You might think a town that is almost 90 percent Latino would be fighting to keep an old immigration detention center closed. But many are desperate for it to reopen. The story of Raymondville, Texas, shows that life near the border is more complicated than outsiders might think.
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Delays in reunifying separated families underscore the chaos in the immigration system and the hardened stance that migrant advocates now face. Immigration courts are becoming more adversarial as a result.
Read moreImmigration court judges have a bench-side view of the stresses already placed on the system. The Monitor’s Texas bureau chief interviewed former and current judges about the effects of the Trump administration’s changes.
Read moreLiving on the border means living with things most Americans don’t, and to live with them without batting an eye. Recently, though, those tensions of border life feel as if they’ve been dialed to 11 – and even a beloved sports event isn’t providing a respite.
Read moreSince the first travel ban was issued in January 2017, legal observers have asked whether the courts should extend the same kind of deference to President Trump shown to more traditional chief executives. Today, five Supreme Court justices answered yes.
Read moreThe final week in June is always a big one for Supreme Court watchers, and this week will bring major decisions on the Trump White House’s travel ban and the future of public unions. Today, the justices issued a ruling with “huge ramifications” for voting rights law.
Read moreWhat expectation of privacy do consumers have in an increasingly technological world? New technology is forcing more answers – and reinterpretation of the Constitution.
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The changes at the border notwithstanding, advocates for migrants and asylum-seekers see no let-up in the demand to enter the United States. Almost all the migrants are coming from the “Northern Triangle” of Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala – where murder rates exceed even those in active war zones – and are unlikely to be deterred by months in immigrant detention or long waits on bridges over the Rio Grande, the advocates say.
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As US communities shift away from fossil fuels, cities and towns are grappling with the challenge of just how much they can rely on renewable energy. Denton, Texas, aims to show the way.
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With the Ogallala Aquifer in a state of “managed depletion” in many parts of Texas, farmers are adapting what they grow and how they water it. Scientists are researching new drought-resistant crops and more efficient irrigation technologies. The overall picture, however, is of a water-poor region that is only going to keep losing water. With a century of economic, political, and cultural investment in agriculture, farming in the Panhandle isn’t likely to go extinct. But as farmers scratch their way through this year’s drought, they know it will be even tougher for their children and grandchildren.
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