Texas Tribune
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott defends migrant tactics in Eagle Pass
by Pooja Salhotra and Madaleine Rubin, The Texas Tribune – 2024-02-04 18:26:58
SUMMARY: Texas Governor Greg Abbott, alongside other Republican governors, criticized President Biden's border policies, asserting Texas is facing an “invasion” of migrants the federal government has failed to address. Abbott, enforcing border control through the state-run Operation Lone Star, has continued placing barriers such as razor wire in Eagle Pass, despite the federal government's concerns that this interferes with Border Patrol duties. The governors praised Abbott's defensive measures, which have led to a standoff with federal law enforcement, especially when Texas National Guard and state troopers blocked access to Shelby Park. A legal conflict has intensified after the U.S. Supreme Court vacated a decision prohibiting Border Patrol from cutting Texas' wire barriers, and the situation remains tense, with accusations of using migrants as political tools and tax dollars on ineffective policies.
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EAGLE PASS — Flanked by visiting Republican governors, Gov. Greg Abbott on Sunday afternoon railed against President Joe Biden's handling of the southern border and recommitted to defending the state from an “invasion” of migrants.
Abbott has doubled down on enforcement at the border amid an escalating feud with the federal government over who controls part of the Texas-Mexico border in Eagle Pass, a town of about 29,000 residents. Although immigration law enforcement is under the jurisdiction of the federal government, Abbott claims the Biden administration has failed to enforce immigration law, leaving the state to fend for itself.
Texas has continued to erect razor wire as a barrier between the Rio Grande River and Shelby Park, a 47-acre area in Eagle Pass, even after the federal government said the wire impedes federal border agents from apprehending people who cross the river.
“As opposed to detaining illegal immigrants, Biden has let them all loose, with no ability to accurately determine their whereabouts,” Abbott said on Sunday. “We've seen the catastrophic consequences of Joe Biden's open border policy.”
Abbott said gang members, as well as hundreds of people on the terrorist watch list, have been apprehended at the border. He thanked border patrol agents at checkpoints who have seized millions of lethal doses of fentanyl and thousands of pounds of methamphetamine.
Republican governors have rallied behind Abbott's efforts to deter illegal immigration. Last month, 25 of them released a joint statement, arguing that Texas has legal authority to defend itself because the Biden administration has failed to enforce immigration laws.
About half of those Republican governors traveled to Shelby Park on Sunday, where they praised Abbott for his methods, such as building a border wall, installing wire and placing a string of buoys in the river. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said they would continue to deploy National Guard troops to the border to support Abbott.
Lt. Col. Freeman Martin, deputy director of DPS's Homeland Security Operations, told the visiting governors Sunday that Abbott's directives are working, according to a pool report from the Houston Chronicle. During a briefing at the DPS Eagle Pass Area Office, Martin said the razor wire and buoy barriers “save lives.”
Martin's claim echoes previous assertions by DPS and Abbott that the buoys deter people from trying to cross, thus reducing drownings. The state has provided no evidence of that, however. Calls to DPS for more details weren't immediately returned late Sunday afternoon.
In January, a woman and two children drowned trying to cross the border at Eagle Pass, and Mexican authorities rescued two others. Federal officials accused the state of refusing to allow Border Patrol agents access to Shelby Park to assist in the rescue and recovery. State officials said Border Patrol requested access to the park after the drownings had already occurred.
The standoff between Texas and the federal government began after the Texas National Guard and state troopers took control of Shelby Park in January, blocking Border Patrol agents from entering.
It was the latest move by the state under Abbott's Operation Lone Star initiative, which began in March 2021 and sent Department of Public Safety troopers and Texas National Guard members to the border to stop illegal immigration. Hundreds of thousands of migrants have crossed the Rio Grande into Texas, many of them seeking asylum.
That put Texas on a collision course with the federal government: Under federal law, the federal government has sole jurisdiction over the enforcement of immigration laws, a power upheld by multiple U.S. Supreme Court decisions.
The Texas forces have deployed miles of concertina wire along the border at Eagle Pass, including around Shelby Park. When Border Patrol agents began cutting through the wire to apprehend migrants or reach those who needed medical attention, the state sued the federal government, accusing it of damaging state property.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling in December that prohibited Border Patrol agents from cutting the wire. But on Jan. 22, in a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated the lower court's ruling.
