Texas
5 things to know about Texas border policy
Texas has the longest border with Mexico of any U.S. state, sharing 1,254 miles with its southern neighbor – making it ground zero in the international fight over undocumented immigration.
The numbers of immigrants crossing the border that stretches from Brownsville to El Paso has dipped in recent months but broke records in 2023. The Republican-dominated state waged its own war — overseen by Gov. Greg Abbott — on illegal immigration and in opposition to the Democrat-backed policies of President Joe Biden.
Now, Abbott will announce a new border strategy at an event in Eagle Pass on Thursday.
Here are five key things to know about immigration in the state:
Texas spends billions on border security
Texas has funneled dollars into its own border security initiatives for nearly 20 years, starting with Operation Linebacker in 2005, Operation Rio Grande in 2006, and Operation Wrangler in 2007 – all funded with tens of millions in federal grants awarded through then-Gov. Rick Perry’s office.
In 2007, lawmakers allocated $110 million in state tax dollars to create Operation Border Star, which uses information sharing between federal, state and local law enforcement to bolster efforts along the border. By 2013, Texas had spent nearly half a billion in taxpayer money to supplement federal border programs.
Over the next decade, as Republicans tightened their grip on state leadership and undocumented immigration launched into the political spotlight, funding for border projects soared.
State lawmakers in 2023 allocated $4.6 billion for border security programs in local communities and across Texas.
Operation Lone Star has cost taxpayers $11 billion
Abbott launched Operation Lone Star in March 2021, deploying National Guard soldiers and state troopers to the border with Mexico to deter undocumented immigration.
The initiative included erecting barriers, stationing law enforcement along the border, busing migrants to other states and creating migrant-processing centers.
Operation Lone Star encompasses many of the aspects of its early predecessors and now serves as an umbrella strategy for efforts across several state agencies. Abbott now wants $2.9 billion to keep the program going through at least 2027.
Texas wants its money back from the feds
A proposal filed earlier this year by U.S. Rep. Roger Williams, R-Willow Park, would require the federal government to reimburse the state for its losses and expenses incurred during any border operations since 2020.
The federal government bears the responsibility of enforcing its international borders, mainly through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Department of Justice. The U.S. constitution authorizes the government to require citizenship to participate in its systems of democracy, which makes the feds the primary stewards of immigration into the country.
Williams and other state leaders argue, then, that the federal government owes Texas because it has failed to secure the Texas-Mexico border and cost state taxpayers money. Reimbursement should include expenses incurred by Operation Lone Star as well as potentially billions allocated to agencies such as the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas National Guard, according to the congressman’s proposal.
Texas is buying border land, bracing for proposed mass deportations
In November, officials unveiled a ranch in Rio Grande City that the state purchased on the Texas-Mexico border.
Texas officials offered it as a site for detention facilities to help the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump with proposed mass deportations. Portions of a border wall have already been built at the site.
Meanwhile, Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham has said the state is searching for additional land to aid the federal effort.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the Biden Administration over immigration
Paxton has gone to court to protect Abbott’s efforts to build a border wall and install buoys and razor wire in the Rio Grande River.
He challenged policies that conservatives say contribute to illegal immigration. He has successfully used the courts to halt immigration policies that included the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which allowed some undocumented immigrants who got to the U.S. while younger than 16 to work in the country, delaying deportation.
Texas
North Texas middle school closes after a norovirus outbreak
A middle school in the Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD is closed Friday after an outbreak of norovirus.
According to the school district, they closed Creekview Middle School in Fort Worth on Friday to sanitize and clean the building. The district said they plan on reopening the school on Monday.
The district said children started to get sick on Tuesday with what appeared to be a stomach virus and that on Wednesday it spread to a larger group.
EMSISD said they reached out to the Tarrant County Public Health Department and that they recommended disinfecting and cleaning the school on Wednesday night and reopening the next day.
More cases continued to be reported on Thursday, so the public health department then recommended that they clean again and close the campus on Friday.
Parents were notified of the district’s decision on Thursday afternoon.
The district has not said how many students and staff were sickened in the outbreak.
Officials with Children’s Medical Center said that because norovirus is highly contagious and resistant to many common hand sanitizers, it presents a unique challenge for families.
The hospital says hand sanitizer isn’t enough and recommends thorough hand washing with soap and water. They also recommend parents keep their children home for a full 48 hours after symptoms stop to prevent further outbreaks.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there are approximately 2,500 norovirus outbreaks in the United States each year and that they are most common from November through April. For further tips on preventing the spread of norovirus, visit the CDC.
Texas
Trump heads to Texas, where 3 friends are battling it out in the Senate Republican primary
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump just can’t seem to choose among friends in the Texas Senate Republican primary.
So when he travels to the state on Friday for his first post- State of the Union trip, where he plans to promote his energy and economic policies, Trump will have all three candidates in the competitive race join him — just days before his party casts ballots in the primary race.
Sen. John Cornyn is battling for his fifth term and is being challenged by state Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt in a primary fight that has become viciously personal. And all three men, missing the coveted endorsement from Trump, have been trying to highlight their ties to him as they ramp up their campaigning ahead of Tuesday’s vote.
