Unalienable rights for U.S. citizens
Filing a lawsuit can be done by anyone through our U.S. court system. So we take very seriously the notion of someone, or some organization, suing a branch of our state’s government and whether to...
View ArticleDetention facilities — is holding families the solution?
At the Karnes County Residential Center 200 miles north of McAllen, where more than 400 immigrant women and children are being detained, a young woman sat on the floor of a gym against the wall crying...
View ArticleTransparency of our border needed
As the adjacent graphic shows, there has been substantial progress in some aspects of reforming our nation’s broken immigration system. It is in no way complete and we continue to lament the fact that...
View ArticleUS immigration reforms still sought
Another year has passed and the country is no closer to a solution. Another year has passed and one of the major voter concerns of the day has not been addressed. Another year has passed and...
View ArticleSafeguarding our nation’s humanity – Immigration raids in Texas and 2 states...
As 2016 dawned this weekend, the Obama administration suddenly began immigration sweeps in three states, including Texas, targeting families and those whose immigration appeals had been exhausted....
View ArticleRaids in 3 states – US courts must thoroughly review all deportee cases
Barely 32 hours after Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson on Monday announced immigration raids in three states, including Texas, the nation’s highest immigration court halted the deportations of...
View ArticleDon’t politicize DAPA immigration case
We applaud the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court this week to hear the controversial legal case emanating from Texas that challenged President Barack Obama’s authority to sign an executive order to...
View ArticleReform immigration law that lets Cubans walk into Texas
We all know that the Cold War has long waned and that the United States’ relationship with Cuba is markedly improved, even allowing the American flag to be flown in Havana at our newly opened embassy...
View ArticleAerial RGV surveillance of border is necessary
The recent decision by the Department of Homeland Security to reduce by nearly 50 percent the manpower for aerial surveillance of border patrol operations here does not seem to be prudent, nor has it...
View ArticleUS Cuban assistance program unfair as relations change
As President Barack Obama is in Havana this week meeting with Cuban President Raúl Castro in a historic first for a U.S. president in almost 90 years, it’s becoming clear to the world that relations...
View ArticleTraining US/Mexican border law officers at STC’s new public safety center
At last week’s signing of an interlocal agreement between the City of Pharr, PSJA ISD and South Texas College to build a much-anticipated South Texas College Regional Center for Public Safety...
View ArticleOn horse patrol in the RGV to catch immigrants and traffickers
On a wall in a musky, renovated barn in south Mission, just a few miles north of the Rio Grande, hang 40 well-worn leather horse saddles. Each saddle and blanket belongs to a different U.S. Border...
View ArticleImproving Border Patrol agent morale is top job for new agency head
Monday’s announcement that a former FBI official has been named head of the U.S. Border Patrol was met with skepticism. Some agency union officials staunchly felt a veteran insider should have been...
View ArticleBorder security funding secured
The allocation of $20.1 million from the Department of Homeland Security for fiscal 2016 grants for Texas local law enforcement agencies to continue to work with federal authorities on border security...
View ArticleEDITORIAL: US birth certificate case resolution should prevent Texas children...
We applaud the State of Texas, which has struck a deal with lawyers representing immigrant families from the Rio Grande Valley and has agreed to issue birth certificates to their U.S.-born children,...
View ArticleA ‘turning point’ for immigration detention reform?
Since the surge in illegal immigration began in 2014 on the Southwest border — resulting in the incarceration of thousands in immigration detention facilities — immigration advocates have been decrying...
View ArticleInviting DHS immigration advisory committee to South Texas
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson’s announcement this week that he has authorized a review of for-profit immigration detention facilities and contracts, signals what may be a major turning point...
View ArticleFBI proof that our border is safe
There is a very important link at the top right corner of this page (and at the end of this editorial) to newly released FBI statistics on border crimes, which we wish our entire region — and the rest...
View ArticleDAPA case unheard by unfilled Supreme Court
Proponents of President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents program (otherwise known as “DAPA”), as well as an expansion of the existing Deferred...
View ArticleLifting up little spirits at Sacred Heart’s Humanitarian Respite Center
As another wave of weary immigrants entered the Sacred Heart Humanitarian Respite Center in downtown McAllen on Wednesday afternoon, volunteer Carolyn Thalman, of the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance...
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