Tag Archives: immigration

Paxton double-talks on that SOS advisory

Posted on February 14, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Ken Paxton really can’t be trusted. Not exactly earth-shattering, I know, but always good to remember. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton assured lawmakers on Friday that his office hadn’t launched criminal investigations into nearly 100,000 voters flagged by the secretary … Continue reading →

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Paxton manages to restrain himself from prosecuting anyone on the SOS list – yet

Posted on February 9, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Mighty decent of you there, Kenny boy. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton told lawmakers Friday that his office has yet to take action on a deeply flawed list of nearly 100,000 Texas voters flagged last month for citizenship review. Paxton … Continue reading →

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Paxton asks for summary judgement to end DACA

Posted on February 6, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Not much coverage of this, and I’m not sure what that means. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Monday asked a federal judge to strike down Obama-era deportation protections for immigrants whose parents brought them to the United States illegally … Continue reading →

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Three times a lawsuit

Posted on February 5, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Hat trick! A group of civil and voting rights organizations is suing the state’s chief election officers and local election officials in five counties, claiming Texas’ voter citizenship review efforts are unconstitutional because they intentionally target naturalized citizens and voters … Continue reading →

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SOS advisory lawsuit update

Posted on February 3, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Add another plaintiff, litigate till done. A naturalized citizen — who immigrated to Texas from the United Kingdom and is a registered voter — is joining a Latino civil rights group in suing top Texas officials after her voter registration … Continue reading →

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SOS walks its advisory back even more

Posted on February 2, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Just rescind the whole damn list and let’s pretend this never happened. A week after it flagged tens of thousands of voters for citizenship checks, the Texas secretary of state’s office is now advising counties on how to check their … Continue reading →

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Eh, what’s a few thousand mis-identified non-citizens among friends?

Posted on February 1, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

No biggie. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott downplayed concerns Thursday about the voter citizenship review initiated last week by his secretary of state, even though it has since become clear that the state’s list of flagged voters swept up thousands of … Continue reading →

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As the SOS advisory numbers get revised down

Posted on January 31, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

This really can’t be emphasized enough. State officials on Tuesday acknowledged widespread errors in their list of 95,000 Texas voters flagged as potential non-citizens, reinforcing the concerns of advocates who say the state’s effort amounts to illegal voter suppression. In … Continue reading →

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A trio of updates about that bogus SOS letter

Posted on January 30, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Most counties reacted skeptically, as well they should. The Texas Tribune reached out to 13 of the 15 counties with the most registered voters on Monday; Galveston was the only one that indicated it would immediately send out letters, even … Continue reading →

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Civil rights groups push back on bogus SOS letter

Posted on January 29, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Good. Lawyers with 13 organizations — including the Texas Civil Rights Project, the ACLU of Texas, the League of Women Voters of Texas and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund — are demanding that the state rescind an advisory sent to … Continue reading →

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It’s “Let’s lie about vote fraud” season again

Posted on January 28, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

The Trib wrote about this in the best possible way, but the shrieking ghouls are out there in force doing what they can to whip up fear. The Texas secretary of state’s office announced Friday it would send local election … Continue reading →

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MALDEF Census lawsuit in court

Posted on January 23, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Census lawsuit #2. In a federal courtroom in Maryland on Tuesday, lawyers representing the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, the Senate Hispanic Caucus and several Texas-based nonprofits that advocate for Latino and Asian residents will set out to convince U.S. District … Continue reading →

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Plaintiffs win in Census citizenship question lawsuit

Posted on January 16, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Very good news. A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration’s plan to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, with an opinion that found the move by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross violated the Administrative Procedure Act. Furman’s … Continue reading →

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Paxton sues San Antonio over “sanctuary cities” law

Posted on December 3, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

This is gonna be ugly. Texas is suing the city of San Antonio for an alleged violation of the state’s new anti-“sanctuary cities” law, in the state’s first enforcement action against a city under the controversial statue. The lawsuit, filed … Continue reading →

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Southwest Key sues city over permit for child detention warehouse

Posted on September 16, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Screw them. The Austin-based nonprofit trying to open a shelter to house migrant children east of downtown sued the city of Houston Friday, alleging a discriminatory, baseless and politically motivated campaign to prevent it from opening the facility. Southwest Key … Continue reading →

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DACA lives another day

Posted on September 1, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

But don’t relax just yet. A federal district judge on Friday denied the state of Texas’ request that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program be put on hold after Texas and nine other states sued to halt the Obama-era … Continue reading →

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Trump administration denying passports to US citizens born near the border

Posted on September 1, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

This is infuriating. On paper, he’s a devoted U.S. citizen. His official American birth certificate shows he was delivered by a midwife in Brownsville, at the southern tip of Texas. He spent his life wearing American uniforms: three years as … Continue reading →

