The latest immigration news from The Texas Tribune.
Gov. Rick Perry appeared on Fox News' "On the Record with Greta van Susteren" Tuesday night to discuss border security. Of course, he also took a few swipes at the federal government for not doing more to help curb illegal immigration. Full Story
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The U.S. Census Bureau released data this week showing how many people moved to and from Texas in the last year. California sent more people our way than any other state — and we lost the most Texans to Oklahoma. Full Story
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A portion of a multi-faceted homeland security bill that appeared near dead earlier was successfully attached tonight to a House bill relating to the deportation of illegal immigrants who have been incarcerated and released from prison. Full Story
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A homeland security bill that was a major factor in whether the state’s sanctuary cities legislation — one of Gov. Rick Perry's emergency items — would be signed into law failed to get placed on a House calendar for this week. Full Story
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Root and Galbraith on a Dallas billionaire's radioactive waste dump victory, Grissom on the passage of eyewitness ID reform, Hamilton on the old grudges bedeviling the debate over higher ed, Philpott on the status of congressional redistricting, Ramsey on Rick Perry's un-campaign for president, Ramshaw on why medical schools are the scorned children of the state's education budget, my session-wrap interview with three veteran Democrats, M. Smith on why Rob Eissler can't pass mandate relief for school districts and Stiles on who's giving what to which Texas candidates in 2011-12 congressional races: The best of our best content from May 16 to 20, 2011. Full Story
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Sanctuary cities legislation was revived today and will be sent to the Texas Senate for consideration. A Senate committee reversed course, approving the legislation. Full Story
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At last Thursday's TribLive conversation, I interviewed three veteran lawmakers — state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, state Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, and state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio — about how they and their Democratic colleagues fared this session. Full Story
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At Thursday's TribLive conversation, I interviewed three veteran lawmakers — state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, state Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, and state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio — about how they and their Democratic colleagues fared this session. Full Story
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At last Thursday's TribLive conversation, state Sens. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, and Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, explained why controversial sanctuary cities legislation may not make it out of the Texas Senate. Full Story
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He may have pulled the plug on “sanctuary cities” legislation yesterday, but Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, said today he still supports it — even if he considers his own homeland security legislation a higher priority. Full Story
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In a surprise move that could effectively kill the sanctuary cities bill that Gov. Rick Perry declared an emergency item, a Senate committee today replaced the immigration language with a homeland security bill by state Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands. Full Story
They won’t give names, nor will they engage in a game of hypothetical vote counting, but Senate Democrats will say the coalition forming against the state’s proposed sanctuary cities bill isn’t what observers would expect. Full Story
At last Thursday's TribLive conversation, I interviewed Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples about the impact of drug-fueled violence on border farmers and ranchers, what he thinks about the Senate's two-thirds rule, his run for lieutenant governor in 2014 and more. Full Story
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At last Thursday's TribLive conversation, I interviewed Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples about the impact of drug-fueled violence on border farmers and ranchers, what he thinks about the Senate's two-thirds rule, his nascent campaign for lieutenant governor in 2014 and more. Full Story
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At last Thursday's TribLive conversation, I interviewed Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples about the impact of drug-fueled violence on border farmers and ranchers, what he thinks about the Senate's two-thirds rule, his nascent campaign for lieutenant governor in 2014 and more. Full Story
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At last Thursday's TribLive conversation, I interviewed Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples about the impact of drug-fueled violence on border farmers and ranchers — and the web site he maintains to collect tales of the war in progress. Full Story
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As a Christian and a lawmaker, biblical stories form something of a lens through which I try to find focus when making public policy decisions — particularly as anti-immigrant bills have gained a disturbing momentum in Austin over the last few weeks. Full Story
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The sanctuary cities bill filed by Burt Solomons, R-Carrollton, was a victory for conservative lawmakers who called for state enforcement of immigration laws. But the bill, which would prohibit cities, counties and other governmental entities or special districts from adopting a policy that prevents law enforcement from asking persons lawfully detained or arrested if they are in the country legally, could be the only victory in that category as time winds down in the current session. Full Story
Aaronson on pork choppers, Aguilar on sanctuary cities legislation, Galbraith on Brownsville's ban on plastic bags, Grissom on Delma Banks and prosecutorial misconduct, Hamilton on a tough week for higher education in Texas, Philpott on wildfires and politics, Ramshaw on the state's pursuit of a federal Medicaid overhaul, M. Smith on what would happen if lawmakers don't rewrite school finance formulas, yours truly on the Lege as schoolyard and Stiles with interactive graphics on how the proposed Senate redistricting maps compare with current ones: The best of our best content from May 9 to 13, 2011. Full Story
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In keeping with Republican lawmakers' promises to strengthen state voting laws, the House today tentatively passed a bill that would make it a separate punishable offense for an illegal immigrant or non-citizen to vote or attempt to vote. Full Story
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