Texas

Pillen visits Texas again, pledges more border help at Nebraska’s expense | Nebraska Examiner

Published

2 years ago

February 4, 2024

Pillen visits Texas again, pledges more border help at Nebraska’s expense | Nebraska Examiner

LINCOLN — Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen joined more than a dozen other Republican governors in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Sunday, pledging continued state taxpayer support for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s months-long dispute with President Joe Biden over border security.

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen listens to a briefing near Eagle Pass, Texas, from Gov. Greg Abbott on Sunday. (Courtesy of Nebraska Governor’s Office)

Presidents of both parties have struggled to curb illegal border crossings between the United States and Mexico. Republicans in recent years have made a tradition of raising the political temperature along the nation’s Southern border during election years. The latest wrinkle under Abbott has been seeking unreimbursed help from other red-state governors.

Pillen has already spent $1 million in state funds on deploying drone pilots from the Nebraska State Patrol and 61 members of the Nebraska National Guard to South Texas. He has said he would dip into federal pandemic relief funds to offset the costs to state taxpayers but acknowledged that Nebraskans are footing part of the bill.

On Sunday, he pledged more state help for Texas but didn’t say what type. He said he still needs to meet with National Guard leaders, the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency and State Patrol leadership to see what’s needed and what’s feasible.

He and other GOP governors who have participated in Abbott’s “Operation Lone Star” say they are trying to help stem the tide of illegal crossings, which ramped up to record numbers after dipping unusually low during the COVID-19 pandemic, with its tighter restrictions. In all, 25 GOP governors have committed to help Texas, Abbott said.

Why Nebraska says it is sending people

Pillen and leaders with the State Patrol have said their efforts help reduce the number of people and illegal substances being trafficked across the border. They say both end up in Nebraska and other states with disastrous consequences for people and public safety. They often point to illegal fentanyl imports and the drug’s role as a top killer of young people.

President Joe Biden, joined by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, delivers remarks on the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel in the State Dining Room of the White House on Oct. 10, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

“We’re a border state even though we’re in the middle of the United States,” Pillen said Sunday. “We want to help secure the border.”

Pillen, in an interview after a 90-minute briefing with Abbott and the Texas Department of Public Safety, said what the governors are doing isn’t political. One of the speakers Abbott featured was Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, chairman of the Republican Governors Association. Pillen attended but did not speak during Abbott’s press conference.

Costs of immigration rhetoric

Local Latino critics of Pillen’s approach, including the League of United Latin American Citizens of Nebraska, have said he and other elected leaders in the state unnecessarily increase negative feelings toward all Nebraska Latinos, not just immigrants without documentation.

They say he hurts some residents’ faith in law enforcement by pandering to conservative audiences with his immigration rhetoric for political gain.

Elsa Aranda of Omaha, the group’s local president, said she is disappointed by the constant emphasis on the immigration issue by elected leaders in Nebraska without pressure for solutions.

“This is hurting people like me, people at my church, people who work,” she said.

Joe Henry, a regional director of LULAC s in neighboring Iowa, said the GOP governors are doing “political grandstanding.”

Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump participates in a Fox News Town Hall on Jan. 10, 2024, in Des Moines. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Henry said if the governors are really serious about addressing border security, they ought to be telling the congressional delegation to support the immigration plan the Senate is working out. It reportedly would speed up the asylum-seeking process, streamline the process for securing work permits and give the president the authority to shut down the border if enough people cross.

House GOP leaders have expressed skepticism about the prospects for a deal.

“This is spending state tax dollars to play politics at the border while at the same time Congress has worked out a bipartisan deal at the border,” Henry said.

Possible Senate deal, or not

Immigration rhetoric has ramped up again in recent weeks, after former President Donald Trump, campaigning for the presidency, has publicly opposed a potential deal with Senate negotiators to improve presidential authority to tamp down on border crossings and deport people rather than capturing them and releasing them until their court date.

Abbott’s disagreement with the Biden administration has escalated into a court fight over whether a state can defy federal authority over the border. Abbott has drawn criticism from migrant advocates for adding buoys and razor wire to the Rio Grande River and restoring barriers the feds have removed for environmental and safety reasons, among others.

