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Legislature Mandates Sheriff-ICE Cooperation in Jails or Streets
Texas lawmakers are ordering all counties to seek federal agreements that may be limited to jailhouses—or may convert deputies into roving immigration agents.
Francesca D'Annunzio
Francesca D'Annunzio is the Texas Observer's 2025 David McHam investigative reporting fellow. D’Annunzio has reported on topics ranging from deportations in the Dominican Republic, Christian nationalism, U.S.-Mexico border colonias, right-wing sheriffs, to zoning and housing policy in Texas. She received her master’s in investigative journalism from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. She is proficient in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Arabic.
Articles by Francesca D'Annunzio
The Love and Loss of the Quintanillas
A new documentary uses archival family footage to retell the story of Selena y Los Dinos.
Shipped to El Salvador: An Austin Immigration Lawyer on Her Teen Client’s Forced ‘Disappearance’
“Due process hasn’t been protected. The process that is set in place in this country that is the basis and foundation of our legal system was not allowed to work.”
‘It’s Not a War Zone’: Val Verde County’s Conservative Democratic Sheriff on Misinformation, Immigration
"Before people start commenting on the border, come visit the border. Right now there's nothing going on."
Texas Police Are Slowly Joining What Could Be a ‘Giant ICE Army’
New 287(g) task force agreements are trickling in as the Lege considers mandating ICE cooperation and some counties await federal training.
Texas’ AI-Powered Surveillance Arsenal Has Ballooned. Proposed Laws Provide Few Guardrails.
Operation Lone Star has turbocharged DPS’ surveillance capabilities. Lawmakers say they want to prevent Texas from becoming a police state but have filed only modest legislation to regulate use of AI.
Local and State Police Are Joining Trump’s ‘Deportation Force’
Texas law enforcement agencies and others around the nation are reviving a long-dead "task force" program that led to racial profiling in the past.
‘Asylum as We Know It’: An Immigration Historian on Trump, Refuge, and Exclusion
After World War II, "People understood that if they had allowed more immigrants into the United States, many of them wouldn't have been killed in Europe."
New DEA Chief’s Background Includes Surveillance Tech and Border Misinformation
Derek Maltz formerly worked at PenLink, a Nebraska-based tech firm that has sold software that can track phone locations without a warrant to agencies like ICE and Texas DPS.
ICE Agents in Churches ‘Does Not Bode Well for the Future of Religion’ in America
“They’re de facto endorsing government interference with the church—the very government interference with the church that they've complained about in the past.”