher education programs at a lower rate than the state average but have better performance in the Rio Grande Valley and El Paso.
To stay in Congress, Mayra Flores bets Democratic South Texas is ready for an outspoken conservative
A Mexican immigrant who worked in cotton fields to pay for school supplies, Flores is a source of hope for Republicans looking to gain ground in the Rio Grande Valley. But her staying power will be put to the test this November.
Former UT-Brownsville President Juliet García to receive Presidential Medal of Freedom
García served as the president of the University of Texas at Brownsville until it merged with the University of Texas-Pan American to become the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. She is the first Mexican American woman to lead a college or university in the United States.
As they target South Texas, Republicans say one Democratic county isn’t maintaining campaign finance records
Starr County, one of the four counties that make up the Rio Grande Valley, has not been able to produce campaign finance reports that it is required to maintain, according to a GOP group targeting the area.
North Texas student arrested after gun found in vehicle; RGV authorities find rifle, list of targeted students
A day after an 18-year-old man opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, killing 19 students and two teachers, law enforcement in North Texas and the Rio Grande Valley said they intercepted guns and credible threats against schools.
Under Texas’ strict abortion law, McAllen clinic sees patients seeking medication across the border
The law went into effect in September, a week before Mexico’s Supreme Court dissolved a Coahuila state law that made abortion a crime. Now some Texans further along in their pregnancies are going there for abortion-inducing drugs.
International trade halted at Texas border crossings as truckers protest Greg Abbott’s new inspections
Commercial traffic at the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge stopped Monday and a similar protest affected traffic into and out of El Paso. The blockades could impact the flow of produce to restaurants and grocery stores.
U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela’s resignation announcement sparks a sudden special-election scramble in hotly contested South Texas
A special election will determine who finishes Vela’s term, and while the winner will only serve for a short period, Republicans are already eyeing the contest to show momentum in South Texas.
Republicans more than doubled turnout in the Rio Grande Valley compared with the last midterm primary
Democrats in the region still had higher turnout, but Republicans celebrated the narrowing of the gap. Despite the improvement, nearly 87% of registered voters in the Rio Grande Valley did not vote in the primary, similar to the rate in 2018.
Feds seek to protect rare Texas plant in the path of border wall construction
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed a rule earlier this week to list the prostrate milkweed, which lives along the Texas-Mexico border, as an endangered species. The rare plant is threatened in part by border security activities, scientists say.
Former ACLU lawyer Rochelle Garza decides to run for attorney general after redistricting upends congressional campaign
Garza, a former lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, had been running to succeed retiring U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela, D-Brownsville. U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-McAllen, is now running for Vela's seat after redistricting made Gonzalez's seat more competitive for Republicans.
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U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez will run for a different House seat in 2022 after redistricting made his more competitive
Texas lawmakers made Gonzalez’s current 15th Congressional District more competitive for Republicans. The representative now plans to run in the 34th District, which is safer for Democrats.
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South Texas was already a political battleground. New maps could alter game plans.
With proposed maps out, U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-McAllen, says he might switch to a neighboring district where U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela, D-Brownsville, is retiring. The initial maps are also sure to impact decisions in regional legislative races.
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Asylum-seeking families and children made up nearly half of July border crossings: “This is young mamas and daddies trying to save their families”
Migrant crossings on the U.S.-Mexico border reached a 21-year high in July. This video takes you to the epicenter: Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, where more crossings are happening than in any other region in the country.
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Texas lawmakers to tour Texas-Mexico border in Rio Grande Valley on Wednesday
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar and U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales will tour the Texas-Mexico border in the Rio Grande Valley on Wednesday to get an update on the migrant surge in the region. The congressional delegation from Texas will be joined by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.
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College Great Graduates 2021: Gustavo de la Fuente, Texas A&M University San Antonio
Gustavo de la Fuente comes from a small town in the Rio Grande Valley. He was raised by a single mother who immigrated from Mexico when she was a little girl. “It was really difficult for her, quite honestly, for her raising us. But she really persevered and she gave us all the options she could that she didn’t have.” Gustavo said.
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South Texas city brings coronavirus vaccine to the homebound
HARLINGEN, Texas – Firefighters and ambulance crews in a South Texas city that has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic are bringing vaccines directly to the homes of its most vulnerable people. As part of Harlingen’s new Homebound Vaccination Program, a team of 15 firefighters is working with the South Texas Emergency Care Foundation to find homebound residents and offer them the vaccine, the Valley Morning Star reported. Harlingen officials have been calling homebound residents whose names are on a list created by the emergency care foundation and offering them a chance to get vaccinated. AdSince the city launched the program Monday, the team has vaccinated about 20 homebound residents, Ramirez said. “They’re very eager, very thankful, very excited to be vaccinated,” Ramirez said.
