The government is installing the first 17 miles of industrial-grade buoys in Brownsville. Experts warn the buoys could intensify flooding and change the river’s course.

A driver attempting to cross the Texas-Mexico border was arrested for having boxes of counterfeit vehicle registration stickers and canisters of freon, according to a news release.

Screwworm is a parasitic fly that targets warm-blooded animals and has the potential to disrupt Texas’ $15 billion cattle industry.

Respondents to a Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas survey expressed concern about a reduction in consumer demand and a potential recession.

Drenching rain along the Texas-Mexico border has let up but rescues are still ongoing after severe storms trapped residents in their homes, forced drivers to abandon their vehicles on flooded roads and shut down an airport.

Fewer border crossings and President Trump’s hope for a completed border wall by the end of his term were among several topics Vice President JD Vance delved into during his first visit to the Texas-Mexico border on Wednesday afternoon.

The U.S. government is asking people to avoid traveling to certain areas of the Texas-Mexico border due to security concerns.

Scholars at Texas State have identified more than 150 unknown human remains in order to bring their families closure after years of waiting.

Vibrant music and dance traditions of the Texas-Mexico border region will come to life when “Rio Bravo” returns for its 30th anniversary performance at the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center in September.

After Tuesday's nail-biter, Republican incumbent Tony Gonzales eventually took the runoff win for U.S. District 23 by just 407 votes. The race was filled with attack ads between Gonzales and social media content creator and political newcomer Brandon Herrera.

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.

An Arizona rancher has gone on trial in the fatal shooting of a migrant on his property near Mexico.

The Supreme Court has extended its block, for now, on a Texas law that would give police broad powers to arrest migrants suspected of illegally entering the U.S. while the legal battle it sparked over immigration authority plays out.

Texas’ plans to arrest migrants who enter the U.S. illegally and order them to leave the country is headed to the Supreme Court in a legal showdown over the federal government’s authority over immigration.

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.

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

U.S. authorities say arrests for illegal border crossings from Mexico reached an all-time high in December since monthly numbers have been released, exposing a growing vulnerability for President Joe Biden in his campaign for a second term.

The Biden administration is renewing demands for Texas to give Border Patrol access to a riverfront park that is a popular corridor for migrants illegally entering the U.S. A letter sent Tuesday to Texas officials continues a clash between the state and the Biden administration over immigration enforcement.

A politically treacherous dynamic is taking hold in Congress as negotiators work to strike a bipartisan deal on the border and immigration, with vocal opposition from the hard right and former President Donald Trump threatening to topple the carefully negotiated compromise.

This comes as government officials reported historic highs for people crossing the Texas-Mexico border.

Congressman Tony Gonzales said he is asking for federal help in curbing a surge of migrant crossings on the Texas-Mexico border.

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.

Five months after a Texas Department of Public Safety medic told his superiors that troopers were ordered to push migrants back into the Rio Grande and deny them water, an internal DPS investigation found no systemic wrongdoing by its personnel on the Texas-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.

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.

Texas Republicans are pushing new boundaries over immigration on the U.S.-Mexico border.

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.

A child and an adult male drowned while crossing the Rio Grande this week as the Texas-Mexico border encounters an influx of migrants.

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol says a migrant woman died in South Texas after spending just under a day in federal custody.

Texas Department of Public Safety and the Military Department would not confirm the status of National Guard member who is accused of shooting across the Rio Grande and wounding a man.

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.

More deaths have been linked to a fungal meningitis outbreak at two clinics on the Texas-Mexico border, including a Rio Grande Valley mother who died this week after being hospitalized for months.

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

Gov. Greg Abbott signed a series of border security bills passed during the 88th session of the Texas Legislature into law on Thursday.

Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday thanked Texas National Guard soldiers and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers for protecting the Texas-Mexico border.

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.

Many migrants gathered along the U.S.-Mexico border are worried about their chances of claiming asylum in the United States now that Title 42 immigration restrictions have been lifted.

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.

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.

President Joe Biden’s highly anticipated Texas-Mexico border visit has come and gone. The frustrations and concerns however, have not.

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.”

Cheap regulated and unregulated medication is available over the counter at Mexican pharmacies, including abortion-inducing drugs that are strictly regulated in the U.S.

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.

Blockades and DPS inspections may be over at Texas’ largest port of entry for fresh produce. But the loss is unrecoverable and estimated to be in the millions.

The deals Abbott made with three of the four Mexican border governors don’t include any new security measures south of the border. Abbott threatened to restart the inspections if Mexican states don’t slow migration to Texas.

More relief is in sight for the logjam of trucks at the U.S.-Mexico border.

