The best of the Tribune's storytelling with data and graphics in 2019
The Tribune's data visuals team published more than 100 graphics about Texas politics and policy this year. Here's a look back at some of our favorites. Full Story
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Credit: Emily Albracht/The Texas Tribune -
The Trump administration knew migrant children would suffer from family separations. The government ramped up the practice anyway.
Internal emails and reports illustrate a chaotic attempt to track traumatized migrant children seized from parents. Full Story
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![Aerial view of the tent city at the Marcelino Serna Port of Entry in Tornillo on Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2018. The shelter opened in June and has grown approximately 10 times in size, compared to file photos. Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The Texas Tribune]()
Credit: Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The Texas Tribune -
Watch: In a Guatemalan town where migrants cross, Trump's policies have hit hard
In La Técnica, the boats used to zip migrants across the river into Mexico, as well as hotels, restaurants and money changers had a brisk business. But now business has dried up. Full Story
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![A boat passes on the Usumacinta River on Nov. 17, 2019.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
1,000 migrants a day made this tiny Guatemala town a smuggler’s paradise. The business has dried up.
Two Trump administration initiatives have driven down traffic, locals say: the “remain in Mexico” program requiring people to wait out their asylum cases south of the border, and the threat to slap tariffs on Mexico unless it cracked down on migrants crossing through it. Full Story
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![The main street in La Tecnica, Guatemala on Nov. 17, 2019. The street leads to a boat ramp on the Usumacinta river, which forms an international border with Mexico.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
TribCast: Big new names enter Texas congressional races
On this week’s TribCast, Emily talks to Ross, Alexa, Patrick and Abby about some recognizable names in Texas congressional races, racist texts from a GOP county official and a leaked Republican Party memo. Full Story
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![From left: Republican candidates for U.S. Congress Pierce Bush and Ronny Jackson.]()
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Mexican border cities: too dangerous for Americans but safe enough for migrants, U.S. government says
The State Department has issued warnings advising against travel to Mexican border states and the president has considered labeling cartels as terrorist organizations. But Trump officials continue to downplay the violence in cities where "remain in Mexico" is in place. Full Story
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![A group of migrants walk across International Bridge Two into Mexico from the United States. The group requested asylum in the United States, but were returned to Mexico to await their court proceedings. July 23, 2019.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Federal judge blocks Trump plan to spend $3.6 billion in military funds on border wall
The administration had planned to use the Pentagon funds to build 175 miles of steel barriers. Full Story
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![A section of border fence in Hidalgo, which runs between a national wildlife refuge and a local nature center, ends abruptly when federal land stops. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife started buying land along the U.S.-Mexico border more than 70 years ago to preserve habitat for threatened species. Now, much of that same land is bisected by the border fence.]()
Credit: Callie Richmond for The Texas Tribune -
ACLU files suit to stop immigration pilot programs
The programs deny asylum seekers access to adequate counsel before key interviews with immigration officers, the lawsuit alleges. Full Story
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![A Mexican Soldier patrols the makeshift migrants camp at the base of Paso del Norte International Bridge in Ciudad Juarez on Oct. 3, 2019. Migrants wait close to the port of entry so they won't lose their spot in line to legally cross into the U.S. and seek asylum.]()
Credit: Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The Texas Tribune -
Report: Crimes against migrants waiting in Mexico to seek U.S. asylum continue to climb
More than 630 violent crimes against asylum seekers affected by the Migrant Protection Protocols program have been reported in Mexico, according to a new report by Human Rights First. Full Story
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![A group of migrants walk across Internation Bridge Two into Mexico from the United States. The group requested asylum in the United States, but were returned to Mexico under the Migrant Protections Protocol to await their court proceedings. July 23, 2019.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Private group must stop building border wall in South Texas, judge says in temporary order
The group, We Build The Wall, said it has cleared a mile and a half of land next to the Rio Grande and plans to begin installing the wall within 48 hours, with a goal of completing it by Jan. 15. Full Story