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Trump administration seeks to dismiss MALDEF lawsuit over Census citizenship question

Posted on August 29, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

It’s hard to keep all these Census lawsuits straight. As multiple court fights over the addition of a citizenship question to the once-a-decade census heat up, the Trump administration is working to keep several Texas groups representing Latino and Asian … Continue reading →

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The DACA hearing

Posted on August 10, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t know about this. The state of Texas will continue to incur irreparable financial harm if an Obama-era immigration program isn’t halted immediately, attorneys for the state argued in Houston on Wednesday. But lawyers representing nearly two dozen recipients … Continue reading →

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One federal court orders DACA restored

Posted on August 6, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

But hold on, because there’s another ruling to come. A federal judge on Friday upheld his previous order to revive an Obama-era program that shields some 700,000 young immigrants from deportation, saying that the Trump administration had failed to justify … Continue reading →

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Census lawsuit proceeds

Posted on July 29, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Good. A federal judge in New York on Thursday allowed a lawsuit challenging the addition of a citizenship question to the Census to move forward. U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman’s decision rejected the Trump administration’s request to dismiss the lawsuit, … Continue reading →

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Business groups file brief opposing Paxton’s anti-DACA lawsuit

Posted on July 24, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

This is good. A federal lawsuit by Texas officials earlier this year seeking to order the end of the federal immigration program called the Deferred Act for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, will have “immediate, irreparable injury” to Texas businesses and … Continue reading →

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Still waiting on families to be reunited

Posted on July 8, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Horrible story remains horrible. The clock is ticking on a court-ordered Tuesday deadline for the federal government to reunite migrant parents with kids under 5 who were taken from them at the border. With a mere four days left, government … Continue reading →

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Census lawsuit may proceed

Posted on July 6, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Good. A federal judge said Tuesday that there was a “strong showing of bad faith” by the Trump administration in adding a controversial question about US citizenship to the 2020 census. The judge hinted that he would allow the case to move forward … Continue reading →

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No indefinite detention of asylum seekers

Posted on July 4, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

That title is one of those things I can’t believe I have to write. A federal district judge has ruled President Donald Trump’s administration’s practice of indefinitely detaining some asylum seekers can’t proceed, dealing a major blow to what immigration … Continue reading →

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Demography and our destiny

Posted on July 3, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Trends keep on trending. Harris County continues to grow more diverse, with population increases among every ethnic and racial group, except non-Hispanic whites between 2016 and 2017, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau. In Harris County, … Continue reading →

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“Families Belong Together”

Posted on July 1, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Make some noise, then make sure everyone you know gets out and votes. As the temperature inched to the triple digits and sweating crowds swarmed the south lawn of the Texas State Capitol, speakers declared with grief, hope, indignation and … Continue reading →

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The family separation crisis is far from over

Posted on June 22, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

For one thing: Although the zero-tolerance policy was officially announced last month, it has been in effect, in more limited form, since at least last summer. Several months ago, as cases of family separation started surfacing across the country, immigrant-rights … Continue reading →

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Our typically feckless state leaders

Posted on June 21, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Way to set an example for the rest of us, y’all. Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick frequently talk tough about illegal immigration, but they refuse to publicly support the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy that’s spurred outrage for … Continue reading →

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Mayor Turner says “No!” to the child detention warehouse

Posted on June 20, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Damn right. Mayor Sylvester Turner called on the owner of a building east of downtown Houston and the nonprofit hoping to operate the former warehouse as a detention center for immigrant children separated from their families at the nation’s southern … Continue reading →

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Say “No!” to warehousing “tender age” children

Posted on June 17, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

We cannot allow this. The large vacant warehouse in downtown Houston has housed women and families who were once homeless and adults displaced by Hurricane Harvey. Until now, however, it has never sheltered small children who are on their own … Continue reading →

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Once, twice, three times a lawsuit

Posted on June 11, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

There’s actually now five lawsuits and counting over the Census citizenship question, but “three” fit my headline better. The American Civil Liberties Union sued the Trump administration on Wednesday over its decision to add a controversial question about US citizenship … Continue reading →

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Justice Department won’t defend DACA, either

Posted on June 10, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Even less of a surprise. Agreeing with a lawsuit filed by the state of Texas against the Trump administration to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, the U.S. Justice Department told the courts late Friday the program should … Continue reading →

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More Census litigation

Posted on June 3, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Also good. The Mexican American Legislative Caucus and the Texas Senate Hispanic Caucus are suing the Trump administration in hopes of blocking the addition of a citizenship question to the once-a-decade census of every person living in the United States. … Continue reading →

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