Gus Bova
By Gus Bova:
‘We Build the Wall’ Lands in South Texas, Vilifies Priest and Butterfly Refuge
Accusing a priest of supporting human trafficking and a nature center of butterfly-smuggling is one way to make friends when you’re the new kid in town.
A nonprofit dedicated to carrying out President Donald Trump’s vision of a border wall has arrived in South Texas. The group, We Build the Wall, plans to use private funds to erect a 3-mile stretch of 18-foot steel fence on … Read More
John Cornyn’s Weaselly Immigration Record
How to say one thing and do another.
On a June afternoon in 2007, U.S. Senator John Cornyn sounded eminently reasonable. In a floor speech, the rangy, snow-haired Texan said that of all the legislative issues he’d wrangled with during his four and a half years in the … Read More
Governor Launches Camp, Backs ‘Mega-Tent’ for Austin’s Homeless, Surprising Advocates
The governor and Austin’s business community announced plans for a temporary campsite and a future “mega-tent” shelter for the city's homeless community. They’re working separately from local homeless service providers.
After a months-long campaign of smearing Austin’s homeless as violent and disease-ridden, Governor Greg Abbott announced Thursday he was designating 5 acres of state-owned land in southeast Austin as an authorized homeless encampment. The same day, with Abbott’s support, the … Read More
Governor Clears Out Camps. Austin’s Homeless Remain Homeless.
Greg Abbott began clearing out the camps under Austin’s highways Monday, over the objections of the homeless and their advocates.
On Monday afternoon, state troopers, officials from the state transportation department, and cleaning contractors descended on a homeless encampment beneath Texas State Highway 71 in South Austin. For the next four hours, the crew loaded crates and bags with cans, … Read More
Greg Abbott vs. Austin’s Homeless
As Texas’ governor promotes sensational stories of homeless violence and threatens a state crackdown, the people living on Austin’s streets tell a different story.
Update: On Monday, November 4, the state began clearing out homeless encampments under highways in Austin at Governor Greg Abbott’s behest. Unhoused Austinites left with the possessions they could carry. Some said they’d spend a night or two in the … Read More
A Small County Bets Big on Locking Up Undocumented Immigrants
Jones County has an empty prison and a load of debt. Their solution? Dust off the old prison and fill it with undocumented migrants.
By late November, residents of Jones County, a swath of Texas plains home to some 20,000 souls, should have new neighbors: about 1,000 undocumented immigrant men held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody. Local politicians are excited about the … Read More
The Private Prison Industry (Finally) Faces an Uncertain Future
Traditionally, for-profit jailers have drawn bipartisan support. But Trump, the sector’s ostensible savior, has made the industry a lightning rod.
Donald Trump is a private prison kind of guy. America’s two for-profit titans of incarceration—GEO Group and CoreCivic—pitched in $500,000 for his inauguration. Almost immediately after Trump took office, his Justice Department reversed an Obama-era move to partially phase out … Read More
Attacked in Mexico, Returned to Mexico: Trump Policy Ignores Danger to Asylum-Seekers
The Migrant Protection Protocols are failing to protect migrants from imminent kidnapping and violence.
Under the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), the Trump administration has returned more than 48,000 asylum-seekers since January to await their court dates in Mexico, a country where kidnapping and assault of migrants is rampant. Over the course of two months, … Read More
Video: ‘Traumatic, Unnecessary’ Arrest of Austin Woman Shows How Cops Can Worsen Mental Health Crises
Bodycam footage of police arresting a young woman diagnosed with schizophrenia shows how Texas cops turn mental health emergencies into traumatic confrontations—and even deportations.
Everything was fine, until suddenly it wasn’t. On the morning of July 19, 2018, Tania Silva was wandering through East Austin, acting oddly. Silva, a 21-year-old community college student diagnosed with schizophrenia, was off her medication. At one point, she … Read More
