It’s now past 7 pm and the long lines seen all day at McAllen’s Lark Community Center are closed but anyone in line will get to vote.
Voters have averaged an hour to an hour and a half waiting to cast their ballots.
Story in collaboration with @garanceburke.bsky.social and Adam Geller.
NEW: An uncomfortable but essential read.
We heard about the trauma endured by children in detention at Dilley, including the mother whose child used a plastic knife to hurt herself and the haunting images she created to vent her fears.
“We are all Liam,” one mom said.
apnews.com/article/chil...
The U.S. military used a laser to shoot down a Customs and Border Protection drone, members of Congress said Thursday, and the Federal Aviation Administration responded by closing more airspace near El Paso, Texas.
apnews.com/article/mili...
NEW: Legal advocates filed a motion today seeking to stop CBP agents from urging immigrant youth entering the country without their parents to voluntarily deport themselves under a federal policy introduced September.
Attorneys say it circumvents TVPRA.
apnews.com/article/cbp-...
New campaign from @childrens-rights.bsky.social will let people send encouraging messages to immigrant families at the Dilley detention center:
www.childrensrights.org/l/theyre-rem...
Thank you to everyone who demanded freedom for Liam. We won’t stop until all children and families are home.
Just visited with Liam and his father at Dilley detention center. I demanded his release and told him how much his family, his school, and our country loves him and is praying for him.
NEW: Dozens of detained immigrant families braved the cold outside the Dilley, TX facility to protest conditions and long detentions, sparked by the recent arrest of 5 y.o. Liam Conejo Ramos.
A detainee said the boy & his dad briefly participated.
apnews.com/article/texa...
Media gets ten spaces at today’s trial for former Uvalde schools officer Adrian Gonzales. Spots were allotted after all journalists decided Uvalde’s newspaper should have a permanent seat.
Support local journalism.
(I’ll also be inside. No cells or computers allowed.)
NEW:
A Dec. 1 report from ICE indicated that about 400 immigrant children were held in custody for more than the 20-day limit during the reporting period from August to September. Legal advocates say the government is failing to safeguard children.
apnews.com/article/immi...
NEW: A federal judge issued an order Wednesday requiring the Trump administration to again consider granting protection from deportation to certain vulnerable young immigrants under the Special Immigrant Juvenile status program, also known as SIJS.
apnews.com/article/immi...
JUST IN: ICE didn’t say how much migrants would get or when the offer would take effect, but The AP obtained an email to migrant shelters saying children 14 years of age and older would get $2,500 each. Children were given 24 hours to respond.
apnews.com/article/ice-...
Update: DHS shared a response to today’s decision from Judge Timothy J. Kelly, a Trump appointee.
For context, the government initially claimed Guatemalan parents asked for their kids back to be reunited, but they retracted that last week following contradictory evidence.
Legal advocates with Kids in Need of Defense visited Honduras last week and found government officials and nongovernmental organizations working “furiously” to receive as many as 400 children back from the United States.
New: Judge grants preliminary injunction to block Trump admin from immediately deporting Guatemalan migrant children who came to the U.S. alone back to their home country.
BUT, he did not expand class to cover Honduran children who attorneys believe are targeted next.
apnews.com/article/trum...
New: Bottled water sold for $1.21, dismissed medical pleas and faith tested at family detention facility in Dilley, TX
apnews.com/article/immi...
A week after the U.S. attempted to remove about 80 Guatemalan children in the middle of the night, advocates began hearing they were preparing to do the same this weekend with Honduran children and preemptively sued to block it.
Story ✍️ Leah Willingham
apnews.com/article/immi...
NEW: Chaotic showdown over Guatemalan children exposes fault lines in Trump’s deportation push.
✍️with @ruskygal and Sonia Pérez D.
apnews.com/article/immi...
NEW: Two internal emails obtained by AP indicate a policy shift that now allows ICE to show up, interview, and arrest some parents trying to reunite with their children.
Advocates say it’s using kids as bait; the government says it’s necessary vetting.
apnews.com/article/immi...
Breaking: Judge denied the Trump administration’s request to terminate the Flores Settlement Agreement which protects immigrant children in federal custody.
The judge noted the government made improvements, but attributed them to the agreement.
Story: apnews.com/article/immi...
NEW: A fed judge weighing Trump administration's request to end protections for immigrant children asked the government why time in custody is high despite low crossings.
“It seems counterintuitive that should happen unless it’s willful,” the judge asked.
apnews.com/article/trum...
As the Trump administration intensifies deportation activity around the country, some immigrants — including many who have lived in the RGV for decades — are unwilling to leave their homes, even for necessary medical care.
✍️: AP’s Amanda Seitz/Jacquelyn Martin
apnews.com/article/trum...
NEW: Attorneys sue to restore deportation protections for abused and neglected migrant children
apnews.com/article/immi...
NEW: Immigrants and legal advocates filed a class-action lawsuit to stop ICE officers from arresting migrants who appear at immigration courts for previously scheduled hearings and placing them on a fast-track to deportation.
via AP's Martha Bellisle
apnews.com/article/immi...
Some tragic news: BP agent from the Rio Grande Valley drowned after saving his children caught in a rip current at SPI.
Update: Hours before the shooting at the McAllen border patrol station, police in Weslaco stopped the gunman’s father who was concerned and looking for his son. He told police he psychological issues and had weapons in his car.
apnews.com/article/mcal...
An apparent immigration enforcement operation at a Laredo warehouse construction site led to chaos Thursday morning, sending people running from the area and crossing a busy highway.
Via @kgnsnews.bsky.social
www.kgns.tv/2025/06/26/a...
The 16 year old is an English speaking Valley resident and cheerleader at her high school before she was arrested at a BP checkpoint during a family spring break roadtrip. She told legal advocates she is trying to keep it together under immense pressure like Luisa from Encanto.
