As Biden and Trump visit the border, many Texas residents feel ignored
When the two presidents used the Texas-Mexico boundary as a backdrop for the national immigration fight, residents felt they were left out of the conversation. Full Story
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William Melhado
Night General Assignment Reporter
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William Melhado is an Austin-based general assignment reporter. He originally joined the Tribune in 2022 as a Poynter-Koch fellow. He previously worked as a staff writer at the Santa Fe Reporter, an alt-weekly newspaper in New Mexico. Before pursuing a career in journalism, William worked as an educator for five years and taught science at a public high school in the Bronx, New York and taught at international schools in Tanzania and Nepal. A native of Boulder, Colorado, William graduated from Middlebury College with a bachelor's degree in chemistry and earned a master’s in secondary science education at CUNY Lehman College.
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![Pedestrians walk through downtown Brownsville early Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. President Joe Biden visited Brownsville on Thursday, receiving briefings from U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, USCIS, and ICE along the border before giving remarks at the Brownsville Border Patrol Station.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune -
Ken Paxton’s Annunciation House investigation is the latest attack on religious organizations aiding migrants at the border
For years, conservative religious groups and Texas politicians have accused groups housing newly-arrived migrants of encouraging, and profiting from, illegal immigration. Full Story
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![Migrants wait inside a local migrant shelter, Annunciation House, after leaving immigration court, Tuesday, August 23, 2022, in El Paso.]()
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Texas executes Ivan Cantu for Dallas murders despite doubts of his guilt
Faith leaders and jurors from the original trial launched a public campaign to reconsider recanted testimony in Cantu’s case. Texas courts declined. Full Story
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![Ivan Cantu poses for a photo on Jan. 31, 2024. Cantu is locked in a room for visitation and uses a telephone to speak to a reporter.]()
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Former DA investigator faces federal heroin trafficking and money laundering charges
A federal jury convicted Alex Kassem of Houston after hearing evidence that the former county employee transported heroin across Texas and Louisiana in a marked police car. Full Story
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![The seal of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on their headquarters on Feb. 23, 2024, in Washington, D.C.]()
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Ken Paxton sues to revoke an El Paso nonprofit’s state registration after it didn’t immediately hand over client records
Annunciation House, a network of shelters that serves migrants, sought relief from the attorney general’s demand to immediately release information about its clients. Paxton accused the religious group of smuggling humans across the southern border. Full Story
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![Migrants arrive at the Casa Vides Annunciation House shelter in El Paso after being released from U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody, on June 24, 2018.]()
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Paxton’s push to oust incumbents puts spotlight on Court of Criminal Appeals primaries
The attorney general has tried to supplant eight Republican judges on the court after they rejected his efforts to unilaterally prosecute voter fraud. The judges are now pushing back. Full Story
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![The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Jan. 15, 2020.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Texas conservatives test how far they can extend abortion and gender-transition restrictions beyond state lines
Recent state and local legal maneuvers signal that Texas’ conservative movement could be wading into a complicated constitutional morass the country hasn’t dealt with since before the Civil War. Full Story
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![A view of the U.S. and Texas flags flown on the south side of the Texas Capitol from the Capitol Dome in Austin on Aug. 12, 2021.]()
Credit: Sophie Park/The Texas Tribune -
Despite mounting doubts about his guilt, Ivan Cantu running out of time to avoid Texas’ death chamber
Convicted of killing his cousin and his cousin’s fiancée, the death row inmate hopes recanted testimony and other new details spur a review of his case. Full Story
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![Ivan Cantu poses for a photo in the visitation room of the Polunsky Unit on Jan. 31, 2024. This is Cantu's third time being on death row.]()
Credit: Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune -
FBI foils 2022 plot by militiamen to “start a war” at the Texas-Mexico border
A Tennessee man arrested Monday hoped to travel to the southern border with a militia group that allegedly plotted to go “to war with the border patrol,” believing that the country was being invaded by migrants. Full Story
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![Shipping containers line the bank of the Rio Grande at Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, on Jan. 19, 2024.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Texas Supreme Court hears legal challenge to ban on gender-transition care for kids
A fight over allowing transgender children to access puberty blockers and hormone therapies could hinge on justices’ interpretation of parental rights. Full Story
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![People line the railing on all three levels of the outdoor rotunda of the state Capitol in Austin, and wave signs during the "Fight for our Lives" rally in opposition of anti-LGBTQ+ bills on March 27, 2023.]()
Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune
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