San Antonio area produce companies are keeping a close watch on the situation surrounding the border as the food prices continue to rise.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection called the state inspections ordered by Gov. Greg Abbott “unnecessary” and said commercial traffic at the Texas-Mexico border has dropped 60% since they began.

The governor has ordered thousands of state troopers and National Guard members to the border since last year. Here’s what you need to know about the initiative.

A man drowned in a water-filled gravel pit after he ran from Texas National Guard soldiers along the U.S.-Mexico border last week, according to federal authorities.

Gov. Greg Abbott is holding a press briefing to debut the Texas border wall construction in Rio Grande City, along the Texas-Mexico border.

State officials have implemented a new plan to secure the Texas-Mexico border under the order of Gov. Greg Abbott -- install nearly 20 shipping containers to create a steel wall.

Gov. Greg Abbott says the wall of roughly 20 shipping containers will help prevent migrants from crossing the border.

The borders were closed to nonessential travel in March 2020, which hurt businesses in Texas border cities that rely on Mexican shoppers.

Candidates for the 2022 elections are still popping up, but many of that election’s major issues are already being debated.

The two firms awarded the contract have previously built barriers and designed ports of entry for the federal government.

The governor suggested more details would be released next week. The announcement Thursday of several initiatives is the latest in an ongoing conflict between Abbott, a Republican, and Democratic President Joe Biden's administration.

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.

Abbott said the increase in fentanyl seizures correlates with President Joe Biden taking office in January and implementing new border policies.

A group of asylum-seeking migrants' walked towards the border wall after crossing the Rio Grande into the United States from Mexico, in Penitas, Texas, on Friday. Credit: REUTERS/Go NakamuraSign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news. Texas’ Republican and Democratic elected officials on Friday battled for camera time on the state’s southern border as the Biden administration continues to come under fire as an ever-increasing number of undocumented immigrants are being apprehended. AdU.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who was among the Democrats in Carrizo Springs, said she was a child refugee who fled danger in Somalia to come to the United States. She said the migrant children in the Carrizo Springs facility told the members of Congress that they want to be treated with dignity and that they don't know who the current U.S. president is.

As she rested Wednesday in the shade at a crossroads just north of the border, she worried about what would come next. As in 2019, Mexico relies heavily on highway checkpoints transiting its narrow southern isthmus to prevent migrants heading north. René Sop Xivir of Jesuit Immigrant Services at the southern border. Uncontrolled crossings dot Mexico’s southern border. In some, like La Mesilla, residents set up a street market on both sides of the border three days a week.

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.

SAN ANTONIO – The unaccompanied minors and families arriving at the Texas-Mexico border are said to have risked everything to reach the United States. Erica Schommer, clinical law professor at the St. Mary’s School of Law, said the Biden administration has two possible solutions in the works that could help reduce the number of arrivals at the border in the future. Started by the Obama administration, then stopped by the Trump administration, Shommer said the Central American Minors program is being reinstated. AdAlthough they could seek refugee status in their home country, Schommer said they could do the same in another country. Schommer said the only difference between a refugee and an asylum seeker is where they’re identified to meet the standard of protection.

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.

After meeting with federal and state law enforcement agencies at the Texas-Mexico border in Mission, Abbott launched “Operation Lone Star,” surging resources to the border amid an influx in migrations. “If you dare step into the state of Texas, Texas will use every tool or strategy we can to arrest anybody who’s violating the law to put (them) behind bars,” he said. The Texas Tribune reported that Abbott rejected federal aid for coronavirus testing of migrants who have come across the border. Read more:Child migrant facility reopened by Biden administration in South Texas draws criticism from immigration advocatesFact-checking Gov. Abbott’s claim of migrants entering Texas border cities with virus

The group requested asylum in the United States, but were returned to Mexico under the Migrant Protections Protocol to await their court proceedings. DHS said in its statement that more information about people in MPP will be forthcoming and asks the asylum seekers to stay in Mexico for now. She also said Biden should reject the Trump administration's health policy to expel future asylum seekers. Lives are on the line, and asylum seekers continue to be subjected to kidnappings, attacks and other targeted violence," she said in a statement. The "remain in Mexico" policy began in California and expanded to the Texas-Mexico border in early 2019.

During the campaign, President-elect Joe Biden said his administration would not build another mile of barrier on the Texas-Mexico border should he win. The lawsuit alleges the administration violated the Fifth Amendment’s due process clause, which provides for equal protection under the law. Meanwhile, the Trump administration shows no signs of slowing progress on one of his most high-profile campaign promises. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection online tracker of border wall construction indicates a 69-mile stretch of new barrier is under construction in Webb County, and another 52-mile project is in the “pre-construction” phase. “It’s all going to depend how aggressive the feds are in moving forward with the construction,” he said.

