EAGLE PASS, Texas – U.S. Border Patrol marine agents working in Eagle Pass rescued an 11-year-old girl from the Rio Grande River after receiving a distress call. “Crossing into the United States illegally can be a dangerous affair,” remarked Acting Chief Patrol Agent Matthew J. Hudak in response to the…

Written by Joshua Breisblatt, Immigration Impact Senator Jeff Sessions, who has been nominated to be Attorney General by President-elect Donald Trump, endured a 10-and-a-half-hour confirmation hearing this week where he answered questions on a wide range of issues from voting rights and immigration to anti-trust litigation. During his time in…

Written by Michele Waslin, Immigration Impact President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to build a wall along the U.S-Mexico border took a step forward last week as Congressional Republicans discussed ways to get funding for the structure through the budget process. Republican leadership believes that current law already allows them to construct…

by Justin Elliott, ProPublica Donald Trump ran for president as the billionaire who would champion working people. As the president-elect put it in one of the major economic speeches of his campaign: “Too many of our leaders have forgotten that it’s their duty to protect the jobs, wages and well-being…

by Julián Aguilar, The Texas Tribune Jan. 12, 2017 The Obama administration’s halt of a decades-long provision that allowed Cubans who arrived at U.S. land ports to be given immediate legal status will likely put an abrupt end to the flood of Cubans arriving in Texas since 2014. The “wet…

Three Takata Executives Charged with Wire Fraud and Conspiracy (Press Release) Tokyo-based Takata Corporation, one of the world’s largest suppliers of automotive safety-related equipment, agreed to plead guilty to wire fraud and pay a total of $1 billion in criminal penalties stemming from the company’s fraudulent conduct in relation to…

by Ross Ramsey, The Texas Tribune Jan. 13, 2017 Editor’s note: If you’d like an email notice whenever we publish Ross Ramsey’s column, click here. Did you catch that footnote in the early budget numbers for the state of Texas? In the midst of all the week’s gloomy state budget…

by Patrick Svitek, The Texas Tribune Jan. 12, 2017 Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s trial on criminal securities fraud charges is set to begin May 1. Jury selection will be held April 20-21 and April 27-28, according to a recent order by George Gallagher, the judge presiding over Paxton’s case….

by Aliyya Swaby, The Texas Tribune Jan. 12, 2017 With the 2017 session underway, Texas lawmakers will have to decide just how — and whether — they’re going to approach a major fixer-upper: the school finance system. School district officials have repeatedly asserted that funding is arbitrary and inequitable across…

Six Volkswagen Executives and Employees are Indicted in Connection with Conspiracy to Cheat U.S. Emissions Tests VW to Pay $2.8 Billion Criminal Fine in Guilty Plea and $1.5 Billion Settlement of Civil Environmental, Customs and Financial Violations; Monitor to Be Appointed to Oversee the Parent Company (Press Release) Volkswagen AG…