Gus Bova
Trump’s Wall May Have to Avoid Multiple Historic Cemeteries
In a bid to protect a high-profile South Texas graveyard, Congress appears to have shielded other notable cemeteries too.
The Texas-Mexico border is not a blank slate for the projection of campaign promises. It’s a real place where some 2.5 million Texans live, love, and bury their dead. In December, Congress passed a funding bill that included $1.375 billion … Read More
A Democratic Socialist Damn Near Won the Texas Primary
It took a small army of politicians and pundits to stave Bernie Sanders off.
Let’s take a step back. Despite all the talk and portents of a Democratic Spring, Texas remains a red state. Just ask anyone who’s run statewide since Forrest Gump was a hot new film. The common wisdom—as every two-bit pundit … Read More
State Senator Eddie Lucio Is Headed to a Runoff
The Texas Senate’s most conservative Democrat may not be invincible.
In Brownsville, a Goliath has stumbled. After 29 years in the Texas Senate, Eddie Lucio—the upper chamber’s most conservative Democrat—has been pushed into a runoff. Facing two opponents in his first serious challenge since 1992, the 74-year-old Lucio fell just … Read More
In Amarillo, Copper Workers’ Strike Enters Fourth Month with No End in Sight
Laborers in the Republican-dominated Texas Panhandle find themselves in a protracted fight with one of the world’s largest copper producers.
It’s a February evening in the Texas Panhandle, and it’s cold as hell. Five men stand on the shoulder of Highway 136 northeast of Amarillo, huddled around a fire in a 55-gallon oil drum. Patches of snow linger from a … Read More
A Radical Proposal Calls for a Moratorium on Deportations
The Migrant Justice Platform also offers a simple solution to address the tension between native-born and foreign workers: Protect immigrants’ right to organize.
Immigrant advocates are accustomed to losing. From the failure of comprehensive immigration reform to the construction of hundreds of miles of border wall, the pro-immigrant movement has been let down by national Democrats and moderate Republicans over and over. You … Read More
2020: The Year Trump’s Wall Rises or Falls
The president may be incompetent and behind schedule, but he’s done damage already. And a lot more could be on the way.
2020 could be the year that Trump’s border wall finally rises or falls. After nearly three years in office, Donald Trump is months behind schedule on his signature campaign promise—and he’s fending off criticism from both the right and left … Read More
Greg Abbott’s ‘Indefinite,’ Imperfect Homeless Camp
Scenes from Abbottville.
Just off Highway 183 in southeast Austin, twin rows of weathered, garage-like structures line a mostly vacant 7-acre paved lot. The property, a former maintenance yard for state-owned vehicles, lies between a mobile home park and a heavy equipment dealership. … Read More
A World Without Immigrant Prisons
Law professor and author César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández wants you to believe it’s possible.
“I imagine a future that looks more like United States history than United States present. I imagine a future in which immigration prisons do not exist.” Those provocative lines come from the conclusion of Migrating to Prison: America’s Obsession with … Read More
‘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