www.thecentersquare.com – By Bethany Blankley | The Center Square contributor – (The Center Square – ) 2025-03-21 06:54:00
(The Center Square) – According to the most recently available data, there were nearly 50,000 border crime arrests reported statewide in Texas in 2023 by local law enforcement agencies.
Eighty percent of arrests occurred in 20 counties, according to an annual Texas border crime report published by the Texas Department of Public Safety.
The majority of border crime arrests, 8,621, were reported in Harris County, the largest county in Texas, where Houston, the county seat, is a primary destination for illegal border crossers and hub for cartel and gang activity, The Center Square has reported.
The next greatest number of arrests were reported in Dallas County (6,247), followed by El Paso County (3,245); Tarrant County (3,144) and Hidalgo County (2,611), rounding out the top five.
Arrests in Travis (2,300), Bexar (1,717), Collin (1,520), Denton (1,313) and Cameron (1,171) counties rounded out the top 10 with the greatest number of reported border crime arrests.
Of the top 20 counties reporting the most border crime arrests, only five are located at the Texas-Mexico border.
The majority of reported border crime arrests were in counties where the largest cities are located: Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin and San Antonio – all considered hubs and gateways for drug and human trafficking and smuggling, law enforcement officers have explained to The Center Square. The cities are also home to employers who hire illegal foreign nationals for cheap labor, often at restaurants, hotels, laundromats, in the construction and hospitality industries, officials have told to The Center Square.
Arrest offenses totaled 46,793 statewide in 2023, according to the report.
The greatest number of arrest offenses were traffic offenses and DWIs (12,338), assault (8,122), dangerous drugs (4,043), obstructing police (3,365), larceny (3,160), federal offenses (2,708), public order crimes (1,617), trafficking and smuggling (1,251), invading privacy (882), burglary (753) and weapon offenses (740).
“Border crime impacts all areas of Texas,” the Texas Department of Public Safety states. “As the data contained in these pages demonstrates, criminal illegal aliens account for a significant number of serious offenses in Texas. These criminals harm Texans and affect our safety and security.”
The report compiles data submitted by local law enforcement agencies for offenses and arrests reported to DPS using data collected through Texas’ Uniform Crime Reporting program.
Texas Government Code defines “Border crime” as “(a)ny crime involving transnational criminal activity that undermines public safety or security … committed by a person who is not a citizen or national of the United States and is not lawfully present in the United States” or that “is coordinated with or related to activities or crimes that occur or are committed in the United Mexican States.”
A border crime arrest refers to criminal offenses committed by foreign nationals who are in the U.S. illegally, as identified by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The report doesn’t include all arrests of illegal foreign nationals because not everyone arrested is in the DHS database. An individual’s lawful status is determined by matching fingerprints to a DHS database. If the arrestee’s fingerprints aren’t yet in the DHS database at the time of their Texas arrest, DHS isn’t able to biometrically verify their status and that information isn’t included in the report, DPS explains.
The data covers Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2023, with data updated as of March 30, 2024.
State law requires DPS to prepare and submit an annual report on border crime to the state legislature every year.
“Texas is fortunate to have a high number of law enforcement agencies that contribute to the UCR program,” DPS said; 1,401 Texas agencies contributed data to the UCR program. “Without their participation, reports such as this would not be meaningful.”
www.kxan.com – Ford McCracken – 2025-06-17 13:38:00
SUMMARY: The U.S. Supreme Court will soon decide if a high-level nuclear waste storage facility can be built in West Texas. Texas and Fasken Oil sued the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to block the temporary site, arguing federal law requires waste to remain onsite at reactors unless a permanent facility exists. Interim Storage Partners, seeking to build the site, counters the law doesn’t ban temporary storage. Currently, nuclear waste is stored at reactors due to the absence of a federal site, raising concerns about safety, transport risks, and the site’s proximity to West Texas oil fields. The debate highlights tensions between nuclear energy expansion and safety.
SUMMARY: The Climate Prediction Center now gives a 51% chance of an ENSO Neutral winter for 2025–2026, marking the first time this phase leads the forecast with over 50% confidence. La Niña odds are at 37%, and El Niño at just 12%, making El Niño winters effectively ruled out. ENSO Neutral means Pacific Ocean temperatures won’t drive winter patterns, making other, less predictable systems more influential. While La Niña could still occur, bringing drier, warmer weather to the South and wetter conditions to the Pacific Northwest, ENSO forecasts are only becoming reliable now, post-spring, as prediction accuracy improves through summer.
Texas lawmakers made significant changes to the state’s criminal justice system this session, prioritizing public safety while shelving broader reforms. They passed stricter bail laws, allowing judges to deny bail for certain violent felonies, but failed to approve similar measures for undocumented migrants and repeat offenders. Air conditioning in prisons and reforms to solitary confinement and mental health screenings stalled. Lawmakers enacted harsher penalties for organized retail theft and thefts targeting the elderly. They approved new ICE cooperation mandates for sheriffs, pay raises for some law enforcement officers, and use-of-force protections. Efforts to improve traffic stop data collection failed.
Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.
Texas made sweeping changes to bail reform, parole and reentry programs this past legislative session as part of its goal to keep violent repeat offenders behind bars.
Texas lawmakers proposed at least 121 bills that sought to increase criminal penalties by either creating mandatory minimum sentences or elevating punishments, according to the Texas District and County Attorneys Association. However, very few made it to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk.