But Stewart and other South Texas voters who spoke to The Texas Tribune said the Democratic Party as a whole does not. And a similar swing by Mexican Americans in South Texas offset some gains Democrats made in the state’s suburbs. Trump’s statements condemning protesters and backing law enforcement connected with voters in South Texas, where a significant portion of the population either works in law enforcement or has friends or family members who do. I just think as a result, he didn’t make Latinos a priority until way later.”Some South Texas voters said they do not recognize the Democratic Party any more. Jay Peña, an attorney in Rio Grande City, said as a kid he was raised a Democrat like most people he knows.

“We will, day-in and day-out, hold the Biden administration accountable to its promises to immigrants, refugees, DREAMers, and the American people,” she wrote. With the election decided — although Trump has not conceded and his campaign has filed lawsuits in multiple states to contest the results — how quickly a Biden administration can begin to reverse course on Trump’s immigration policies depends on several factors. Wood said he expected a Biden administration to take a more traditional approach with Mexico that includes dialogue and offers of U.S. aid. “It’s going to be very difficult for a Biden administration to relax or to end the cooperation with Mexico on stopping the flow of Central Americans northward,” he said. But it’s unclear what would become of the funds that were transferred but haven’t been used, said Jessica Bolter, a Migration Policy Institute policy analyst.

U.S. Border Patrol agents apprehended 400,651 people on the southwest border during the 2020 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30. “We’re already seeing the numbers increase.”From 2015 to 2018, apprehensions hovered between 415,000 to 553,000 before surging in 2019. During that time, the border saw an increase in family units and unaccompanied minors seeking asylum in the United States. In Texas, only the Laredo Border Patrol sector saw an increase in the number of unaccompanied minors apprehended, from 2,521 in 2019 to 2,641 in 2020, a 5 percent jump. In the other four sectors along the Texas-Mexico border, the number of minors apprehended without an adult dropped between 32 percent and 70 percent this year.

SAN ANTONIO – Two years ago, Pete Flores stunned the Texas political landscape by winning the District 19 state senate seat. Before his run for the Texas Senate, Gutierrez had been a member of the Texas House of Representatives, representing District 119 since 2008. Prior to that, Gutierrez served on the San Antonio City Council from 2005-2008. In his first legislative session, Flores has authored or sponsored bills that focused on infrastructure and funding for the renovation of San Antonio State Hospital (SASH). Flores was the co-author of the Texas Property Tax Reform and Transparency Act of 2019, which provides immediate property tax relief and limits future tax-rate growth.

Positive COVID-19 cases are declining, but public health experts warn the threat is far from over. The positivity rate — the proportion of positive tests — fell to 7.58% for the week ending Sept. 8, according to the Department of State Health Services. The rate remains above the 5% threshold that experts and the World Health Organization recommend reaching before governments relax restrictions. The University of Texas at Austin reported Wednesday that 100 people in three clusters tested positive for COVID-19. From May 25 to June 25, the state reported 75,000 new cases of the virus, more than twice the number of cases reported during the previous month.

The company had filed thousands of lawsuits against borrowers after they fell behind on payments, including throughout the pandemic. Yet the states justice courts are excluded from this requirement, making a complete accounting of debt lawsuits impossible unless the states 803 justice courts choose to make their records public. In eight of the nine counties, Oportun Inc. was a top filer of lawsuits during the pandemic. (In Denton County, where Oportun filed comparatively fewer suits, the company has just one retail location.) All told, Oportun filed more lawsuits than any other personal loan company and was the second-most litigious company overall during the pandemic and the first six months of the year.

LAREDO, Texas Residents in Laredo announced Sunday the completion of a street mural condemning President Donald Trumps election promise of a large border wall that would impact the community on the Texas-Mexico border. The mural was approved unanimously by the Laredo City Council at the July 27 meeting. Epic flyover of a massive street mural in Laredo, TX that sends a message to Washington DC: DEFUND THE WALL, FUND OUR... Posted by No Border Wall Coalition on Monday, August 17, 2020According to a press release by the No Border Wall Coalition, an organized group of Laredo residents and activists, the goal -- aside from the mural -- is to redirect the $275 million in wall funding towards social needs. Coalition member and filmmaker Karen Gaytan said in a press release that public art has the ability to start important conversations within a society. Defund the Wall, street mural in Laredo pic.twitter.com/IQ0avPz3AG Brew Swillis (@gothmob) August 15, 2020

WESLACO, Texas – A South Texas police department is responding to reports of shooting at a Walmart near the Texas-Mexico border on Wednesday afternoon. Avoid Walmart on N Texas at this time. “Avoid Walmart on N Texas at this time. The City of Weslaco tweeted for residents to avoid the area, sharing the following:“From Weslaco PD: Please avoid Walmart on North Texas Boulevard at this time. Weslaco police will provide an update as soon as possible.”From Weslaco PD: Please avoid Walmart on North Texas Boulevard at this time.