Abbott defended the razor wire near Eagle Pass, saying it contributed to a sharp decline in crossings, from 3,000 or 4,000 a day to about three a day recently. (The port of entry at Eagle Pass has seen crossings drop into the hundreds, according to the Associated Press.) Others argued that the cartels have simply shifted their crossing points.

Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford speaks with reporters outside the U.S. Capitol about border policy negotiations on Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023. (Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)

The Supreme Court ruled the Border Patrol could cut the razor wire, but Texas reinstalled it. Texas also has restricted the Border Patrol’s use of a riverfront park in Eagle Pass. The razor wire drew national attention last month after a mother and her two children drowned in the river. Abbott has said the Biden administration is responsible and pledged to expand the use of the wire.

He and other GOP governors say the feds need to work harder to dissuade more people from coming. Abbott and Pillen said Sunday the administration has made things worse than they were under Trump.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said the State of Texas and border agents had stopped 169 people from entering the country who were on the terror watch list in 2023.

Abbott’s legal fight has, in some instances, pushed border patrol agents off certain Texas land, citing a provision in the Constitution allowing states to protect themselves. Most legal scholars argue the federal government has primacy over immigration enforcement. Abbott and other red-state governors have drawn criticism for busing migrants to blue-led states.

“We’re here to send a loud and clear message that we are banding together to fight to ensure … that states will be able to defend against any type of imminent danger or invasion,” Abbott said Sunday, adding later. “Joe Biden, it’s your turn now.”

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Texas

Arizona State transfer RB Raleek Brown commits to Texas

Published

6 hours ago

January 8, 2026

Press Room

Arizona State transfer RB Raleek Brown commits to Texas

Recruiting a running back out of the NCAA transfer portal wasn’t clean and simple after the winter window opened last week, but the Texas Longhorns were able to land a huge commitment from Arizona State transfer Raleek Brown on Thursday.

The 5’9, 196-pounder has one season of eligibility remaining.

Texas offered Brown out of Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana (Calif.) when he was a top-100 prospect in the 2022 recruiting class. A consensus four-star prospect ranked as the No. 3 running back nationally in the 247Sports Composite rankings, Brown committed to home-state USC without taking any other official visits.

Brown’s career with the Trojans didn’t go as planned, however — after flashing as a freshman with 227 yards on 42 carries (5.4 avg) with three touchdowns and 16 receptions for 175 yards (10.97 avg) and three touchdowns, Brown moved to wide receiver as a sophomore and only appeared in two games, recording three catches for 16 yards and a touchdown.

Wanting to play running back again, Brown transferred to Arizona State in 2024, but was limited by a hamstring injury to 48 yards of total offense.

In 2025, though, Brown finally had his breakout season with 186 carries for 1,141 yards and four touchdowns, adding 34 receptions for 239 yards and two touchdowns. Brown forced 53 missed tackles last season, 67 percent of the total missed tackles forced by Texas running backs, and more than half of his rushing yardage came after contact.

Brown ran a sub 4.5 40-yard dash and sub-11 100-meter dash in high school and flashed that explosiveness with runs of 75 yards and 88 yards in 2025, so Brown brings the speed that the Longhorns need with 31 yards over 10 yards, as well as proven route-running and pass-catching ability.

At Arizona State, the scheme leaned towards gap runs, but Brown has the skill set to be an excellent outsize zone back if Texas head coach Steve Sarksian decides that he wants to major in that scheme once again.

With one running back secured from the portal, the question becomes whether Sarkisian and new running backs coach Jabbar Juluke want to add a big-bodied back to the roster or are comfortable with rising redshirt sophomore Christian Clark and incoming freshman Derrek Cooper handling that role.

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Texas leaders react to fatal ICE shooting in Minneapolis

Published

18 hours ago

January 8, 2026

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Texas leaders react to fatal ICE shooting in Minneapolis

article

Texas lawmakers are lighting up social media with opinions about the fatal shooting of a woman in a car in Minneapolis by an ICE officer on Wednesday morning.

Reports from officers differ drastically from those of uninvolved eyewitnesses — the official DHS stance is self-defense against a “domestic terrorist,” while bystanders tell a story of an innocent woman trying to leave peacefully.

The political internet arena Texas is divided along party lines. Republicans generally condemn Minnesota leaders’ reactions to the shooting, while Democrats are calling for ICE to be investigated for the possible murder of a civilian by an anonymous officer.

