News from the South - Texas News Feed

The Perils of Offshoring Justice

Published

4 months ago

May 8, 2025

www.texasobserver.org – Orlando J. Pérez – 2025-05-08 09:19:00

President Donald Trump’s recent Oval Office photo-op with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, who calls himself the “world’s coolest dictator”, was staged to unveil a shiny new “alliance” against crime. Both leaders congratulated each other for achieving something U.S. courts forbid at home: rounding up alleged gang members (including longtime U.S. residents with pending protection orders) and locking them away offshore. When pressed about a Maryland man who had been deported in defiance of a court ruling, Bukele shrugged off the case, implying he couldn’t risk letting a “terrorist” back into the United States—and Trump nodded in approval. The exchange distilled a stark message: Human rights are expendable when the political spectacle is good television.

Since March 2022, El Salvador has operated under a rolling “state of exception” that suspends basic constitutional rights. In just three years, more than 110,000 Salvadorans—nearly 2 percent of the country’s population—have been put behind bars. This draconian crackdown gives El Salvador the highest incarceration rate in the world. Official homicide rates have indeed plummeted by over 80 percent under Bukele’s campaign, but that drop has come in tandem with the collapse of due process. Mass arrests are often indiscriminate, mass hearings process hundreds of defendants at once, and detainees meet lawyers only fleetingly, if at all. At least 261 prisoners perished inside Salvadoran prisons during the crackdown, according to the human rights group Cristosal. Reports have emerged of abuse, torture, and medical neglect of those swept up in Bukele’s anti-gang dragnet.

El Salvador’s flagship “mega-prison,” the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), epitomizes President Bukele’s hardline approach. Built to hold 40,000 inmates in eight fortress-like pavilions, CECOT keeps prisoners in near-total isolation. Inmates receive no family visits and are never allowed outdoors; there are no workshops or educational programs to rehabilitate offenders. Bukele’s own justice minister once remarked that those sent to CECOT will never return to their communities—that the only way out is in a coffin. Harsh images of tattooed prisoners hunched together, shuffling in shackles, are routinely broadcast on government social media. These dystopian visuals have become Bukele’s calling card in the name of “security.”

What began as a Salvadoran experiment in iron-fisted policing has now mutated into a formal bilateral program. The U.S. government is actively funding and facilitating the offshoring of detainees to Bukele’s prison state. U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen, who recently visited the country, said that the Trump administration had quietly offered to wire about $15 million to El Salvador to underwrite the costs of warehousing U.S. deportees (with at least $4 million already spent). News reports have also confirmed an initial $6 million agreement for the first year of this arrangement. Custody of detainees effectively shifts the instant a charter plane lifts off U.S. soil—once airborne, shackled migrants become Bukele’s prisoners, placed beyond the reach of American courts or oversight.

Bukele’s “iron fist” security model is not contained to El Salvador—it’s becoming a regional export. Honduras has announced plans to build a 20,000-bed mega-prison of its own, explicitly citing Bukele’s success as inspiration. In Ecuador, President Daniel Noboa boasts that mirroring Salvadoran tactics (mass detentions and emergency measures) helped shave dozens of percentage points off the murder rate in Guayaquil, and arguably helped him secure reelection. Analysts at the International Institute for Strategic Studies warned of a “due process contagion.” Once mass incarceration and militarized crackdowns become the go-to metric for public safety, governments across the region begin normalizing states of exception, purging high courts, and erasing judicial oversight in the name of fighting crime. In other words, democratic erosion becomes contagious.

Far from acting as a brake on this trend, the United States has become an accelerant. By bankrolling El Salvador’s excesses and broadcasting the dramatic footage for domestic political gain, Washington is sending a signal that rights-free “security” can be not only tolerated but internationally legitimized. Each cash transfer tells regional leaders that outsourcing mass detention is a billable service; each made-for-TV deportation convoy gives authoritarians a propaganda boost. This feedback loop reinforces ever-harsher tactics and sidelines voices (judges, journalists, human rights defenders) that insist on constitutional limits. American credibility on the rule of law erodes when taxpayer dollars subsidize abuses that even the U.S. State Department has condemned.

