Two weeks ago, Texas AG Ken Paxton announced that his office had arrested 35 undocumented people they turned over to ICE.

So, I asked via an open records requests for arrest reports and any other relevant docs related to the apprehensions. The AG's office says there aren't any:

It is not clear if DPS officers themselves are making the arrests. The story gets into this question of authority a bit:

In January, Gov. Abbott directed DPS to dispatch teams to help President Trump's immigration crackdown.

Boyd, who has three 287(g) agreements with ICE, has urged fellow sheriffs to also enter agreements. But he may not have to do much convincing.

Since February, the number of such partnerships between Texas sheriffs and ICE has exploded by roughly 325%...
www.texastribune.org/2025/07/31/g...

Once folks were detained, he said that they were not told why. Authorities separated him from his wife and kids, and took him to a processing center where agents grilled him about his tattoos.

A Texas Senate panel today advanced a bill that would no longer allow undocumented students to pay in-state tuition. Out-of-state tuition is typically three times more expensive than in-state tuition.

via @jessicapriest.bsky.social + @aydenrunnels.bsky.social

New: Gov. Greg Abbott gave President Donald Trump credit when Texas closed a border site for booking migrants. But arrests were already low, records show.

www.texastribune.org/2025/04/14/t...

The owners of a South Texas bakery accused of illegally hiring undocumented immigrants for $8/hr were also housing them next door — a detail that a federal judge ruled was sufficient to charge the couple with harboring the workers.

via @beregarcia.bsky.social
www.texastribune.org/2025/02/21/t...

The owners of a South Texas bakery were arrested and charged with harboring undocumented workers, a relatively rare incidence of federal agents pursuing business owners for allegedly employing undocumented immigrants.

via @beregarcia.bsky.social
www.texastribune.org/2025/02/20/t...

Here is the section covering authorities in the memorandum of understanding between Gov. Greg Abbott, who oversees the State Guard, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection:

Lubbock Police Department policy says officers have discretion to notify federal authorities about crimes that fall under their jurisdiction, a department spokesman told me:

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt yesterday when asked about this:

t.co/6TTtXoUrZQ

The "why" is a great question! the story has a section on people who are holding out on striking a deal to let the state build wall on their property (screenshot is just part of it):

apps.texastribune.org/features/202...

The state is 3 years and $3 billion into this infrastructure project, many details of which it largely keeps secret. Here is a note on how my colleagues reported this story and identified for the first time where Texas has built its border wall:

apps.texastribune.org/features/202...

President-elect Trump's “border czar” pick Thomas Homan on the land he said that Texas "gave" the incoming administration, per transcript of an interview he did with NewsNation:

full interview here: www.borderreport.com/news/border-...

sry not sry for the pun, but there are so many details here that are 🍌s:

1/ the guy who bought it said that “in the coming days, I will personally eat the banana as part of this unique artistic experience…”

2/ it’s not the original banana (someone else ate that one too!)

3/ highlighted below

Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham on how the offer came to be:

www.texastribune.org/2024/11/19/t...

a lot of interesting tidbits and context in this piece, including this: