News & Commentary

On January 19, two Border Patrol agents boarded a Greyhound bus at a Fort Lauderdale station and proceeded to question passengers row by row. The bus, traveling from Orlando to Miami, had not crossed any international borders. Despite its domestic route, the agents interrogated passengers, ultimately detaining a Jamaican national whom Border Patrol claims had overstayed her tourist visa. This story is not an isolated occurrence, and the practice is hardly new. However, a recent uptick in this type of immigration operation — from New York to Florida — has caused fear among travelers and immigrant communities. It has also raised important questions about the scope of immigration officials’ authority and the rights one has in these encounters.

This article originally appeared in the Dallas Morning News.

At sentencing, they kind of saved me for last. I had just turned 21. It was 1998. I remember the judge saying, “Jason, I’ve thought about this all week. … I’ve written Congress about these sentencing guidelines for crack-cocaine but my hands are tied.” After, he starts reading my sentence off to me: “life without parole …” After life without parole, I didn’t hear the other part.

Un domingo la pareja “Luis” y “Berta” iban a llegar tarde a misa y estaban conduciendo más rápido que el límite de velocidad. La pareja fue detenida por el agente de del Departamento de Seguridad Pública (DPS) Mirna Gracia. La cámara de la patrulla registró lo que sucedió después.

Yesterday, President Trump announced he had dissolved the Presidential Commission on Election Integrity. In a series of tweets explaining his decision, the president blamed “many mostly Democrat states” for protecting their voters’ privacy, compounded the sinister myth of widespread voter fraud, and further undermined American institutions by repeating his dangerous pre-election refrain that the “system is rigged.”

In Texas, State troopers have become frontline enforcers of federal immigration laws. In recent years, and especially since Donald Trump was elected president, the Texas Highway Patrol, part of the state’s Department of Public Safety, or DPS, has developed a well-oiled deportation machine that scoops up drivers who’ve committed minor traffic infractions, then funnels them to the Border Patrol and sometimes Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Passengers and pedestrians who weren’t even driving are also taken into custody. Caught in the Texas deportation pipeline, immigrants’ lives are damaged or ruined, along with those of their children, many of whom were born and raised in the U.S.

I am the son of Mexican immigrants. I live in Houston, the most diverse city in the country. And I have family in the Rio Grande Valley where CBP’s abuses are a matter of routine. I know our border communities and the hardships they face, and I am here today to tell you that CBP is out of control.

For the third time in ten years, reports of alleged sexual assault by staff on detained youth at state secure juvenile facilities have surfaced. It was inexcusable the first time, and it is inexcusable now.

Two short months ago, our city suffered one of the most devastating natural disasters in its 180-year history. But the calamities Hurricane Harvey rained down upon us are the same as those homeless Houstonians face every single day. And they are no less deserving of our empathy, creativity and resources than are the victims of Harvey's floods.