Santa Ana’s Last Stand
Congress repeatedly shielded the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge from the border wall. Now, construction has begun—and an irrigation district lawsuit may be the only option left to buy time for lawmakers to act.
Border and Immigration
Immigrants Keep Saying She’s Ripping Them Off. Why Won’t Texas Stop Her?
The attorney general's office once aggressively pursued fraudsters targeting immigrants. Not on Ken Paxton's watch.
Indigenous Group Sues to Stop Big Bend Border Wall on Religious Grounds
The lawsuit seeks an immediate injunction, arguing that CBP construction and surveying activities in Big Bend violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Cuba’s Government Is in Trump’s Crosshairs, but Political Dissidents Find No Refuge Here
As the president has mulled invading the island and imposed harsh sanctions, old legal pathways have closed while asylum denial rates for Cubans are near 80 percent.
American Skater
A Venezuelan immigrant tries to make a home in San Antonio in exclusionary times.
ICE Never Stopped Chasing People in Cars in the Rio Grande Valley
Immigration agents sped after a vehicle through a residential neighborhood on the same day of the agency’s traffic stop pause, reportedly endangering a mother and son—before pulling a gun on and briefly handcuffing a U.S. citizen.
Houston Is Testing Whether Trump’s ICE Is Above Texas Law
After the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, local authorities have struggled to stake their claim on an investigation into a killing within the most populous Texas city’s limits.
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Excerpt: How to Close a Camp
Detention was sold as both a law-and-order necessity and an economic opportunity, welding together the racist politics of the drug war with the rise of private prisons.
What Is (and Isn’t) Happening with the Border Wall in Big Bend
Government flip-flopping and semantic ambiguity have led to premature declarations of victory over Trump's attack on my home region.
Worker’s Death at SpaceX Factory Followed Hundreds of Injuries in Recent Years
A 25-year-old died last month of “blunt force trauma due to a fall.” An Observer analysis found that the injury rate at "Starbase" was well above an industry national average.