Tag Archives: Homeland Security

Where are the Rangers?

Posted on July 12, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

No one will say just yet. When a federal immigration officer shot and killed a 23-year-old on South Padre Island last year, the Department of Homeland Security asked the Texas Rangers to investigate. But as calls grow for an independent … Continue reading →

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Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was not ICE’s target

Posted on July 11, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Unbelievable. The 52-year-old Houston man fatally shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent earlier this week was not the target of the agency’s operation, said U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia, D-Houston, who has called for release of any video … Continue reading →

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Lorenzo Salgado Araujo roundup

Posted on July 10, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

For 35 years, a Mexican father built homes in Houston. Then a morning drive ended in tragedy. For the last 35 years, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo’s day began the same way: He woke up at 5 a.m., kissed his wife goodbye, … Continue reading →

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ICE kills Houston man

Posted on July 9, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Bad. Very bad. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot a Houston man after he tried to run over a federal officer conducting a vehicle stop Tuesday morning, according to an agency statement issued hours after the incident. Federal … Continue reading →

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Judge blocks DHS from using citizenship database to purge voters

Posted on June 29, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

One of many lawsuits over many attempts by the Trump administration to put a big thumb on the scale. A federal judge on Monday blocked the Trump administration’s overhaul of an immigration verification system to check voter eligibility across the … Continue reading →

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Bexar County pushes back against a proposed ICE detention center

Posted on March 13, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Good. Bexar County Commissioners voted 3-1 Tuesday to formally oppose a proposed immigration detention facility on San Antonio’s East Side, approving a resolution that leaves the door open to join potential legal challenges against the project. The vote marks the governmental body’s … Continue reading →

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Ruben Ray Martinez

Posted on February 23, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Remember his name. Three months into President Donald Trump’s mass deportation undertaking, an ICE officer shot and killed a U.S. citizen in South Padre Island, long before immigration agents killed another American in Minnesota that prompted outrage across the nation, … Continue reading →

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ICE is buying up warehouses

Posted on February 15, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

In San Antonio. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed Wednesday that the agency has purchased land and a facility in San Antonio to expand its detention operations, though officials declined to disclose the location of the property in question. In … Continue reading →

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Lawsuit filed challenging “Kavanaugh stops”

Posted on February 8, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Good. A group of Hispanic Texans are asking a federal judge to rule that ICE agents can’t detain U.S. citizens or require those people to prove their citizenship in order to be freed from custody. In a complaint filed in … Continue reading →

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DPS investigating Flock

Posted on January 3, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

More of an administrative matter than anything else, but potentially with real consequences. State troopers are investigating the company behind thousands of license plate-reading cameras used by police agencies and private groups across the Houston region, over claims the company … Continue reading →

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Whitmire finally admits that HPD is cooperating with ICE

Posted on November 11, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Goddamn it. Houston Mayor John Whitmire acknowledged Saturday that the city is cooperating with federal immigration authorities after denying for months that Houston police would get involved with immigration enforcement. Whitmire was a guest speaker at a conference Saturday hosted by former Kemah Mayor Bill King, a fellow at Rice … Continue reading →

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Why is HPD calling ICE so much more often now?

Posted on October 14, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

We deserve some answers. Houston police officers have called federal immigration agents on civilians over 100 times since President Donald Trump took office in January — a jump of more than 1,000% from any of the previous five years, according to public records obtained … Continue reading →

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Home Depot is watching you

Posted on September 21, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Beware the surveillance cameras. Hundreds of AI-powered automated license plate reading cameras paid for by Lowe’s and Home Depot and stationed in the hardware stores’ parking lots are being fed into a massive surveillance system that law enforcement can access, … Continue reading →

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The flood insurance problem

Posted on July 19, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

This is only going to get worse unless we take steps to mitigate it. Less than 5% of residential properties in high-risk areas in Kerr County were covered by flood insurance before the July 4 storm, according to a Houston … Continue reading →

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Hill Country flood roundup

Posted on July 11, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Just some articles of interest, no real thread. Climate Change Helped Fuel Heavy Rains That Led to Devastating Texas Flood Climate scientists said the torrential downpours on July 4 exemplify the devastating outcomes of weather intensified by a warming atmosphere. … Continue reading →

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The flood warning history of Kerr County

Posted on July 9, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

They’ve tried for awhile to get some funding for a flood warning system. They’ve failed every time. Nearly a decade before catastrophic flash flooding killed at least 75 people in Kerr County, including 27 children, several local officials were hard … Continue reading →

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On the value of disaster warnings

Posted on July 8, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

It’s hard to know where to start with this. For the last three days, state Rep. Wes Virdell has been out with first responders in Kerr County as they searched for victims and survivors from the devastating floods that swept … Continue reading →

