Texas Tribune Audio

The governor’s comments come after reports emerged of a two-page fundraising mailer that warned of a liberal plan to "to transform Texas — and our entire country — through illegal immigration." www.texastribune.org

So far, federal agencies have managed to erect about 60 miles of replacement barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump’s determination to build the barriers as quickly as possible has not diminished his interest in the aesthetic aspects of the project, particularly the requirement that the looming steel barriers be painted black and topped with sharpened tips. Plus, local, state and federal officials convene in El Paso for the second and final meeting of the Texas Safety Commission – the panel Gov. Greg Abbott created to devise policy solutions in the wake of the deadly mass shooting in the border town earlier this month. www.texastribune.org

The white suspect in the racist massacre told El Paso police he picked up the legally purchased gun from a Dallas-area store. Experts say guns imported from overseas are often cheaper than ones originating in the U.S. www.texastribune.org

Hoping to avoid an undercount of thousands Hispanic and black Texans, Dallas, Harris and Hidalgo counties believe getting children engaged can bring families to participate in the 2020 census. www.texastribune.org

The pastor, Frank Pomeroy, said Sunday he will run as a Republican for District 21, currently held by Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo. www.texastribune.org

A federal court ruled last week that the U.S. government could reject asylum seekers who failed to seek protection in other countries first — but only applied the ruling to Texas and New Mexico. Will that push migrants to try their luck in Arizona and California? Plus, the Trump administration moves to terminate court agreement, hold migrant children and parents longer. The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services will issue a new rule Friday to withdraw from the Flores Settlement Agreement, the federal consent decree that has set basic standards for the detention of migrant children and teens since 1997. www.texastribune.org

The other Texan running for president, Beto O’Rourke, has already qualified for the Houston debate. www.texastribune.org

Ruth Ruggero Hughs replaces David Whitley, who failed to receive Senate confirmation after his office questioned the voter eligibility of thousands of naturalized citizens. www.texastribune.org

One House lawmaker is resigning from a key post amid allegations of targeting Republicans and – across the aisle – a long-time Democrat has announced an early retirement. Plus, a look at whether the billions of dollars more that Texas put into schools to raise teachers’ pay and improve pre-K programs will be enough to help one high-poverty district, in San Antonio, turn a corner. And after losing his wife in a mass shooting, one man invited all El Pasoans to her funeral. Hundreds showed up. www.texastribune.org

The spending in the traditionally red state is raising questions about whether he's simply shoring up his support — or treating Texas as potentially up for grabs in 2020. www.texastribune.org

After May's 40 homicides, Gov. Greg Abbott deployed state troopers to Dallas. Despite some drops in violent crimes, city officials say they've done more harm than good. Meanwhile, there's still no consensus on what's driving the increase as victims' families are left to grapple with grief. www.texastribune.org

The ad speaks to President Donald Trump directly — linking his rhetoric toward immigrants and people of color to that of the shooter in El Paso who killed 22 and left more than two dozen wounded. www.texastribune.org

Two new laws will free up alcohol access in Texas starting Sept. 1. Certain breweries will now be allowed to sell their suds to go, and more restaurants will be able to deliver beer and wine to customers. But first, state lawmakers have asked the Texas Rangers to investigate allegations against House Speaker Dennis Bonnen. At issue is whether Bonnen, an Angleton Republican, and state Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, offered hardline conservative activist Michael Quinn Sullivan media credentials for his organization in exchange for politically targeting a list of fellow GOP members in the 2020 primaries. www.texastribune.org

A conservative political activist accused Republican House Speaker Dennis Bonnen of making a deal at a June meeting to target 10 GOP lawmakers. Bonnen has denied the allegations, but several Texas House members who have heard a recording of the meeting in his office support the activist's account. www.texastribune.org

Migrants have been bused to Monterrey and, they say, Chiapas under an ever-changing and often brutal “remain in Mexico” program. The policy is being carried out up and down the border by the Trump Administration in a controversial partnership with the Mexican government. www.texastribune.org

In the wake of shootings in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio, the president and Congress are discussing laws blocking access to firearms for people considered an imminent threat. But here in Texas, bills that would do that have made little traction. www.texastribune.org

Several Democratic officials have urged Trump not to visit El Paso, a city of about 683,000 with a largely Latino population, in the aftermath of Saturday’s anti-immigrant attack at a Walmart Supercenter that left 22 dead. www.texastribune.org

The number of fatalities from the massacre is nearing the total number of homicides the border city experienced in all of 2018. FBI officials, meanwhile, say they fear potential copycat shootings. www.texastribune.org

A mass shooting at a Walmart in this border city killed 20 people and left more than two dozen others injured Saturday, and police arrested a 21-year-old North Texas man who they said may have written a manifesto revealing that the crime was racially motivated. Land Commissioner George P. Bush linked the shooting with "white terrorism," while U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz called it a "heinous act of terrorism and white supremacy." Police say the suspect is a white male in his 20s from the Dallas area who was arrested without incident. Police are investigating whether it was a hate crime. www.texastribune.org

