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
The Lawless Border Wall
The application of waivers and the interpretation of their scope has repeatedly expanded, such that border walls are now privileged over all potential legal constraints short of the U.S. Constitution.
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.
Congressman Denounces ICE Response About Prosecutor Operating Racist X Account
In response to the Observer’s reporting, U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey demanded answers he has yet to fully receive—while ICE refuses to clarify the prosecutor’s current job status.
ICE Raids on Beloved Bakery Reverberate Through Rio Grande Valley
Homeland Security Investigations arrests at Abby's Bakery shake up a small town in politically shifting Cameron County.
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.
ICE Prosecutor in Dallas Runs White Supremacist X Account
The Observer has identified the operator of “GlomarResponder,” an overtly racist social media account, as ICE Assistant Chief Counsel James Rodden, based on an overwhelming number of biographical details matched through publicly available documents, other social media activity, and courtroom observation.
‘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."
Remembering Boca Chica Beach—Before Elon Musk Came to Town
Destruction isn't always something physical, but also something done to memory.
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.