Texas Republicans react

Among the most vocal of the Texas GOP members after Wednesday’s shooting, U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Houston) was quick to question Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey’s dismay at the incident. Hunt posted the following to X, formerly Twitter:

“We’ve hit a breaking point in this country when an ICE officer is rammed by a lunatic in an SUV and the Mayor of Minneapolis responds not with condemnation, but by telling federal law enforcement to “get the f*ck out!”

UNITED STATES – JANUARY 22: Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, leaves a meeting of the House Republican Conference at the Capitol Hill Club on Wednesday, January 22, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Hunt, currently in the running for U.S. Senate, later reposted a Fox News video of Gov. Tim Walz’ reaction. Hunt compared Walz to Jefferson Davis before posting a full statement later in the evening that reads, in part, as follows:

“The radical left isn’t turning the temperature down, they’re cranking it to 450 degrees. When leaders normalize this kind of rhetoric, the outcome isn’t hypothetical. It’s dangerous. It’s reckless. And it puts lives at risk. If violence follows, responsibility doesn’t belong to the officers enforcing the law, it belongs to the politicians who lit the fuse.”

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz was more to the point with his criticism of Minnesota leaders, reposting a different video of Walz and referencing the recent fraud scandal within the state.

Walz in the video said Minnesota is “at war with the federal government.” Cruz replied, “Is that why y’all stole $9 billion?”

Texas Democrats react

The other side:

State Rep. James Talarico (D-Austin), another candidate for the same U.S. Senate seat as Hunt, rang in from the other side of the aisle.

“At our town hall last night, I called for a full investigation into ICE,” Talarico said in his post on X. “Today, an ICE agent shot and killed a civilian. We should haul these masked men before Congress so the world can see their faces.”

State Representative James Talarico, a Democrat from Texas and US Senate candidate, during a campaign event in Houston, Texas, US, on Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025. Talarico is jumping into the Democratic primary for US Senate in Texas, taking on a former

Former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, yet another Senate hopeful, also expressed his ire for the actions in Minneapolis.

“As a civil rights attorney, I’m outraged by today’s ICE shooting in Minnesota that took a woman’s life,” Allred said on X. “No family should lose a loved one this way. No community should live in this fear. ICE has become a rogue agency — operating recklessly, terrorizing communities, and now taking lives. To every community terrorized by these tactics: I see you. I stand with you. And I won’t stop fighting until you’re safe.”

Minneapolis fatal ICE shooting

The backstory:

An ICE agent fatally shot 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis on Wednesday morning.

Federal officials are claiming the agent acted in self-defense, but Minnesota leaders disagree. The shooting happened around 9:30 a.m. in the area of East 34th Street and Portland Avenue. The woman died at the hospital.

Witnesses told FOX Local that a woman got into a red vehicle and there was one ICE agent on either side of the vehicle trying to get in, and a third ICE agent came and tried to yank on the driver’s side door. One of the agents on the driver’s side door backed away, and then opened fire, shooting three times through the driver’s side window, witnesses said. One witness said the vehicle wasn’t moving toward the agents. However, federal officials said ICE officers were “conducting targeted operations” when “rioters” blocked officers. One of the “rioters weaponized her vehicle, attempting to run over law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them.”

Officials said an ICE officer who was “fearing for his life” fired “defensive shots” to save himself and his officers, killing the woman.

A video of the shooting shows a red Honda Pilot blocking the roadway as an ICE squad approaches. When agents approach the vehicle, the Pilot attempts to drive away, moving towards an agent. When that happens, the agent fires three shots at the driver. Police say the driver was struck in the head. The agent appears to mostly avoid the vehicle as it speeds past and ends up crashing into a parked vehicle.

The Source: Information in this report comes from public statements made by Texas lawmakers on social media. Background comes from FOX 9 coverage in Minneapolis.

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Texas investigations into Charlie Kirk posts spark free-speech lawsuit

Published

1 day ago

January 7, 2026

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Texas investigations into Charlie Kirk posts spark free-speech lawsuit

A Texas teachers union has sued the state over what it said was a trampling of educators’ free speech rights when hundreds came under investigation for their comments after the killing of Charlie Kirk.