The ruling did not explicitly grant Border Patrol agents access to the park or require the state to remove the concertina wire, prompting Abbott to double down. Shortly after, National Guard and state troopers continued to block federal agents' entry to the park and deploy more concertina wire as Abbott maintained his long-standing claim that the Biden administration has refused to enforce immigration laws.
“Instead of prosecuting immigrants for the federal crime of illegal entry, President Biden has sent his lawyers into federal courts to sue Texas for taking action to secure the border,” Abbott said in a statement.
Last month, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the federal agency that oversees the Border Patrol, sent a letter to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office demanding that federal officials be allowed into the park.
Paxton has said Texas wouldn't comply with the Biden administration's request.
Another legal confrontation is brewing: Late last year, Abbott signed into law a bill that allows police to arrest people suspected of illegally crossing the Texas-Mexico border on state charges. Scheduled to take effect in March, the legislation prompted the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups to file lawsuits to overturn the law.
In an interview with the New York Times published Friday, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas called Abbott's actions on the border unconscionable, saying the state refused to communicate or coordinate with the federal government to create disorder.
“I call upon Gov. Abbott to follow the law as the courts direct,” he said. “I call upon Gov. Abbott to communicate and coordinate with his fellow governors in other states. I call upon Gov. Abbott to not use human beings as political pawns.”
Abbott's visit to Eagle Pass coincided this weekend with the arrival of a convoy of Americans opposed to the Biden administration's handling of border policy.
The Take Our Border Back convoy departed from outside Washington last week, passing through Dripping Springs along the way. Organizers called it a peaceful protest, though some critics expressed worry about violent or secessionist undertones.
The convoy arrived Saturday in Quemado, a rural community about 20 miles north of Eagle Pass. A rally attracted a modest crowd and remained peaceful, The New York Times reported. Attendees listened to Christian music, waved “Trump 2024” flags and called on the federal government to secure the U.S.-Mexico border.
However, Border Patrol officials evacuated a migrant processing center in Eagle Pass Thursday after the FBI warned of threats to the facility. The Daily Mail reported that officials said up to 175 migrants were relocated to other holding centers in Texas.
During the Sunday afternoon press conference, some members of the Take Our Border Back convoy faced off against Eagle Pass residents, who condemned Abbott for spending billions of dollars on the border. Just outside of Shelby Park, convoy members held pro-Trump signs and chanted “USA.” Meanwhile, Eagle Pass residents and activists from other border towns such as Laredo led their own chants of “Vive la frontera.”
Some of those residents held a press conference before the governor's. Speakers criticized members of the convoy for “hijacking Christianity.” Others criticized Abbott for taking over a city park.
“Quit wasting our tax dollars on political propaganda,” said Juanita V. Martinez, an Eagle Pass resident and Maverick County Democratic Party Chairperson. “Abbott doesn't care about anything but boosting his Republican political agenda.”
Disclosure: The New York Times has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
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The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
Texas Tribune
Ted Cruz files bill to protect IVF
by By Eleanor Klibanoff, The Texas Tribune – 2024-05-20 09:45:47
SUMMARY: U.S. Senator Ted Cruz and Senator Katie Britt have introduced the IVF Protection Act to safeguard access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) amid changing anti-abortion laws. The bill aims to make states ineligible for Medicaid funding if they ban IVF. This legislative effort follows an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that classified embryos as protected human life, prompting some IVF providers to pause services. The Texas Supreme Court may also consider a case impacting IVF. Cruz, seeking reelection against Democrat Colin Allred, emphasizes IVF's importance for families. Texas Governor Greg Abbott supports clarifying state laws to protect IVF, while Senate Democrats and House Speaker Mike Johnson diverge on federal versus state jurisdiction.
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U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas is leading a charge to protect access to in vitro fertilization as conservative states scramble to figure out where IVF fits in the new anti-abortion legal landscape.
On Monday, Cruz and Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama, both conservative, anti-abortion Republicans, filed the IVF Protection Act, which would make states ineligible to receive Medicaid funding if they ban IVF.
This bill comes in response to a ruling from the Alabama Supreme Court earlier this year that said embryos are protected human life when it comes to the state's wrongful death statute. After that ruling, many IVF providers paused those services until the Alabama Legislature passed temporary protections.