This extraordinary deportation-to-CECOT pipeline might sound like a distant foreign affair, but Texas is directly entangled in its operation, and stands to bear some of the fallout. The logistics of these renditions run straight through the Lone Star State. In mid-March, immigration officials quietly shuttled hundreds of detainees from across the country to a small airport in Harlingen as part of the first mass transfer to El Salvador. Charter flights carrying Venezuelan and Central American migrants departed from Dallas, El Paso, Phoenix, and other cities, all converging on Harlingen as a staging ground. Within 24 hours, multiple jets then took off from the Texas border city to El Salvador, delivering planeloads of shackled men into Bukele’s custody. Such Saturday deportation flights are highly unusual, as is the covert route through Harlingen, according to a watchdog advocacy group that tracks ICE Air charters.

On the ground, Texas families are feeling the human toll. Many of those swept up have deep roots in U.S. communities, and their sudden removal leaves broken homes behind. Children come home from school to find a parent gone, with no prospect of visitation, given that their loved one is now locked in a foreign prison thousands of miles away. Families and legal advocates are left scrambling, often with scant information—the detainees essentially disappear into CECOT, their fate largely in the hands of Salvadoran guards.

There are tangible economic stakes for Texas. Our state hosts one of the country’s largest Salvadoran communities—roughly 15 percent of the entire U.S.-Salvadoran diaspora—and their Texas paychecks flow south week after week. In 2023, Salvadorans living abroad sent a record $8.18 billion home—about 24 percent of El Salvador’s GDP—and an estimated $1.1 billion of that originated in Texas alone, largely from the Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan areas. Those Texas-earned dollars stock neighborhood tiendas, pay school fees, and keep household budgets afloat from San Salvador to La Unión. When breadwinners in Houston’s Gulfton district or Dallas’s Oak Cliff are yanked from their jobs and diverted to a Salvadoran cell, that lifeline snaps—impoverishing relatives abroad while simultaneously draining spending power and local tax revenue from communities across Harris, Dallas, and Hidalgo counties.

Texans should understand that this isn’t just someone else’s problem. Our state has a stake in this drama. It’s our tax dollars helping pay for secret flights out of our airports, our neighbors and coworkers who are disappearing into overseas prisons, and our nation’s credibility on the line. We know from history that democracies endure by rejecting the false choice between security and freedom. A durable social contract protects both.

By contrast, outsourcing constitutional constraints for short-term optics is a tempting shortcut—but one whose costs will boomerang. The longer the United States bankrolls and applauds this “iron fist” illusion, the faster that illusion will spread across a region already battered by insecurity and disillusionment with democracy. Ultimately, sacrificing the rule of law for a made-for-TV spectacle is a devil’s bargain. It may offer momentary political gain, but it leaves behind broken families, weakened institutions, and a more dangerous hemisphere for everyone, including here in Texas.

The post The Perils of Offshoring Justice appeared first on www.texasobserver.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: Left-Leaning

This article expresses a clear ideological stance, critiquing the actions of both U.S. President Donald Trump and El Salvador President Nayib Bukele in relation to their partnership on anti-crime policies, particularly the human rights violations associated with Bukele’s crackdown. The tone is highly critical, portraying the U.S. government’s involvement in these actions as a harmful endorsement of authoritarian tactics, undermining constitutional rights. The framing emphasizes the erosion of democratic values and due process, presenting a negative view of the collaboration. This aligns with a left-leaning perspective that advocates for human rights and due process over security-focused policies that may violate civil liberties.

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News from the South - Texas News Feed

Bevo will not travel to Ohio for the Longhorns’ showdown against the Buckeyes. Here’s why

Published

14 hours ago

August 28, 2025

Staff Editor

www.kxan.com – Abigail Jones – 2025-08-28 13:42:00

SUMMARY: The Texas Longhorns begin their season Saturday against Ohio State in Columbus, but their live mascot, Bevo—a 2,100-pound steer—won’t attend. Handler Ricky Brennes explained that traveling to Ohio early in the school year would disrupt students in the Silver Spurs Alumni Association, who manage Bevo, and the long trip isn’t ideal for the steer. The 18-hour drive requires multiple stops for Bevo to stretch and rest in pastures overnight, as he doesn’t stay in the trailer overnight. Bevo is expected to appear at the Longhorns’ next three home games starting September 6.

