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DOJ backs Texas in Supreme Court fight over Republican-drawn map

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DOJ backs Texas in Supreme Court fight over Republican-drawn map

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The Department of Justice threw its support behind Texas on Monday, arguing the new map the state’s Republican-led legislature approved was not an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.

Solicitor General John Sauer, who represents the Trump administration, wrote in an amicus brief that a lower court’s decision to block the map through the 2026 midterms was wrong and that the Supreme Court should intervene and reverse the decision.

“This is not a close case,” Sauer wrote.

TEXAS FILES EMERGENCY SUPREME COURT PETITION AFTER TRUMP-BACKED CONGRESSIONAL MAP BLOCKED BY FEDERAL JUDGES

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D. John Sauer, Trump’s former attorney, will serve as U.S. solicitor general in the Trump administration. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Sauer said the lower court misunderstood what drove the Texas legislature to shift five districts in favor of Republicans. He said the move was not based on race, which could violate federal voting laws and the Constitution.

“There is overwhelming evidence — both direct and circumstantial — of partisan objectives, and any inference that the State inexplicably chose to use racial means is implausible,” Sauer wrote.

Sauer also defended a letter Civil Rights Division head Harmeet Dhillon wrote to Texas this year demanding that it address “coalition districts” that favor Democrats, which the challengers to the map have seized on as evidence of race-based motives. Days after the letter, Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, added redistricting to the legislature’s agenda, leading to a stunning boycott in which state Democrats temporarily fled the state.

The lower court “misinterpreted the letter’s meaning; and more importantly, the court misunderstood the letter’s significance to the legislature’s adoption of the 2025 map,” Sauer said.

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The plaintiffs in the case, who include numerous voting and immigrant rights groups, argued that Dhillon’s letter demanded dismantling the coalition districts and packing Black and Latino voters into other districts.

“The DOJ letter, riddled with legal and factual errors, incorrectly asserted that these districts were ‘unconstitutional coalition districts’ that Texas was required to ‘rectify’ by changing their racial makeup,” the plaintiffs’ attorneys wrote.

REAGAN-APPOINTED JUDGE TORCHES COLLEAGUES IN TEXAS MAP FIGHT

Sen. Phil King displays a map during a Special Committee on Congressional Redistricting public testimony hearing on Aug. 7, 2025 in Austin, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Texas’ mid-cycle redistricting dispute is one of several that have cropped up across the country as President Donald Trump stares down the possibility of losing an acquiescent Republican-led House in 2026. California voted in favor of an eleventh-hour ballot measure that would cancel out the five Republican gains in Texas. Utah’s map has changed in favor of Democrats, Virginia has taken steps to redraw its map and Louisiana’s is pending before the Supreme Court.

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The DOJ recently sued Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, over California’s redistricting efforts, arguing that unlike in Texas, those were unconstitutionally race-based.

Texas has asked the Supreme Court to pause the three-judge panel’s ruling in the Western District of Texas that found 2-1 last week that race was too much of a factor in its redraw. 

“This summer, the Texas Legislature did what legislatures do: politics,” Texas’ attorneys argued in their request, disputing all notions that the redistricting process used race as a factor.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is seen on Nov. 14, 2025 in Midlothian, Texas.  (Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)

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In a lengthy and wild tirade, Judge Jerry Brown, a Reagan appointee and the lone dissenter, called the three-judge panel’s decision the “most blatant exercise of judicial activism” he had ever seen and a work of “fiction.”

Justice Samuel Alito has administratively paused the panel’s ruling, but the Supreme Court could now make a more lasting decision on the map at any time. Texas lawyers have also argued the high court should block the panel’s decision because it interfered with the 2026 midterms, for which candidates were already filing to run based on the new map.

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ICE head says agents facing ‘constant impediments’ after migrant seen ramming cars while trying to flee

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ICE head says agents facing ‘constant impediments’ after migrant seen ramming cars while trying to flee

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Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons argued on Tuesday that federal immigration agents are facing “constant impediments” and “constant attacks” after video showed a suspected illegal migrant in San Antonio ramming cars in an attempt to flee.

The video shows the migrant in a car ramming into vehicles that were blocking them in from the front and the back, as the individual attempted to evade arrest.

During an appearance on Fox News’ “Hannity,” Lyons was asked if rhetoric from Democrats criticizing ICE can be tied to incidents like these.