The Texas Supreme Court is considering taking up a case that could “upend IVF in Texas,” experts say. A woman has asked the court to overturn previous court rulings that awarded her ex-husband their three frozen embryos in their divorce, arguing that Texas' new abortion laws require embryos to have the same rights as living children.
Almost as soon as the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in summer 2022 and allowed states to ban abortion, questions emerged about the legal status of IVF.
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed announcing this legislation, Cruz and Britt said Republicans want to “protect both life and IVF.”
“IVF has given miraculous hope to millions of Americans, and it has given families across the country the gift of children,” Cruz said in a statement. “I'm proud to partner with Sen. Katie Britt to ensure that couples in Texas and across the country have the opportunity to be loving parents, by ensuring that IVF is fully protected at the federal level.”
IVF is “profoundly pro-family,” the pair wrote in the op-ed. “Our bill will honor and support families seeking to welcome a new baby into their lives through IVF.”
Cruz is up for reelection this year, facing Democratic Congressman Colin Allred, who has made Cruz's support for Texas' abortion laws a key part of his campaign. In a statement after the Alabama court ruling, Allred said Cruz had done nothing to protect IVF, and his “dangerous record” on abortion and fetal personhood issues puts Texas families “rights and freedoms at risk.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has expressed his support for IVF, saying he believes the Legislature will clarify state law to protect the procedure.
Meanwhile, in D.C., Senate Democrats have tried unsuccessfully to pass two bills to protect IVF access, and House Speaker Mike Johnson has said he believes this is an issue best left to the states.
Pointing out that 86% of Americans believe IVF should be legal, Cruz and Britt say this should be a bipartisan bill that protects “life, family and personal liberty.”
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The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
Texas Tribune
Trump says Paxton would make good U.S. attorney general
by By Jasper Scherer, The Texas Tribune – 2024-05-20 08:47:03
SUMMARY: Former President Donald Trump is considering Ken Paxton, Texas' Attorney General, for the role of U.S. Attorney General if re-elected. Trump commended Paxton's abilities and loyalty, highlighting his legal challenge to the 2020 election results and his support during Trump's impeachment defense. Paxton was impeached for bribery allegations but acquitted, with Trump claiming credit for the outcome. Recent polls show Trump leading President Biden in key states. Paxton's legal issues have diminished following the dropping of securities fraud charges, although federal investigations continue. If nominated, Paxton's Senate confirmation faces partisan challenges and opposition from notable Republicans.
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Former President Donald Trump said he would consider tapping Ken Paxton for U.S. attorney general if he wins a second term in the White House, calling his longtime ally “a very talented guy” and praising his tenure as Texas' chief legal officer.
“I would, actually,” Trump said Saturday when asked by a KDFW-TV reporter if he would consider Paxton for the national post. “He's very, very talented. I mean, we have a lot of people that want that one and will be very good at it. But he's a very talented guy.”
Paxton has long been a close ally of Trump, famously waging an unsuccessful legal challenge to Trump's 2020 election loss in four battleground states. He also spoke at the pro-Trump rally that preceded the deadly U.S. Capitol riot in January 2021.
Paxton's loyalty was rewarded with an endorsement from Trump in the 2022 primary, which helped the attorney general fend off three prominent GOP challengers.
Trump also came to Paxton's defense when he was impeached last year for allegedly accepting bribes and abusing the power of his office to help a wealthy friend and campaign donor. After Paxton was acquitted in the Texas Senate, Trump claimed credit, citing his “intervention” on his Truth Social platform, where he denounced the proceedings and threatened political retribution for Republicans who backed the impeachment.
“I fought for him when he had the difficulty and we won,” he told KDFW. “He had some people really after him, and I thought it was really unfair.”
Trump's latest comments, delivered at the National Rifle Association's annual convention in Dallas, come after a series of recent polls have shown the presumptive Republican nominee leading President Joe Biden in a handful of key battleground states.
Paxton has also seen his political prospects rise in recent months, after prosecutors agreed in March to drop three felony counts of securities fraud that had loomed over Paxton for nearly his entire tenure as attorney general. The resolution of the nine-year-old case, along with Paxton's impeachment acquittal in the Senate last fall, has brought him closer than ever to a political career devoid of legal drama.