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The post Bevo will not travel to Ohio for the Longhorns' showdown against the Buckeyes. Here's why appeared first on www.kxan.com

News from the South - Texas News Feed

DHS waives environmental laws to build more border wall through wildlife tracts in South Texas

Published

20 hours ago

August 28, 2025

Staff Editor

www.kxan.com – Sandra Sanchez – 2025-08-28 07:28:00

SUMMARY: The Department of Homeland Security, led by Secretary Kristi Noem, is waiving numerous environmental and health regulations to expedite construction of five miles of border wall through wildlife refuges in South Texas’s Rio Grande Valley. These waivers affect protected areas within the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, threatening endangered species and habitats. Environmentalists criticize the move, highlighting the violation of 31 laws, including the Endangered Species Act and Clean Water Act. Despite historically low border apprehensions, DHS insists the construction is vital for security. Critics argue the wall disrupts wildlife corridors and targets federal lands to avoid legal hurdles, causing significant ecological harm.

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The post DHS waives environmental laws to build more border wall through wildlife tracts in South Texas appeared first on www.kxan.com

News from the South - Texas News Feed

About 750 new laws will go into effect in Texas on Sept. 1

Published

22 hours ago

August 28, 2025

Staff Editor

feeds.texastribune.org – By Alex Nguyen – 2025-08-28 05:00:00

By Alex Nguyen, The Texas Tribune

Aug. 28, 2025

“More than 800 new laws will go into effect in Texas on Sept. 1. Here are some of the significant ones.” was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.

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More than 800 new laws are about to take effect in Texas, and they are set to bring sweeping changes to the state’s education systems, water infrastructure and more.

Gov. Greg Abbott signed 1,155 bills that came out of the regular legislative session, including over 200 laws that went into effect immediately such as the school cellphone ban, the abortion ban clarification, property tax cut and increased oversight over the energy grid. Meanwhile, some won’t activate until next year or until voters approve constitutional amendments in November, such as stricter bail policies and a $3 billion dementia research fund. In addition, there are 140 bills that the governor didn’t take action on, including 34 that took effect immediately.

Most, however, will start on Sept. 1, the traditional date for laws passed during the regular session. Here are some notable measures that will soon take effect:

Senate Bill 1 lays out the state’s new $338 billion two-year spending plan, with over 70% of the budget being reserved for education and health and human services. Some notable parts include spending to maintain and provide property tax cuts, a new school voucher program, additional funding for public schools, as well as investments in the state’s energy, water and broadband infrastructure.

The plan also initially included a $60 million measure that would have let Texas enter a federal summer lunch program for low-income kids, but Abbott vetoed it due to “significant uncertainty regarding federal matching rates for this and other similar programs.”

Senate Bill 2 will create one of the country’s largest school voucher programs, allowing parents to pay for their children’s accredited private school tuition or other education-related expenses with public tax dollars. In most cases, each child will receive just over $10,000 per year, though students with disabilities could receive up to $30,000 in additional funding. Wealthier families with children already in private schools could also participate.

Texas can spend up to $1 billion during its upcoming two-year budget cycle, though the program’s cost could rise significantly afterwards.

The law’s passage followed years of fighting between GOP lawmakers, who framed the issue as providing school choice to parents, and Democrats and rural Republicans who said vouchers would harm public schools. Abbott threw his weight behind the effort to elect more pro-voucher Republicans and succeeded last year. SB 2 takes effect on Sept. 1, but the voucher program itself isn’t expected to launch until the 2026-27 school year.

House Bill 2 will provide about $8.5 billion in new money to public schools, as districts across the state tackle long-running challenges following years of stagnant funding. From this pot, more than $4 billion will go toward raising educator’s pay. The additional dollars will also be used for educator preparation, special education, safety requirements and early childhood learning. A significant part of the law activated immediately, while another big chunk will take effect on Sept. 1. Some will roll out in future years.

Senate Bill 10 will require the visible display of the Ten Commandments on donated posters that are at least 16 by 20 inches in public school classrooms, which are attended by around 5.5 million students in Texas. While supporters said Christian teachings are important to understanding American history, critics said this law undermines the separation of church and state. Such laws have already faced legal challenges in Texas and other states. They include an Aug. 20 ruling from U.S. District Judge Fred Biery, which temporarily blocks the measure from taking effect for nearly a dozen school districts including Austin, Houston and Plano.

“This issue is likely to get to the United States Supreme Court,” Biery said prior to the case’s opening statements in San Antonio. Texas is expected to appeal his ruling.

Senate Bill 12 will extend the ban on diversity, equity and inclusion policies to K-12 schools. In particular, it will prohibit school districts from factoring race, ethnicity, gender identity or sexual orientation into hiring decisions. It will also bar schools from offering instructions, programs and guidance that focus on sexual orientation or gender identity, including sponsoring student clubs such as Gender and Sexuality Alliance. The law’s backers said the legislation gives parents more control over their children’s education, while critics said it targets and censors marginalized groups, such as LGBTQ students. Some civil rights groups including the ACLU of Texas have vowed to fight the law in court.