Criminal justice reform and a bill that provides air conditioning in all Texas prisons also failed to gain traction.
Here’s what to know about what passed.
Stricter bail requirements
Texas lawmakers approved a sweeping package to overhaul the state’s bail system, a longtime Abbott priority that had repeatedly failed in the House. Senate Joint Resolution 5, which voters will have the final say on in November, would amend the state constitution to require judges, in certain cases, to deny bail to individuals accused of committing specific violent felonies. Senate Bill 9 will limit who is eligible for a cashless bond.
Under the Texas Constitution, almost everyone who is arrested has the right to be released on bail. The limited exceptions are people charged with capital murder and those accused of certain repeat felonies or bail violations. According to the U.S. Constitution and the U.S. Supreme Court, bail cannot be excessive, and pretrial detention should not be considered the default unless the defendant is a flight or safety risk, as criminal defendants are legally presumed innocent.
Jail reforms left on the table
Texas jails have been facing several issues over the years, including overcrowding, cooling problems during the summer, suicides and violence. Lawmakers passed a few bills to address some of these problems while ignoring others.
House Bill 3006, which would have required the installation of climate control in phases by the end of 2032, passed the House in early May. However, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the leader of the Texas Senate, never assigned it to a committee in the upper chamber, allowing the bill to miss a key deadline to advance.
This is the third consecutive time that a bill to install air conditioning in all Texas prisons has failed to gain approval from lawmakers.
House Bill 1826, which would have required jails and prisons across the state to screen each woman who is pregnant or has given birth in the past year for depression, never made it out of the House committee. House Bill 3725 would have reformed the use of solitary confinement by eliminating indefinite time in restricted housing for individuals solely based on their classification as a gang member, but the proposal wasn’t heard in a committee.
However, lawmakers did pass House Bill 413, which prohibits the pretrial detention of a defendant for longer than the maximum sentences they could receive if convicted. The bill doesn’t apply to defendants being held for mental health evaluations. The law will take effect in September.
Harsher punishments for some crimes
Texas lawmakers passed Senate Bill 1300 this session, which aims to address the $422 million in stolen goods and approximately $21 million in sales tax revenue that Texas lost to organized retail crime in 2022.
The bill increases the penalty for such crimes based on the value of the property stolen. Current law designates organized retail theft as a Class C misdemeanor, which does not permit jail time when the property taken is valued at less than $100. The bill will increase that to a Class B misdemeanor. As the value of property stolen increases, the punishment would rise, up to a first-degree felony punishable by life in prison if the total value of goods stolen exceeds $300,000.
Senate Bill 1281, which creates a specific offense for stealing mail receptacle keys or locks, with more substantial penalties for those who target elderly communities, also received approval from lawmakers.
However, House Bill 727, which would have heightened the punishment for burglarizing a vehicle when the person carrying it out has a firearm, burglarizes two or more vehicles, or uses a stolen vehicle to carry out the offense, was never brought to a vote in the House. House Bill 268, which would increase the criminal penalty for making specific false reports, such as hoax calls threatening a call for mass violence against schools, also didn’t make it out of committee.
Law enforcement salaries and collaborations with ICE
Texas lawmakers have made several changes to the way law enforcement operates within the state.
One of the more hotly debated bills this session was Senate Bill 8. The legislation would require sheriffs who run or contract out the operations of a jail to request and enter into agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which extend limited immigration authority to local law enforcement officers. The bill would cover approximately 234 of the state’s 254 counties, according to the bill’s author. This bill currently awaits Abbott’s signature.
Abbott also strongly supported and signed Senate Bill 2570, which establishes that a correctional facility guard or a peace officer has the right to use less-lethal force when necessary to control a situation. The governor said on social media that the bill was a response to protests occurring around the country and within the state over ICE raids.
Senate Bill 1321, by state Sen. Brent Hagenbuch, R-Denton, aims to increase the salaries of certain Texas Commission on Law Enforcement positions, such as peace officers, to align with those of comparable law enforcement positions, in hopes of improving retention. Abbott has already signed the bill, which will take effect in September.
However, House Bill 5228, by state Rep. Charlene Ward Johnson, D-Houston, which would have made the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, along with other law enforcement institutions in the state, develop policies to ensure the quality and accuracy of incident-based traffic stop data, failed to make it out of a Senate committee.
Big news: 20 more speakers join the TribFest lineup! New additions include Margaret Spellings, former U.S. secretary of education and CEO of the Bipartisan Policy Center; Michael Curry, former presiding bishop and primate of The Episcopal Church; Beto O’Rourke, former U.S. Representative, D-El Paso; Joe Lonsdale, entrepreneur, founder and managing partner at 8VC; and Katie Phang, journalist and trial lawyer.
The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Center-Left
The article from *The Texas Tribune* provides detailed, policy-focused reporting on Texas criminal justice legislation with a largely neutral tone. However, it subtly emphasizes stalled reforms—like prison air conditioning, mental health screening for incarcerated women, and restrictions on solitary confinement—highlighting the social consequences of legislative inaction. These framing choices, while factual, reflect a modest left-leaning perspective by focusing on civil rights and humanitarian concerns. Still, the article presents Republican-backed measures fairly and without overt criticism, maintaining a primarily informative style. This balanced yet reform-conscious framing suggests a Center-Left bias overall.