Evidence behind what role children play in the coronavirus pandemic and how it affects them is inconclusive, despite the Trump administrations position that the science is clear. ___BEIJING The number of confirmed cases in a new COVID-19 outbreak in Chinas far west has risen to 17. ___SEOUL, South Korea -- Authorities in South Korea say most of the country's new coronavirus cases are coming from abroad. Nearly a third of the more than 3,700 coronavirus deaths in Texas have come in July. ___SACRAMENTO, Calif -- California has recorded its third-highest daily total of new coronavirus cases, two days after reporting its second most cases in a day.

AUSTIN, Texas Texas gave public schools Friday permission to keep campuses closed for more than 5 million students well into the fall as the state scrambles to contain one of the largest resurgences of the coronavirus in the country. Under the new guidelines, Texas schools could hold online-only instruction for up to the first eight weeks of the school year, potentially pushing a return to campus in some cities until November. The health & safety of students, teachers & parents is the top priority, Republican Gov. Texas' largest teachers organization dismissed Friday's announcement as based on an artificial deadline. Right now, with the pandemic still raging across Texas, we dont know when that will be, Texas State Teachers Association President Ovidia Molina said in a statement.

Texas today resembles the state in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. Records for COVID-19-related deaths and hospitalizations are set almost daily and Texas, the state that embarked on one of America’s fastest reopenings, is in retreat. And it has been the deadliest week of the pandemic in Texas, with 95 new deaths reported Friday. Abbott announced at the end of that month that Texas would begin reopening after just a few weeks of stay-at-home orders. Mayors in Texas' big cities and health experts winced at the speed, saying it was too soon.

We really needed a 1,000-bed field hospital from the federal government yesterday, said Wesley Robinson, the assistant chief nursing officer of the South Texas Health System. Nearly 60% of the roughly 1,200 medical staff that Texas health officials have deployed to stretched-thin hospitals have been sent to the Rio Grande Valley, said Chris Van Deusen, a spokesman for the Texas Department of State Health Services. Texas health officials say more than 11,000 beds remain open in Texas, although availability varies by region. Texas reported more than 9,600 coronavirus patients in Texas hospitals on Thursday. "The State of Texas continues to implement strategies to help ensure ample supply of hospital beds for COVID-19 patients, Abbott said in a statement.

AUSTIN, Texas Hospitalizations across Texas have more than doubled in the last two weeks, rising to 8,698 people in hospitals on Monday. Local officials across Texas say their hospitals are becoming increasingly stretched and are in danger of becoming overrun as cases of the coronavirus surge. State health officials reported Monday that more than 12,000 beds remained available throughout Texas but the numbers differ locally. On Monday, Texas reported 5,318 new cases, after a record high of 8,258 on Saturday. Texas also reported 18 additional deaths Monday, bringing the totals to 2,655 reported deaths and 200,557 confirmed cases.

Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas TribuneEL PASO The Trump administration on Tuesday extended travel restrictions between the United States and Mexico as both countries continue to grapple with increasing cases of the new coronavirus. The restrictions exclude commercial trade with Mexico, which provides about 1 million jobs to Texans, according to Gov. The restrictions were set to expire next week but will be extended for at least another 30 days, Reuters reported. Last week the Texas Border Coalition, a group of elected officials and community and business leaders from the Texas-Mexico border, urged Wolf to lift the restrictions as the Texas and Mexican governments have started to reopen their respective economies. The administration also announced Tuesday it is again postponing hearings in the United States for asylum-seekers under the Migrant Protection Protocols program.

While the pandemics impact on property taxes is not clear yet, sales taxes tend to be more volatile and began falling the moment the shutdowns started. Arlington, for example, had projected that sales taxes would contribute 25.4% of its general fund in the 2020 fiscal year. Hernandez said 40% of the citys revenue comes from sales taxes, fees from border bridge crossings and building permits. Most of the other 60% comes from property taxes, which are the most important source of revenue for cities in Texas. Cities could increase property taxes to avoid revenue shortfalls, but few have indicated they are planning to do so.

The controversial "remain in Mexico" plan is becoming one of the Trump administration’s most successful strategies for keeping migrants from gaining entry into the U.S. Just ask the migrants released into cartel-weary Nuevo Laredo this week. Many are headed home.