The day before SB4 was to take effect, a federal judge blocked key parts of the Texas law that would allow state and local police to arrest people suspected of having crossed the southern border illegally.
Senate Bill 4, passed in 2023, makes the illegal crossings of the Mexico-Texas border a state crime. It also requires state magistrate judges to order those arrested for illegal entry to leave the country for Mexico if they are convicted, or in lieu of prosecution.
The Texas Civil Rights Project, the American Civil Liberties Union, and other groups argue SB4 is unconstitutional since immigration enforcement is solely under the jurisdiction of the federal government.
They also say the law will lead to the separation of families, racial profiling, and TURN police and judges into immigration agents.
Kate Gibson Kumar, Staff Attorney for the Beyond Borders Program at the Texas Civil Rights Project.
Big Bend Border Wall
The Trump administration is moving forward with the construction of border wall along the Texas Mexico border.
The federal government is now looking to seize 14 acres of land on an iconic mountain outside of El Paso owned by the Catholic Diocese of neighboring Las Cruces, New Mexico.
The land the federal government wants to take sits at the bottom of Mount Cristo Rey, a 720-foot-tall mountain with a 29-foot-tall statue of Jesus Christ.
The diocese of Las Cruces is resisting the government’s attempt to take the land.
According to the Texas Tribune, the church said in court documents the Trump administration’s efforts violate its First Amendment right to religious expression.
And on Thursday the Trump administration took action to move forward its plan for a border wall through sensitive desert lands in the Big Bend region.
In March more than 130 organizations, outfitters and rural Texas businesses urged Congress to block federal funding for border wall construction in the Big Bend region.
Laiken Jordahl is the national public lands advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity.
Domestic Violence
One in three women in San Antonio experiences intimate partner violence in her lifetime. That's according to the Collaborative Commission on Domestic Violence, which says abuse is often underreported within Latino communities because of cultural stigmas surrounding domestic violence and masculinity. Advocates say addressing the problem will require more men to confront it directly.
TPR’s Ivanna Bass Caldera reports on local efforts aimed at changing that culture.
Oilfield Theft
As the price of oil rises, so does the problem of oil rustling.
That is, the theft of crude oil — a crime that has been part of the Texas oil patch since the earliest days of wildcatters.But today, officials say oilfield theft has grown into something far more organized, more dangerous and more costly.
Crawfish Season
Texas is the nation’s second-largest crawfish producer, behind Louisiana.
Despite a slow start to crawfish season this year, due to a late freeze, Texas farmers brought in a plentiful harvest as the state had its warmest winter on record since 1895.
Houston Public Media’s Natalie Weber tells us these warmer winters have caused a shift in when crawfish farmers begin their season.