The Texas branch of the American Federation of Teachers filed the federal lawsuit against the Texas Education Agency and its commissioner Mike Morath on Jan. 6, the union said. The suit claims investigations into at least 350 teachers after Kirk’s death were “unlawful” and that a letter issued by Morath to superintendents around the state targeting “reprehensible and inappropriate content on social media” prompted punishment and retaliation against teachers.

Kirk, 31, was fatally shot on Sept. 10, 2025, while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. The cofounder of Turning Point USA, a conservative youth-focused organization, Kirk was a close ally of President Donald Trump. Shooting suspect Tyler Robinson has been charged with his murder.

After Kirk’s death, a wave of backlash came in response to online posts condemning his views or otherwise criticizing him. Right-leaning public figures and prominent social media accounts called for firings of people whose posts they deemed inappropriate.

Morath’s letter on Sept. 12 directed superintendents to report “inappropriate conduct being shared” to the Texas Education Agency’s Educator Investigations Division, which investigates teachers for allegations of misconduct, the Texas AFT said in its suit, which was reviewed by USA TODAY. The union said teachers were investigated not for speech made in classrooms, but for posts made on their personal, often private social media pages.

“In the months since, the consequences for our members have run the gamut from written reprimands and administrative leave to doxxing and termination from their jobs,” AFT Vice President and Texas Chapter President Zeph Capo said at a news conference.

The Texas Education Agency didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Jan. 7.

Lawsuit claims teachers were disciplined for exercising free speech

The lawsuit filed by the Texas AFT claims that teachers in public schools have a constitutionally protected right to free speech, and that their speech in their personal capacity, such as on social media, is protected. The suit claims that teachers’ rights were violated when they were investigated or faced disciplinary action for their posts about Kirk. It also alleges that the policy to report teachers for “inappropriate” content was unfairly vague.

“These teachers were disciplined solely for their speech, without any regard to whether the posts disrupted school operations in any way,” the lawsuit reads.

Teachers whose cases are mentioned in the lawsuit were kept anonymous, Capo said, to protect them from further harassment. Many teachers are fearful to express any more opinions, effectively silencing their speech, he said.

One of the teachers, who made a post described in the lawsuit as one that “simply raised questions about the circumstances of Mr. Kirk’s death and did not promote violence in any way,” was shared by a lawmaker who used it as part of an election campaign and called for the teacher’s dismissal. The high school English teacher, who has taught for 27 years, was placed on administrative leave and later fired. She settled a wrongful termination claim with the school district, the lawsuit said.

Another teacher of 16 years and a military veteran who previously won “Teacher of the Year” in his school district and made posts criticizing Kirk for his views on Black Americans is under an ongoing investigation by the state agency, the lawsuit said.

“We denounced Charlie Kirk’s assassination, we denounced violence after Uvalde. We denounce violence,” said AFT President Randi Weingarten. “What happened in the next few days (after Kirk’s killing), wasn’t about violence or denouncing violence, it was about muzzling the expression of constitutionally protected nonviolent speech.”

Dozens lost jobs over posts about Kirk

In the wake of Kirk’s death in September, USA TODAY counted dozens of examples of people who lost their jobs, were suspended or investigated over posts or comments they made about the conservative podcaster, including educators, lawyers, doctors, first responders and others.

They include a dean at Middle Tennessee State, Laura Sosh-Lightsy, who was fired for a social media post saying she had “zero sympathy” for Kirk; a Marine who called Kirk a “racist man” who was “popped”; and Jimmy Kimmel, whose ABC show was temporarily suspended after he made comments about Kirk.

Some educators who lost their jobs filed lawsuits alleging their free speech rights were violated. A teacher in Iowa who compared Kirk to a Nazi; a South Carolina teacher’s assistant who posted a Kirk quote and said she disagreed with him but called the death a “tragedy”; and an employee of an Indiana university who said Kirk’s death was wrong and condemned some of his beliefs all filed suits on free speech, according to reporting from the USA TODAY Network. Each case kicked up a flurry of social media outrage and calls for the educators’ firings.

In Tennessee, a tenured theater professor at Austin Peay State University was reinstated after originally being fired for comments he made online after Kirk’s killing, the Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY Network, recently reported.

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