Still, Paxton's critics say he is far from vindicated. He remains under federal investigation for the same allegations that formed the basis of his impeachment, and he continues to face a whistleblower lawsuit from former deputies who said they were illegally fired for reporting Paxton to law enforcement. A separate lawsuit from the state bar seeks to penalize Paxton for his 2020 election challenge, which relied on discredited claims of election fraud.
If nominated, Paxton would need to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. The chamber is narrowly divided along party lines, with Democrats holding a 51-49 majority. One of the most prominent Republican members, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, has been an outspoken critic of Paxton, while Paxton has openly entertained the idea of challenging Cornyn in 2026.
Paxton is not the only Texan Trump has floated for a high-profile spot in his potential administration. In February, he said Gov. Greg Abbott is “absolutely” on his short list of potential vice presidential candidates. Abbott has since downplayed his interest in the job.
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Texas Tribune
These Texans aren’t taking buyouts despite repeated floods
by By Emily Foxhall, The Texas Tribune – 2024-05-20 05:00:00
SUMMARY: Recent floods in Harris County, Texas, have devastated homes along the San Jacinto River. Tom Madigan, who owns multiple properties, quickly started repairs without knowing the Harris County Flood Control District aims to buy out such flood-prone properties. The region has a longstanding buyout program to remove homes from high-risk flood areas, with about 800 out of 2,400 targeted properties purchased. However, buyouts are voluntary and often insufficient for low-income residents. Despite the program, many choose to stay due to affordability and community ties, while others like Madigan remain skeptical of receiving a fair offer.
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HARRIS COUNTY — After the floodwaters earlier this month just about swallowed two of the six homes that 60-year-old Tom Madigan owns on the San Jacinto River, he didn't think twice about whether to fix them. He hired people to help, and they got to work stripping the walls, pulling up flooring and throwing out water-logged furniture.
What Madigan didn't know: The Harris County Flood Control District wants to buy his properties as part of an effort to get people out of dangerously flood-prone areas.
Back-to-back storms drenched southeast Texas in late April and early May, causing flash flooding and pushing rivers out of their banks and into low-lying neighborhoods. Officials across the region urged people in vulnerable areas to evacuate.
Like Madigan's, some places that were inundated along the San Jacinto in Harris County have flooded repeatedly. And for nearly 30 years, the flood control district has been trying to clear out homes around the river by paying property owners to move, then returning the lots to nature.
The recent floods show why buyout programs can be important. These spots typically flood first and worse. Gov. Greg Abbott reported that hundreds of rescues took place in the state while the floods destroyed homes. A man drowned and a child was swept away into the floods. One Harris County resident described climbing on top of his motor home as the water rose before first responders rescued him.
But the disaster and its aftermath also illustrate why buyouts are complicated to carry out even in Harris County, home to Houston, which has one of the most robust buyout programs in the country. The flood control district has identified roughly 2,400 properties as current buyout candidates around the San Jacinto; the district and county have bought about 800 of them.
Nearly all of the district's buyouts are voluntary. If an owner doesn't want to sell, the district can't force them out.
Buyouts make sense for some people who can't be protected from floods, said Alessandra Jerolleman, director of research for the Center on Environment, Land and Law at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law.
But buyouts might not provide lower-income people enough money to get somewhere safer, she said, and they could lose important support like child care from nearby family or neighbors.
“It's not as though it's a guarantee of reducing risks to that family,” Jerolleman said.
People who live near the river and who have endured repeated floods explained that they've stayed because it's affordable and, most of the time, peaceful. Where else would they be able to buy anything like it? Some said they didn't think the government would offer them what they consider a fair price to sell their land. Some didn't know the buyout program existed.
Madigan started buying homes more than 15 years ago in the unincorporated River Terrace neighborhood because they were cheap. On Tuesday, the Houston firefighter drank a Heineken and grilled hamburgers for his work crew outside his most damaged house, which he rents to his brother. Sodden rugs baked in the sun on the driveway.
Madigan said he might have taken a buyout if it was a reasonable offer — but he doubted it would be. He said he needed to get the properties ready again for his renters. “I can't wait,” he said.