President Trump's recent racist comments had weighed on Hurd, the last black Republican in the U.S. House. He was the only Texas Republican who voted to condemn Trump's recent racist comments about four congresswomen. www.texastribune.org

Several Democrats put the former vice president on the defensive. But Castro landed one of the most personal blows as he criticized Biden's stance on immigration. The stakes were high for the Texan, who has yet to qualify for the next debate. www.texastribune.org

O'Rourke was most confident when bringing up his home state and his near victory in the 2018 Senate race in making his case for electability. www.texastribune.org

The second round of Democratic presidential primary debates get underway Tuesday in Detroit. www.texastribune.org

President Donald Trump is said to have been pleased by the Texas Republican's admonishment of former special counsel Robert Mueller in last week's House Judiciary Committee hearing. www.texastribune.org

O'Malley Dillon is building a conventional campaign around an unconventional candidate, and some Democrats say she's O'Rourke's best hope. www.texastribune.org

The panel ruled that such an action wasn't warranted, though it previously ruled that state lawmakers discriminated against voters of color when they first drew new maps in 2011. www.texastribune.org

The change has re-upped a perennial debate over how to help teachers manage aggressive or violent student behavior — without increasing the chances that the state's most disadvantaged kids will be disciplined and then drop out. www.texastribune.org

The former state senator is running for office for the first time since her unsuccessful campaign for Texas governor. www.texastribune.org

The Democratic field seeking to challenge U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, keeps growing. www.texastribune.org

An invitation obtained by The Texas Tribune says the event is "in support of her campaign for Texas CD 21." www.texastribune.org

Houston councilwoman Amanda Edwards jumps into Democratic primary in hopes of unseating Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn. Edwards joins an increasingly crowded field vying for the Democratic nomination for one of Texas' U.S. Senate seats. The eventual nominee will face an incumbent who already has a $9 million war chest. www.texastribune.org

Some Texans of color have spent much of their lives working through how racist attacks left them feeling less American. Now, those attacks are coming from the president. www.texastribune.org

Trump made the comments on Twitter on Sunday morning, writing that the four members — U.S. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan — "who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe," should "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came." All four members are citizens; only Omar was born outside the country, in Somalia. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she'll call for a vote condemning the president's racist words. www.texastribune.org

Houston was among U.S. cities where raids were expected. Police Chief Art Acevedo said it was "all quiet" in the state's largest city Sunday, but he expects ICE to conduct removal operations this week. www.texastribune.org

In its first enforcement action under a controversial new law, Texas sued San Antonio last year, alleging that the city had broken the law in December 2017. www.texastribune.org

El Paso's backlogged immigration court recently halted programs designed to aid asylum seekers as they navigate a complicated legal system. "The confusion in the courtroom is palpable," says one advocate. www.texastribune.org

Seeking to make college more affordable, the University of Texas will use some of its oil money to dramatically expand the financial aid it offers to low- and middle-income undergraduates on its flagship Austin campus. www.texastribune.org

On Tuesday, after a legislative session that seemed to have no room for issues other than property tax reform and school finance, Texas will ask a federal appeals court in New Orleans to end the Affordable Care Act in its entirety — without offering a replacement plan. www.texastribune.org

Many school districts are seeing smaller gains from the state's school finance law than they predicted. Teachers are fighting to get bigger raises anyway. www.texastribune.org

The Senda de Vida shelter in Reynosa is over capacity, filled with migrants and refugees from around the world. U.S. officials will only let a handful at a time cross the border. www.texastribune.org

A man who claimed he was a substitute teacher at Santa Fe High during the 2018 shooting told a harrowing story of survival. But the school district says he never worked there. www.texastribune.org

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday, saying the Trump administration had provided a “contrived” reason for wanting to add a citizenship question to the once-a-decade count questionnaire. www.texastribune.org

Home-state tensions flared between the two Texas Democrats running for president as America's debate about immigration centers around the ways federal agencies respond to and care for a surge of Central Americans crossing at the southern border. www.texastribune.org

The two Texans will join eight other Democratic candidates vying to take on President Donald Trump in 2020 for night one of the party's presidential debates. www.texastribune.org

Hundreds of children have been moved from a Border Patrol facility near El Paso after reports surfaced that they spent nearly a month living with substandard food, water and sanitation. www.texastribune.org

One attorney said running water is so bad that mothers save any bottled water they can to mix with baby formula. The stories she heard from people in the shelter echo tales at other facilities, where people say conditions are substandard. www.texastribune.org

Lawyers told the Associated Press that a group of 250 children were living in dangerous and unsanitary conditions at a migrant detention facility outside of El Paso. www.texastribune.org

New census estimates show Texas' Hispanic population growth continues to surpass white population growth, with Hispanics on pace to soon represent a plurality. www.texastribune.org

“We are, I think, no longer the reliably red state we have been,” says the U.S. senator, who has emerged as a top target for Texas Democrats in 2020. www.texastribune.org

Texas is growing and becoming much more ethnically and racially diverse. Texas voters differ as to whether those are positive or negative trends, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll. www.texastribune.org