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Julián Aguilar reported for the Tribune from 2009 to 2021, most recently on politics and on the Texas-Mexico border. He focused on immigration reform and enforcement, voter ID, international trade, border security, and the drug trade. His political coverage has included local, legislative and congressional races in Texas, as well as local and national elections in Mexico. Before joining The Texas Tribune, he was a freelance writer for the Fort Worth Weekly, a government and crime reporter for the Laredo Morning Times, and a political writer for the Rio Grande Guardian. A native of El Paso, he has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Texas and a master's degree in journalism from the Frank W. Mayborn Graduate Institute of Journalism at the University of North Texas.
Dealing a blow to President Obama’s executive immigration order, the U.S. Supreme Court has deadlocked on a lower court's decision to block the plan, which would've provided relief from deportation and work permits to millions of people. Full Story
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Boats are one of the most effective ways to patrol the 300 miles of river and lakes under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Border Patrol's Rio Grande Station. But the boats aren't in the water around the clock. Full Story
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A Washington-based interest group has recruited a coalition of Texas educators and business and civic leaders to help convince members of Congress to eliminate this country’s embargo against communist Cuba. Full Story
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In this mini-doc shot in a high-traffic smuggling corridor, watch a "coyote" moving undocumented workers through the woods, listen to a Guatemalan teenager recount her journey to South Texas and ride along with a busy team of U.S. Border Patrol agents. Full Story
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Wiping out the tall stands of Carrizo cane that give drug and human smugglers easy cover along the Rio Grande was deemed a border-security priority by Gov. Greg Abbott in 2015, but the program wasn't funded. Full Story
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U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro on Thursday lost his battle with Congressional Republicans that want to stop the U.S. Library of Congress from removing controversial immigration terms from its search headings. Full Story
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The Texas-based judge that earlier this year put a hold on President Obama’s executive order on immigration decided on Tuesday to also suspend a controversial punishment he had recently issued to the administration’s attorneys. Full Story
A coalition of civil and immigrant rights groups on Friday asked an appeals court to stop a federal judge’s order that requires the Obama administration to turn over the confidential information of thousands of undocumented immigrants. Full Story
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Immigrant rights groups were handed a significant victory on Wednesday when a Travis County judge ruled that the state temporarily cannot license an immigration detention center as a childcare facility. Full Story
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In El Paso, local leaders hope to create a municipal ID card for the region's homeless, indigent and undocumented. But Gov. Greg Abbott has hinted that could make El Paso a so-called "sanctuary city." Full Story
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