Jose Omar Flores-Penaloza was willing to admit that he had entered the United States illegally. He was ready to be deported, according to his attorneys. But federal prosecutors would not let him go last spring without making him answer for another crime — one he had never heard of. Weeks earlier, President Donald Trump, to address what he called a national emergency, ordered a stretch of…
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The idea of a “border crisis” has long been used by both Republicans and Democrats to justify harsh immigration policies. From Biden’s sweeping asylum processing restrictions intended to gain “control of our border,” to Trump’s near-total suspension of asylum processing predicated on a proclaimed “invasion” at the southern border, the playbook is nothing new. Whether you have believed that…
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As President Trump shakes up the leadership of his immigration crackdown in Minnesota following the killing of ICU nurse Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents, we examine the expanding role of the agency in interior enforcement. Independent journalist Todd Miller says the Trump administration’s immigration operations in U.S. cities are an “extension” of “policies and practices that we’ve been…
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As a child, Michelle Serrano would take trips to Boca Chica with her grandmother. From her home in Brownsville, the drive ran east through Texas wetlands and countryside before landing on miles of beach, stretching far down the Gulf Coast just above the U.S.-Mexico border. They’d spend the day there, swimming, laying out — which didn’t cost anything, unlike at South Padre Island to the north.
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Texas Republicans have been wary of unmanned aerial vehicles, with some even backing proposed laws to allow the citizenry to gun down invasive airborne drones. Now, thanks to years of Operation Lone Star, Governor Abbott’s multi-billion dollar border mission, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) is ushering in what might fairly be called the Drone Star State with an expansive fleet of…
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Immigrant justice advocates are worried that the Trump administration’s attempt to reinstate an asylum ban at the U.S.-Mexico border through an appeal at the Supreme Court will put asylum seekers in harm’s way. Asylum is a way for people to escape dangerous conditions such as violence, war, consequences from climate change, or persecution for their sexual orientation or gender identity.
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