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Migrants freed without court notice — sometimes no paperwork
U.S. authorities are releasing migrant families at the border without notices to appear in immigration court, and sometimes without any paperwork at all. The agency didn't answer questions about how many migrants have been released without court notices or without documents at all. Immigration attorneys had mixed reactions to people being released without court notices or paperwork, particularly the requirement to check in with ICE. Initially, U.S. authorities didn't even require the ICE check-in when it began releasing families without court notices over the past two weeks. D'Cruz said ICE could potentially issue a notice to appear in court, expel people from the country or do nothing.
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Brownsville mayor responds to Elon Musk’s promise of millions in donations
On Tuesday, Elon Musk said on Twitter that he would donate $20 million to Cameron County schools and $10 million to the City of Brownsville for “downtown revitalization.” The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX said he would release more details next week.
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Video shows inside South Texas facility where more than 4,000 people, including children, were being held
Oscar Escamilla, acting executive officer of the U.S. Border Patrol in the Rio Grande Valley, said 250 to 300 kids enter daily and far fewer leave. Border Patrol agents asked them if they had a contact in the U.S. and allowed the child to call that person. The Border Patrol is apprehending far more children daily than Health and Human Services is placing with U.S. sponsors, leading to a severe backlog in the system. The Border Patrol generally is not supposed to detain children for more than three days, but Health and Human Services lacks space. More than 2,000 kids have been at the Donna facility for more than 72 hours, including 39 for more than 15 days.
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WATCH: Sens. Ted Cruz, John Cornyn give update after leading Senate delegation in border tour
John Cornyn and Ted Cruz visited the Texas-Mexico border in the Rio Grande Valley on Friday afternoon to lead a Senate delegation in a tour of the area in response to the increase in migrant crossings. Cruz and Cornyn brought along other Republican senators from non-border states to assess and address the situation on the border. “We saw cages after cages after cages of little girls and little boys lying side by side, touching each other, covered with reflective emergency blankets. The delegation stated the importance of sending the right message and encourages President Biden to visit the border and witness the situation for himself. Also on Friday, U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro of San Antonio led a Democratic congressional delegation tour of the Carrizo Springs Office of Refugee Resettlement facility, which is holding unaccompanied children.
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Small Texas border town is route to US for migrant children
As soon as the sun sets, at least 100 migrants crossed through the Rio Grande river by smugglers into the United States. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)ROMA, Texas – As darkness sets on the Rio Grande, U.S. Border Patrol agents hear pumps inflating rafts across the river in Mexico. Roma, a town of 10,000 people with historic buildings and boarded-up storefronts in Texas' Rio Grande Valley, is the latest epicenter of illegal crossings, where growing numbers of families and children are entering the United States to seek asylum. More than 16,000 unaccompanied children were in government custody as of Thursday, including about 5,000 in substandard Customs and Border Protection facilities. A group of Republican senators on Friday visited the Rio Grande Valley, which is the busiest corridor for illegal crossings, and toured a holding facility.
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Rio Grande Valley police department assists border officials with influx of migrant crossings
PENITAS, Texas – The increase in migrant crossings has kept U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents in the Rio Grande Valley sector busy and in need of additional help from local law enforcement agencies. “In one morning, a total of 75 people had crossed just this path alone,” Barron told KSAT. “Recently, within the past month and a few weeks, there’s been an increase in family units compared to what we regularly see,” Barron told KSAT. “When it comes to family units, you don’t see any resistance. Also on KSAT:House passes immigration bills for farm workers, ‘Dreamers’AdRepublicans seize on immigration as border crossings surgeDel Rio leaders, activists say current immigration situation is ‘unsustainable’
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Proposed African American cemetery database pending in Congress
The representatives introduced the African-American Burial Grounds Network Act, which would create a national database of African American cemeteries. Fly, a landscape architect, was asked to serve as an adviser on the legislation, which is pending in Congress. “If we allow them to be erased or desecrated, we lose that part of our history,” Fly said. Roseann Bacha Garza, an anthropologist at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, said finding out about one’s family history is more popular than ever. AdSome who already know their roots also would welcome being included in a national database of African American cemeteries.
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Hundreds of new migrants still being expelled to Mexico as Joe Biden keeps one of Donald Trump’s controversial policies
Migrants apprehended crossing the Rio Grande in Brownsville were flown to El Paso for processing and then deported to Ciudad Juárez. CIUDAD JUÁREZ — As he stood on the international bridge that connects this border city with El Paso Tuesday afternoon, Javier Leyva had to be told where he was. Ad“Families from Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries are expelled to Mexico unless Mexico does not have the capacity to receive the families,” DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement Tuesday. The former president’s policies forced tens of thousands of migrants back into Mexico, which filled shelters in border cities like Ciudad Juárez and stressed social service agencies who help migrants. She had tried to cross into the U.S. through Ciudad Juárez before, but was sent back.