REP RO KHANNA DEMANDS PROSECUTION OF ICE AGENT IN MINNEAPOLIS SHOOTING

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Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons argued that federal immigration agents are facing “constant impediments” and “constant attacks.” (Reuters/Leah Millis)

“When we hear elected officials calling upon individuals to impede or obstruct ICE law enforcement operations nationwide, you’re going to see incidents like this,” Lyons responded. “You saw the officers and agents attempting to apprehend a criminally illegal alien, and there they are using their car as a weapon.”

Lyons said one of the agents went to a hospital with neck injuries after their vehicle was struck in the incident.

“Every day, this is what the men and women of ICE are facing,” he claimed. “It’s constant impediments, constant attacks like this. And it’s not safe for my folks, it’s not safe for the public. It really needs to stop.”

He also purported that “criminal gangs” are organizing groups to impede or obstruct immigration enforcement operations.

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New video shows a migrant in a car ramming into vehicles that were blocking them in from the front and the back, as the individual attempted to evade arrest. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

“It’s a constitutional right to go out there and protest. But when you have organized criminal gangs, which these are, that are organizing these groups to, again, impede or obstruct law enforcement operations … that’s a criminal act. I will tell you that Homeland Security investigations, my folks, the FBI, we’re investigating these and people can be held accountable because you can’t organize groups to go out and impede law enforcement. It’s a criminal act, and we have to act swiftly to prevent this from spreading,” he said.

Lyons was also asked about recent comments from Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, who vowed to prosecute any ICE agent who commits unlawful acts during operations in the city while stressing that his threat does not apply to “honest, decent, moral” agents.

“The men and women of ICE, the men and women of HSI, they’re not committing any crimes,” Lyons argued. “So he doesn’t have to worry about arresting any of my folks, because what we’re doing is we’re enforcing the law. We are out there every day making this nation and his city safe again. So he shouldn’t worry about the men and women of ICE. What he should worry about is the sanctuary policies that have these criminal aliens go back to his neighborhoods and commit heinous crimes like fentanyl trafficking, human trafficking, rape of a child. He should focus on those and let law enforcement do law enforcement work.”

PHOTOS RELEASED OF RENEE NICOLE GOOD, THE US CITIZEN KILLED BY ICE IN MINNESOTA

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Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said one of the agents went to a hospital with neck injuries after their vehicle was struck in the incident. (Christopher Dilts/Getty Images)

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This comes on the heels of a recent incident in Minnesota, where Renee Nicole Good, a U.S. citizen, was fatally shot by masked ICE agent Jonathan Ross, who fired into the driver’s windshield and open window from the side of the vehicle and subsequently exclaimed “f—ing b—-” as the car crashed into another parked vehicle.

Democrats and local residents have condemned the shooting as a murder and called for Ross’ prosecution, while the Trump administration and Republican lawmakers have defended the incident by arguing that it was a justified shooting.

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WATCH: Horse-mounted officers capture previously deported child predator at border

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WATCH: Horse-mounted officers capture previously deported child predator at border

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Horse-mounted Texas Department of Public Safety officers captured a previously deported illegal alien child predator close to the border.

In a statement Tuesday, the state agency said officers from its Border Mounted Patrol Unit made “multiple” illegal immigrant apprehensions on New Year’s Day as part of an effort called Operation Lone Star.

The agency said the operation took place in Maverick County along the U.S. border with Mexico, just south of the town of Del Rio, Texas.

Among those arrested by Texas DPS officers was Marcio Steven Izaguirre, a 41-year-old Honduran illegal alien and child predator, according to the agency. DPS shared body camera video of the arrest in which horse-riding troopers discovered Izaguirre hiding in thick desert brush.

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VIDEO SHOWS 23 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FOUND HIDDEN IN TRUCK CAB DURING TENSE TRAFFIC STOP: POLICE

Mounted Texas DPS officers arrested Marcio Steven Izaguirre, a 41-year-old Honduran illegal alien and child predator, on New Year’s Day. (Courtesy of Texas Department of Public Safety)

The video shows two mounted troopers riding quickly through rocky desert terrain and eventually discovering Izaguirre. The officers shouted commands for Izaguirre to exit the brush and handcuffed him and led him away in front of their horses.

The agency said it was alerted to the illegal’s presence by a drawbridge camera set off on a private ranch around 10:30 a.m. New Year’s Day.

DPS said, through further investigation, troopers learned that Izaguirre was a previously deported felon with multiple deportations dating back to 2004. The agency said Izaguirre also has a lengthy criminal history, including convictions from 2008 for furnishing alcohol to a minor, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and child molestation out of Cobb County, Georgia.

