Look back at some of the best Texas Tribune reads of 2024
Our journalists brought life to the experiences of everyday Texans, held powerful institutions accountable and surfaced stories that went beyond the daily news cycles. Full Story
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![The dome of the Texas State Capitol on Thursday, April 24, 2014.]()
Credit: Anneke Els Paterson for The Texas Tribune -
As landowners resist, Texas’ border wall is fragmented and built in remote areas
At least a third of landowners approached by state officials have refused to let wall be built on their properties. That’s forced the state to largely build on ranchland in remote areas, or erect sections that are full of gaps. Full Story
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Credit: Ben Lowy for The Texas Tribune -
Trump’s near sweep of Texas border counties shows a shift to the right for Latino voters
The former president captured 55% of Latino voters in the state, according to exit polls. He also won 14 out of the 18 counties within 20 miles of the border, a number that doubled his 2020 performance in the Latino-majority region. Full Story
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![Gabriel Garza, left, augmentee with the sheriff’s office, congratulates, Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez, right, after the final vote counts for the night were announced around 10pm at Val Verde County Courthouse on election day on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024 in Del Rio, Texas. Martinez was in the lead ahead of his opponent Rogelio “Roger” Hernandez 7,926 votes to 6,033.]()
Credit: Salgu Wissmath for The Texas Tribune and ProPublica -
A pro-gun, anti-abortion border sheriff appealed to both parties. Then he was painted as soft on immigration.
Immigration is not part of Joe Frank Martinez’s job. But in Del Rio, like in other majority Latino communities across the country, the issue is high on voters’ minds and is disrupting long-standing political allegiances. Full Story
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![The memory of nearly 20,000 primarily Haitian immigrants arriving at the border is seared into the minds of Del Rio residents. Many fear it could happen again, making immigration one of the key issues in Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez’s race for reelection and disrupting local politics.]()
Credit: From left: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune, Liz Moughon/ProPublica, Gerardo del Valle/ProPublica -
Eagle Pass residents rally to have state return Shelby Park
Residents say they can no longer access the park after the state seized it against the city’s wishes in January. Full Story
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![Protesters march toward Shelby Park on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Eagle Pass, Texas. A rally was held near Shelby Park protesting the current occupation of the park by the Texas Department of Public Safety as part of Operation Lonestar. The park, which became a global focal point for illegal border crossings, was once open to the public but is now closed to the public and heavily fortified.]()
Credit: Sergio Flores for The Texas Tribune -
Many Americans say immigration is out of control, but 24 hours on the Texas-Mexico border showed a new reality. Will it last?
The Texas Tribune and The Associated Press visited five locations along the 1,254-mile span to separate the facts from the political narrative during a heated election year. Full Story
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![Christina Smallwood, foreground, and Andrés García, Border Patrol agents and Public Affairs officers look for migrants underneath the vehicular McAllen-Hidalgo International Bridge in Hidalgo, Texas, early Friday, Aug. 9, 2024.]()
Credit: Verónica Gabriela Cárdenas for The Texas Tribune -
Alejandro Mayorkas joins Texas Tribune Festival lineup
The U.S. Homeland Security Secretary will be interviewed by Laura Barrón-López of “PBS News Hour.” Full Story
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Texas GOP leaders paint Harris as a disaster on border security
Everything wrong with border security is the fault of the Democratic vice president, these Republicans say. Full Story
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![Vice President Kamala Harris speak about abortion rights with Mini Timmaraju, President of NARAL Pro-Choice America, and Julieta Garibay, Senior Capacity Building Director for Groundswell Fund, at the LBJ Museum in Austin on Oct. 8, 2022.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Immigration is taking center stage in Texas’ Senate race. Here’s what Colin Allred’s and Ted Cruz’s records show.
