U.S./MEXICO BORDER

The soldier is the 10th known Texas Guard member linked to the mission to die since its rapid expansion began in September 2021.

The two companies awarded contracts on Thursday will erect border barriers in Del Rio and the Rio Grande Valley.

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

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.”

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.

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.

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

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.”

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.

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 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.

Two civil rights groups have expanded their request for a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into Operation Lone Star, citing evidence of risky pursuits and more frequent traffic stops of Hispanic drivers.

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.

Immigration law enforcement is a federal responsibility. Abbott appears to be testing the limits of state authority by empowering state law enforcement to bring migrants to the ports of entry — stopping short of using state resources to expel migrants from the country.

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.

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.

The administration was set to end Title 42, a pandemic-era rule aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19, on Monday. A lengthy legal battle is likely.

After drug cartel members began demanding monthly payments, she took her daughters to the border to seek asylum. They’ve been waiting in a Juárez shelter for more than a year.

The former president criticized Democrats, who control Congress and the White House, on a number of issues. He also praised Texas Republicans he’s endorsed in this month’s primary runoff.

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.

Abbott said the money would be taken from the budgets of other Texas agencies, including nearly $210 million from the state’s Health and Human Services Commission over two years and about $160 million from the Texas Department of Public Safety.

The public health order that expels migrants to Mexico was launched early in the pandemic, and the Biden administration’s intention to end it has sparked a legal battle.

Thousands of men have been arrested on trespassing charges under Gov. Greg Abbott’s border crackdown. A new lawsuit claims the attempt to skirt federal immigration authority is unconstitutional.

The decision to crowdfund the free bus trips for migrants is a new development since his initial announcement on April 6 that the rides would be paid for by Texas taxpayers.

The Louisiana judge said he’ll hold a hearing in May to decide whether to block the administration from halting Title 42, the Trump-era health order that quickly sends all migrants back to Mexico.

Spc. Bishop Evans died after jumping into the Rio Grande to save migrants. He and other members of Operation Lone Star were not provided safety equipment. Texas Military Department said an order for buoys and ropes was made but has not been fulfilled.

The Biden administration had ended the policy that forced 70,000 migrants to wait in Mexico. But a federal judge in Texas forced the administration to restart the program in December.

A Louisiana judge will grant a restraining order that will keep in place Title 42, a pandemic-era health rule that the federal government had planned to drop next month.

Declaring an “invasion” under the U.S. Constitution is an incendiary idea that would spark immediate court challenges given that immigration law enforcement is a federal responsibility.

The soldier, Bishop E. Evans, went missing Friday morning after he jumped into the river near Eagle Pass. On Sunday, the Texas Military Department reported the search was still ongoing.

Texas has led the legal fight against the Biden administration’s immigration policies, filing numerous lawsuits that have led to judges overturning or altering those policies.

In this video, see the impact of Abbott’s increased border inspections on produce importers, fruit stand vendors and truck drivers on both sides of the Texas-Mexico border.

The governor ordered troopers to thoroughly inspect every commercial truck coming from Mexico in what he described as an effort to stop illegal drugs and migrants from being smuggled into Texas. His order for increased state inspections led to snarling delays in trade between the two countries.

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.

For Democrats, especially in Texas, tackling border issues is difficult on the campaign trail as the party is not in agreement about various policies. O’Rourke has had to distance himself from President Joe Biden’s border policies, while going after Gov. Greg Abbott’s.

The delays caused by the state’s inspections are the latest blow to farmers and produce businesses in the Rio Grande Valley recovering from the pandemic and losses from last year’s winter storm.

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.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection commissioner said Gov. Greg Abbott isn’t coordinating with the agency as Texas sends migrants far from their immigration proceedings.

The announcements come a day after Abbott reached a similar deal with Nuevo León’s governor, who agreed to add security at a major border bridge in exchange for an end to increased vehicle inspections by Texas troopers.

The move provides little relief as trade between Texas and Mexico is hampered along the border because of Abbott’s order. The Colombia bridge is just one of 13 commercial crossings between the two countries and the only one connected to Nuevo León.

About 30 people from Colombia, Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua traveled to the U.S. capital as part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s new plan in response to the end of Title 42.

Gov. Greg Abbott is slated to have a meeting and press event with Samuel Alejandro García Sepúlveda — the Mexican governor of Nuevo León, the state that includes a section of the border near Laredo — later Wednesday afternoon.

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.

Abbott’s new policy has resulted in hourslong delays and protester blockades at border crossings. The state’s agriculture commissioner criticized the measure as an “economy killing action.”

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.

In this week’s episode, Matthew speaks with Brian and James about Dan Patrick’s push for a Texas version of the Florida law governing the discussion of sexuality in schools and Gov. Greg Abbott’s latest action on the border.

Trucks delivering products from Mexico are facing hourslong waits at ports of entry.