Two blocks away, water had swept through a yellow house Madigan rents to a family with a teenage son. One of the workers fixing the property, 21-year-old Omar Reyna, watched the family throw out pretty much everything they had. Piecing together new laminate flooring with his dad, Reyna kept thinking about a trash bag of Teddy bears and stuffed toys he tossed out for them.
He wondered if the parents had been saving the toys for another kid they might have in the future.
“The faster we get it done, the faster they can come back in here,” Reyna said.
Some people choose to live with the risk of flooding
The San Jacinto is the largest river in the state's most populous county. For years before Harris County's first floodplain maps were drawn up in the mid-1980s, people built homes near its banks. Even today, people can still build in the vast floodplain if the houses are high enough and have enough stormwater detention.
The flood control district tries to buy out homes in pockets of the floodplain that are deepest, said James Wade, manager for the district's property acquisition department. Those are places where engineers can't easily fix flooding problems.
Buyouts are meant to get people out of flood zones before their property floods again, not to help in the immediate aftermath of a disaster. The process is slow: In some cases, it can take 18 months or longer to approve a buyout application, Wade said. The district pays owners the market value or pre-flood value for their house, determined by a third-party appraiser, plus moving expenses and a supplement to help them get into a house out of the floodplain, Wade said.
“It's a very equitable, fair program,” Wade said — but still some people don't want to leave.
Those who stay learn to adapt. They build homes on stilts. They monitor the river level and watch for releases of water from the Lake Conroe dam upstream. Some know intimately the routine of rebuilding: gut the house, clean it, put it back together.
The floor of 49-year-old Sean Vincent's house in the Forest Cove neighborhood in northeast Houston is 15 feet above the ground. Three feet of water flooded it when Hurricane Harvey hit in 2017. This month, the floods reached five feet high on Vincent's property. He cleaned out his waterlogged ground-level shed with help from church members. On Tuesday, he was building new shelves for it.
But most of the time Vincent, who works in railroad traffic control, said he enjoys the space surrounded by tall trees with room for his three kids.
“It's just really not a major part of our life,” Vincent said of the flooding. “Yes, it's inconvenient. Yes, it's now happened to us twice in seven years … It's sort of a trade-off for us. And it is lovely out here.”
“Where are you going to go?”
Then there are those who stay because they don't see anywhere else to go.
Jack St. John, 67, a retired long-haul truck driver, moved to Northshore 43 years ago and has had to clean up after two floods. He worries any time flooding threatens, but the neighborhood's advantages keep him there: He has no water bill because he has a well. His taxes are reasonable. The neighborhood has a fish fry in the spring and a barbecue in the fall.
“You know, when you leave, where are you going to go?” he said. “What's it going to cost to buy into another place?”
Farther northeast, in the Idle Wild and Idle Glen neighborhoods, the floods forced some residents to sleep under tarps. On one largely forested street, boats were turned sideways or flipped upside down. A small building was lodged in the trees. A car was in the ditch.
For several years, Elvia Bethea, 68, has driven from her home in Humble to check on people and pets here, and pick up stray animals. On Tuesday, she and other volunteers gave John Gray, 50, bamboo yard torches to fight the many mosquitoes, plus two trays of chocolate-covered strawberries.
Gray said he couldn't afford to fix up his destroyed house. He earns a living printing labor law posters for businesses. His printers at home were destroyed.
Gray said he had never heard of the buyout program but would consider taking one.
“Who do I call?” Gray asked. “I don't have a clue.”
From the back of a white SUV, Bethea handed some hot dogs to Jose Tabores, 68, who lives on Gray's land in a trailer now filled with mud.
“I'm coming for dinner, remember!” Bethea teased him.
Nearby, 51-year-old Veronika Scheid had been sleeping in a wet tent. The flood washed the shipping crate she lived in down the road and into the trees — along with her and her neighbors' belongings.
At a low point, when Scheid was crying over all she lost, she found a pink-and-white beaded necklace with stitching in the shape of a “V,” like her name. At the end was a charm shaped like a house.
She was grateful the person who owned the land where she stayed hadn't taken a buyout. Otherwise she would have nowhere to go.
“At least we have this,” Scheid said.
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The post These Texans aren't taking buyouts despite repeated floods appeared first on TexasTribune.org.
The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
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