Poll after poll shows Texas voters rank immigration and the border as the most pressing issues. Full Story
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![U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, D-Dallas, speaks to supporters during a stop for his U.S. Senate campaign in McAllen on Feb. 17, 2024. Rep. Allred is running against Texas Senator Roland Gutierrez for the March 5 primary election in hopes to be the Democratic candidate that goes head to head with incumbent Ted Cruz for the general election in November.]()
Credit: Michael Gonzalez for The Texas Tribune -
At half a mile a week, Gov. Greg Abbott’s border wall will take around 30 years and $20 billion to build
The state has built about 34 miles of wall spread out across at least six counties on Texas’ 1,254-mile border with Mexico. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott looks at crane lifting a section of the border wall in place after giving a press conference at Rio Grande City on Dec. 18, 2021.]()
Credit: Jason Garza for The Texas Tribune -
Biden to unveil new protections for undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens, DACA recipients
Texas has more than 95,000 DACA recipients and about 1.6 million undocumented residents overall. Full Story
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![Protesters gathered outside the U.S. Supreme Court as justices heard oral arguments regarding the Trump administration’s bid to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in 2019.]()
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Texas immigrants’ rights groups sue Biden administration over asylum restrictions
Both Democrats and Republicans have criticized the order, which limits asylum requests when illegal border crossings ramp up. Full Story
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![A Texas National Guard Soldier stands guard next to concertina wire along the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas, as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state, Mexico on May 27, 2024.]()
Credit: Paul Ratje for The Texas Tribune -
Texas to reimburse landowners for damages caused by border property crime
Lawmakers created the program during last year’s legislative session. Full Story
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![Department of Public Safety Special Operations agents escort a group of migrants through private property as part of Operation Lone Star after catching them in Kinney County near Brackettville, Texas on Nov. 9, 2021. The owner of the property did not sign the affidavit to allow DPS to arrest undocumented migrants in their property, so they will be processed by Border Patrol.
Verónica G. Cárdenas for ProPublica/The Texas Tribune]()
Credit: Verónica G. Cárdenas for ProPublica/The Texas Tribune -
“The Right Way”: The long journey to asylum for one Venezuelan family
The Pabón family is among the nearly 8 million Venezuelans who have fled their country. This documentary follows them as they begin a life in the U.S. Full Story
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![A crying mother hugs her two teenaged daughters.]()
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How shifting U.S. policies led to one of the deadliest incidents involving immigrants in Mexico’s history
A year ago, 40 men died in a detention center fire in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. An examination by The Texas Tribune and ProPublica shows that it was the foreseeable result of landmark shifts in U.S. border policies. Full Story
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![Bodies of those who died during the fire inside a Mexican detention facility were laid in a parking lot outside the offices of the National Migration Institute near the U.S.-Mexico border in Ciudad Juárez on March 27, 2023. The fire killed 40 immigrants and injured more than two dozen.]()
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Texas, Biden administration take their battle over new immigration law to federal appeals court
A panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals will decide whether to keep in place a lower court’s block of Senate Bill 4, which makes illegally entering Texas a state crime. Full Story
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![Texas Department of Public Safety officers patrol along the border wall after the U.S. Supreme Court let a Republican-backed Texas law known as SB 4 take effect, allowing state law enforcement authorities to arrest people suspected of crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally, in El Paso on March 19, 2024.]()
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Appeals court keeps Texas’ migrant arrest law on hold
The order prevents Texas from arresting and deporting migrants suspected of illegally entering the U.S. while the case challenging the law is under consideration. Full Story
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![Texas Department of Public Safety troopers pull migrants from under concertina wire after they crossed the Rio Grande River from Mexico into Eagle Pass, on July 27, 2023.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Adrees Latif -
Feds arrest five men accused of smuggling illegally purchased guns to cartels in Mexico
The men were charged with two criminal offenses, including straw purchasing of firearms, created by the 2022 bipartisan gun safety bill authored by Sen. John Cornyn. Full Story
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![A Springfield Saint Victor AR-15 rifle is displayed during the National Rifle Association annual convention in Houston on May 27, 2022.]()
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Enforcing Texas’ new immigration law may be challenging, even for authorities that support it
A new law allowing local authorities to deport migrants remains tied up in court. Even if it goes back into effect, logistical challenges could complicate enforcement. Full Story
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![Gov. Greg Abbott poses with a framed letter from the Sheriffs' Association of Texas at the Texas Capitol in Austin on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. Abbott was presented with the letter after the association announced their support of his border policies.]()
Credit: Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune -
Disagreement and confusion on display in hearing over Texas’ new immigration law
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments about whether to allow back into effect a law allowing state and local authorities to deport migrants. Full Story
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![A group of migrants walk to an El Paso County Sheriff transport van to be taken to processing on the day the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals hears oral arguments on Texas' motion to lift a block an immigration law that would allow state officials to arrest migrants suspected of being in the country illegally, in El Paso, on March 20, 2024.]()
Credit: REUTERS/Justin Hamel