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TWO ARRESTED AFTER DOZENS OF GUNS, INCLUDING ‘COP-KILLER’ MODEL, FOUND IN SPARE TIRE AT SOUTHERN BORDER: DPS

In 2025, Adan Delgado-Ortega was captured hiding in brush after crossing illegally into Texas with multiple deportations since 1998 and convictions for assault and weapons charges. (Texas Department of Public Safety)

The agency said it has since referred Izaguirre to U.S. Border Patrol.

Lt. Chris Olivarez, a Texas DPS spokesperson, said in an X post Jan. 1 that mounted officers, along with Border Patrol and aided by K-9 “Bona,” apprehended five illegal immigrants on New Year’s Day.

Olivarez said the operation prevented gotaways and was a way of “keeping Texas safe.”

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TEXAS WOMAN TRIES TO FLEE TO MEXICO ACROSS RIO GRANDE WITH INFANT AFTER HUMAN SMUGGLING BUST, AUTHORITIES SAY

Texas law enforcement patrols the border between the U.S. and Mexico. (Fox News)

Texas makes up well over half of the U.S. border with Mexico, around 1,254 miles. It is the only southern border state to explicitly ban sanctuary jurisdictions. Texas also requires state and local law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

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Texas law also mandates that local sheriffs cooperate with federal immigration enforcement by seeking to enter federal 287(g) agreements under the federal Immigration and Nationality Act.

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Uvalde trial halted after key witness changes testimony

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Uvalde trial halted after key witness changes testimony

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The trial of a former Uvalde, Texas, school police officer accused of not doing more to save lives in the 2022 shooting that left 21 dead was halted after a key witness reportedly changed her testimony. 

Adrian Gonzales has pleaded not guilty to 29 counts of child abandonment or endangerment following the attack at Robb Elementary. He could be sentenced to a maximum of two years in prison if he’s convicted, prosecutors said.   

Former teacher Stephanie Hale testified on Tuesday that she saw the shooter on the south side of the campus, the same area where Gonzales was located, according to Texas Public Radio. 

However, defense attorneys objected, arguing her testimony was different compared to statements Hale made to a Texas Ranger during a 2022 investigation when she placed the shooter closer to Gonzales than previously indicated, the outlet added. 

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TRIAL UNDERWAY FOR FORMER UVALDE SCHOOL POLICE OFFICER ACCUSED OF SLOW RESPONSE TO SHOOTING

Former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales leaves the courtroom during a break at the Nueces County Courthouse in Corpus Christi, Texas, on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (Eric Gay/AP)

The jury in the trial was then dismissed until Thursday as attorneys are preparing arguments on motions related to Hale’s testimony, the report said. The judge in the case is expected to hear those arguments on Wednesday, and the defense has raised the possibility of a mistrial, Texas Public Radio also reported. 

Gonzales, who was among the first to respond to the attack, arrived while the teenage assailant was still outside the building. The officer allegedly did not make a move, even when a teacher pointed out the direction of the shooter, special prosecutor Bill Turner said Tuesday during opening statements in the trial.  

Former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales, right, and his attorney Nico LaHood, left, arrive in the courtroom at the Nueces County Courthouse in Corpus Christi, Texas, on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (Eric Gay/AP)

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The officer only went inside Robb Elementary minutes later “after the damage had been done,” Turner said. 

FORMER UVALDE SCHOOL POLICE CHIEF, OFFICER INDICTED OVER RESPONSE TO ELEMENTARY MASS SHOOTING

“When you hear gunshots, you go to the gunfire,” Turner added, noting that Gonzales, a 10-year veteran of the police force, had extensive active shooter training. 

Attorney Nico LaHood makes opening arguments during a trial for former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (Eric Gay/AP)

An indictment accused Gonzales of putting children in “imminent danger” of injury or death by failing to engage, distract or delay the shooter and by not following his training. The allegations also said he did not go toward the gunfire despite hearing shots and being told the shooter’s location. 

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Gonzales’ attorneys disputed accusations that he did nothing at what they called a chaotic scene, saying that he helped evacuate children as other police arrived.

Adrian Gonzales, a former police officer for schools in Uvalde, Texas. At right is a memorial dedicated to the 19 children and two adults killed on May 24, 2022, during a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. (Uvalde County Sheriff’s Office/AP/Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

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“The government makes it want to seem like he just sat there,” defense attorney Nico LaHood said on Tuesday. “He did what he could, with what he knew at the time.” 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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