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Hill Country flood update 2

Posted on July 7, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

A brief overview of the situation, written on Sunday at noon. The death toll rose to 68 as a result of the Fourth of July floods along the Guadalupe River, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said. That includes 28 children. There were … Continue reading →

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Flock responds

Posted on June 30, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Reporting gets results. Or at least a response. The CEO for Flock cameras has pushed back on recent reporting, including a Chronicle investigation, about the surveillance technology used by Houston police, saying it’s up to local law enforcement to decide … Continue reading →

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Beware of Flock

Posted on June 17, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

It started with this. Flock, the automatic license plate reader (ALPR) company whose cameras are installed in more than 5,000 communities in the U.S., is building a product that will use people lookup tools, data brokers, and data breaches to “jump from … Continue reading →

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More on the visa issues for the 2026 FIFA World Cup

Posted on May 22, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

It’s a problem for Houston, too. Experts are now raising questions about America’s ability to receive such an influx of people, however, as some tourists wait months to obtain a visa, and the Trump administration strains relations with international allies … Continue reading →

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On immigration and the 2026 World Cup

Posted on April 23, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Yeah, there are some big issues that we need to talk about. Last month, Dallas officially announced the procurement of the 2026 FIFA World Cup International Broadcast Center. It will turn downtown’s Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center into a “nerve center” for … Continue reading →

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Some kind of immigration action happening at Colony Ridge

Posted on February 25, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Could be a big deal, or could just be Monday. Hard to say for sure. A state and federal law enforcement operation targeting “criminals and illegal immigrants” in Colony Ridge took place Monday morning, according to a social media post by Gov. … Continue reading →

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Lawsuit filed over elimination of ICE’s sensitive locations policy

Posted on February 23, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

I wish them luck. Twenty-seven churches and organizations — some with ties to Texas’ Jewish and Christian faith communities — are suing the Trump administration over the elimination of ICE’s sensitive locations policy. The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday, Feb. … Continue reading →

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So about that DPS delay in notifying the victims of the credential stuffing attack

Posted on March 2, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s their explanation. [DPS Director Steve] McCraw said DPS officials kept the news under wraps to avoid jeopardizing the agency’s investigation, including efforts to arrest the fraudsters who organized the scheme. The explanation came in response to questioning from state … Continue reading →

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DPS victimized by credential stuffing attack

Posted on March 1, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

That’s the technical term for this. The Texas Department of Public Safety was duped into shipping at least 3,000 Texas driver’s licenses to a Chinese organized crime group that targeted Asian Texans, DPS Director Steve McCraw told a Texas House … Continue reading →

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Taking seriously the threat of election violence

Posted on November 2, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

This is the reality we face. U.S. security agencies have issued a heightened threat advisory, warning of a potential attacks on political candidates, election officials and others. The alert came Friday, the same day that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband … Continue reading →

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Of course people are harassing the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office now

Posted on September 25, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

This is the world we live in. Hate mail and calls are rushing into the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office after Sheriff Javier Salazar announced an investigation into how 48 South American migrants were “lured” onto a flight to Martha’s Vineyard. … Continue reading →

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A roundup of border and lawsuit stories

Posted on April 30, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Too much news, not enough time… New federal lawsuit seeks to halt Texas’ border trespassing arrests, give more than $5 million to illegally detained migrants. In a new challenge to Gov. Greg Abbott’s controversial border security crackdown, a lawsuit filed … Continue reading →

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P Bush files a Paxton-style lawsuit

Posted on July 17, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

What a wannabe. Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush has filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration, claiming the president is illegally preventing the construction of a wall on the Texas-Mexico border. Bush announced the lawsuit Wednesday, saying his office … Continue reading →

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Sheriff Gonzalez nominated to lead ICE

Posted on April 28, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Wow. President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that he will nominate Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, a vocal skeptic of cooperating with federal immigration authorities in certain circumstances, to serve as director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. As head of … Continue reading →

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Deportation freeze still on hold

Posted on February 25, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Grrrrrrrr. A federal judge in Texas has put an indefinite halt to President Joe Biden’s 100-day ban on deportations after issuing a preliminary injunction late Tuesday. The ruling by Judge Drew Tipton comes after he had already temporarily paused the … Continue reading →

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Deportation pause still on hold

Posted on February 10, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Another pause for the pause, which is as dumb and annoying as it sounds. A federal judge in Texas has extended the block on President Joe Biden’s deportation moratorium for two more weeks as the case continues to play out … Continue reading →

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Federal judge blocks the deportation pause

Posted on January 27, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Infuriating, but possibly less than it appears. A federal judge in Texas temporarily blocked the Biden administration from moving forward with a 100-day pause on many deportations across the US, saying Tuesday that it was not adequately reasoned or explained … Continue reading →

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