For his part, Trump will be seeking to ride the message of his State of the Union address from Tuesday, where he declared a return to economic prosperity and a more secure America — two centerpiece arguments for Republicans as they campaign to keep their congressional majorities this fall.
Trump’s hesitation to endorse in the Texas Senate primary speaks to the tricky dynamics of the race.
Cornyn is unpopular with a segment of Texas’ GOP base, in part for his early dismissiveness of Trump’s 2024 comeback campaign and for his role in authoring tougher restrictions on guns after the 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. But Senate GOP leadership and allied groups see Cornyn as the stronger general election candidate, in light of a series of troubles that have shadowed Paxton.
Paxton beat impeachment on fraud charges in 2023, and has faced allegations of marital infidelity by his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, right, is joined by former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, left, during a campaign stop in Austin, Texas, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. Credit: AP/Eric Gay
Senate Majority Leader John Thune and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, have urged Trump to endorse Cornyn. They and allied campaign groups argue that the seat would cost the party hundreds of millions more to defend with Paxton as the candidate.
“It is a strong possibility we cannot hold Texas if John Cornyn is not our nominee,” Scott told Fox News on Wednesday.
Hunt, a second-term Houston-area representative, was a later entry to the race, but claims a kinship with Trump, having endorsed him early in the 2024 race. Hunt campaigned regularly for Trump and earned a prime-time speaking slot at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
If no candidate reaches 50% in Tuesday’s primary, the top two finishers will advance to a May 26 runoff.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, arrive before President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. Credit: AP/Allison Robbert
Cornyn’s campaign and a half-dozen allied groups have poured more than $63 million into the race since last fall, chiefly trying to slow Paxton but recently attacking Hunt in an effort to keep him from making it to the runoff.
Earlier this month, Trump feinted toward weighing in on the race when he said he was taking “a serious look” at endorsing in the Texas primary. He has since reaffirmed his neutrality.
Still, you wouldn’t know it from watching TV in Texas. Cornyn has been airing ads since last year touting his support for Trump’s agenda, even though his relationship with the president has been cool at times. Paxton and Hunt both have ads airing now featuring them standing with Trump.
“I like all three of them, actually. Those are the toughest races. They’ve all supported me. They’re all good. You’re supposed to pick one, so we’ll see what happens. But I support all three,” Trump said earlier this month.
The GOP battle comes as Democrats have a contested primary of their own in Texas between state Rep. James Talarico, a self-described policy wonk who regularly quotes the Bible, and progressive favorite U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett.
Trump hasn’t been shy about wading into other contested Republican primaries in the state. Parts of Corpus Christi fall within Texas’ 34th congressional district, where former Rep. Mayra Flores is fighting to reclaim her seat against the Trump-endorsed Eric Flores. (The two are not related.) The winner of the primary will face off against Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, long a target of the GOP, whose district was redrawn to make it easier for a Republican to win.
Eric Flores will be at the Trump event at the Port of Corpus Christi, which technically is located in a neighboring district.
Elsewhere in the state, the president has also endorsed Rep. Tony Gonzales, who is fighting calls from his own party to resign from Congress after reports of an alleged affair with a former staffer who later died after she set herself on fire. Gonzales is refusing to step down and has said that there will be “opportunities for all of the details and facts to come out” and that the stories about the situation do not represent “all the facts.”
Gonzales is facing a primary challenge from Brandon Herrera, a gun manufacturer and gun rights influencer who Gonzales defeated by fewer than 400 votes in their 2024 runoff. The White House did not return a request for comment on Thursday on whether Trump stands by his endorsement of Gonzales.
Texas
Man sentenced to 15 years in Texas crash that killed founding member of The Chicks
EL PASO, Texas (AP) — A man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after admitting his reckless driving caused a head-on collision in rural West Texas that killed Laura Lynch, a founding member of the country music group now known as The Chicks, prosecutors said.
Domenick Chavez, 33, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with Dec. 22, 2023, crash in Hudspeth County, according to a news release Tuesday from El Paso County District James Montoya, who also oversees nearby Hudspeth County.
The news release said Chavez was driving a truck westbound when he tried to pass four vehicles on a two-way undivided highway and collided head-on with Lynch’s eastbound truck. Lynch, 65, of Dell City, was trapped in her vehicle and died. Prosecutors said Chavez was traveling between 106 mph and 114 mph.
Prosecutors said alcohol wasn’t a factor in the crash but that Chavez was driving on a suspended license, which had been revoked due to his failure to comply with DWI-related surcharges and penalties from convictions in 2014 and 2017.
Lynch, along with Robin Lynn Macy and sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Strayer, formed The Dixie Chicks in the late 1980s. Lynch and Macy eventually left the band and Natalie Maines joined the sisters. The trio hit commercial fame with their breakthrough album “Wide Open Spaces” in 1998 and have won 13 Grammys. In 2020, the band changed its name to The Chicks.
In a social media post after Lynch’s death, The Chicks said Lynch had “infectious energy and humor” and was “instrumental” in the band’s early success.
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