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![A portion of the border wall built by We Build The Wall, a private group that raised money through a GoFundMe account, on private land in El Pasoâs west side. May 28, 2019.]()
Credit: Julian Aguilar/The Texas Tribune -
Jared Kushner’s new assignment: Overseeing the construction of Trump’s border wall
President Donald Trump has set an aggressive goal: building more than 400 miles of new barrier by the end of 2020. That will require quickly seizing lots of private land in Texas. Full Story
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![The border fence sits atop a levee on the periphery of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge in Hidalgo County in February 2017.]()
Credit: Callie Richmond for The Texas Tribune -
Trump administration to shuttle migrants from Tucson to El Paso under "Remain in Mexico" policy
The policy hasn't started in Arizona, so the government plans to bus migrants to El Paso, then send many of them to Ciudad Juárez while their asylum claims are pending, administration sources say. Full Story
![A Mexican Soldier patrols the makeshift migrants camp at the base of Paso del Norte International Bridge in Ciudad Juarez on Oct. 3, 2019. Migrants wait close to the port of entry so they won't lose their spot in line to legally cross into the U.S. and seek asylum.]()
Credit: Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The Texas Tribune -
As government prepares to seize more land for a border wall, some Texas landowners prepare to fight
In Laredo, border landowners are receiving letters from the federal government, requesting permission to enter their land for surveying. "Hell no, we're not signing anything," one recipient said. Full Story
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![Ordered under the George W. Bush administration, a controversial incomplete border wall along the Rio Grande River in South Texas has had environmental and cultural impacts.]()
Credit: Callie Richmond for The Texas Tribune -
Texas isn't providing major support for the 2020 Census. Local officials and nonprofits say they will instead.
Several nonprofits, local governments and philanthropy organizations have formed Texas Counts, a coalition aimed at ensuring an accurate census count in 2020, which could affect representation in Congress and billions in federal funding. Full Story
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![Center for Public Policy Priorities CEO Ann Beeson and Educate Texas Executive Director John Fitzpatrick at the launch of Texas Counts in Austin on Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2019.]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas Tribune -
Federal judge issues partial block of Trump administration's third-country asylum rule
A U.S. district judge ruled the administration’s third-country rule doesn’t apply to people who sought asylum before July 16. Full Story
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![Genesis (left) and Jose Hernandez play with donated toys on the Mexican side of the Brownsville/Gateway Bridge. Their family has been camped on the bridge for four days awaiting an opportunity to apply for asylum.]()
Credit: Reynaldo Leal for The Texas Tribune -
Apprehensions of undocumented immigrants on the Southwest border continue to fall
The figure is the lowest since July 2018 and marks the fifth consecutive month that the number has dropped. Full Story
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![A group of Central American migrants walks next to the U.S.-Mexico border fence after they crossed the borderline while a Border Patrol agent looks through the fence in El Paso, Texas, U.S May 15, 2019.]()
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A Trump administration strategy led to the child migrant backup crisis at the border
Interviews, emails and memos detailing the strategy show that officials knew that without enough beds in government shelters, children would languish in Border Patrol stations not equipped to care for them. Full Story
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![Two young children are seen inside a temporary migrant holding area setup by CBP under the Paso del Norte International port of entry between Ciudad Juárez and El Paso on March 27, 2019.]()
Credit: Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The Texas Tribune -
Trump administration tells Supreme Court it owns termination of DACA program
The U.S. Supreme Court heard opening oral arguments Tuesday on the legality of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Full Story
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![Protesters gathered outside the U.S. Supreme Court as justices heard oral arguments regarding the Trump administration’s bid to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in 2019.]()
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On immigration issues, a wall between Texas partisans, UT/TT poll finds
Texas voters from the two major parties are split on a range of immigration issues, including immigration policy, deportations and bilingual education, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll. Full Story
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Credit: Illustration by Emily Albracht/The Texas Tribune -
Voters are worried about leadership, border issues, health care and guns, UT/TT Poll finds
National leadership and border issues top the list of voter concerns about the country; at home, it's the border and gun control, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll. Full Story
Credit: Illustration by Emily Albracht/The Texas Tribune
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