Senate Bill 13 will give parents and school boards more power over what students can access in public school libraries. These boards can also delegate this oversight process if 50 parents in the same district sign a petition for the creation of a local school advisory council. Supporters said the law will protect students from inappropriate content and give parents more control over what their children consume, while critics said it will lead to increased censorship of certain topics such as gender and race. Texas was already among the top states for book bans in recent years, according to PEN America.

Senate Bill 37 will give politically appointed regents more power over public universities, including by granting them more say over the hiring of administrators, as well as over some responsibilities that were traditionally held by faculty members. It will also create an office that can investigate universities for failures to comply with state laws, such as regarding DEI initiatives. The law’s backers said it is needed to tackle what they consider to be liberal bias in universities and better align them with Texas’ workforce demands. Critics, however, said the law will threaten academic freedom and undermine research.

House Bill 33, authored by Republican state Rep. Don McLaughlin who was mayor during the Uvalde school shooting, will require law enforcement agencies across Texas to establish crisis response policies. Among several changes, the law will compel school districts and local law enforcement to meet annually in order to assess their emergency operations plans, resources and capabilities. It will mandate law enforcement agencies and emergency medical service providers to complete training programs on how to respond to active shooters at primary and secondary schools. And following an actual shooting, these responders will also have to file a report detailing and evaluating their actions within several months to facilitate faster public access to information.

Senate Bill 7 will create a framework for funding water projects through the Texas Water Development Board and providing oversight over them, amid a broad effort to tackle the state’s looming water crisis. Certain sections of the law would take effect in September 2027, if voters approve the constitutional amendment outlined by House Joint Resolution 7 in November. This ballot measure, if accepted, would allocate $1 billion each year from the state’s sales and use tax revenue to the Texas Water Fund between 2027 and 2047.

Senate Bill 15, which received mixed support from both parties, will allow for certain single-family homes to be built on smaller lots. In particular, the law will ban big cities from requiring these homes to sit on more than 3,000 square feet of land, if they are being constructed in a new subdivision that is at least five acres in size. This is a drop from the 5,000 to 7,500 square feet of land that are commonly required in Texas’ largest cities — except for Houston — according to a Texas Tribune analysis. While some lawmakers were wary about interfering in local control over the issue, supporters said the change will allow cities to build more housing and keep costs down.

Senate Bill 17 will ban governments, companies and individuals who legally reside in China, North Korea, Russia and Iran from owning land and properties in Texas. The governor also has the authority to add countries or entities to the list. The prohibition doesn’t apply to U.S. citizens or permanent residents. The law’s backers said this is about protecting resources and national security from hostile nations, while critics said SB 17 is discriminatory and will lead to racial profiling.

Senate Bill 33 will ban cities or counties from using their money to support residents seeking abortions outside Texas. The law followed Austin City Council’s appropriation of $400,000 last year to help such individuals, prompting lawsuits from Attorney General Ken Paxton and a former council member. San Antonio City Council also allocated $500,000 for a reproductive justice fund in 2023, though it ended up not being used for abortion-related initiatives following a private lawsuit and much debate. It then approved $100,000 in April for abortion-related travel, which was temporarily blocked after Paxton sued.

House Bill 46 will expand the state’s medical marijuana program to include patients with chronic pain, traumatic brain injury and Crohn’s disease. Physicians will also be able to prescribe inhalation via vaporized and aerosol products, such as vapes. This expansion will take effect while the Texas Legislature contemplates whether to regulate or ban hemp-derived THC products.

House Bill 229 will define man and woman based on biological reproductive systems and apply that definition across the state code. Government entities collecting vital statistics information will also have to use it. The law’s backers said this is needed to protect women’s rights and align with executive orders declaring that there are only two sexes. Critics said the law erases trans people from state records in Texas, home to one of the country’s largest trans communities.

Senate Bill 835, titled “Trey’s Law,” will ban and void the use of nondisclosure agreements in sexual assault and human trafficking cases. The law’s name honors Trey Carlock, who signed an NDA after being abused as a child by a camp counselor. He died by suicide in 2019. His sister, Elizabeth Carlock Phillips, testified in support of the legislation.

Disclosure: ACLU Texas has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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Correction, Aug. 28, 2025 at 2:24 p.m.:

The story has been updated to correct the number of bills from the regular legislative session that will go into effect on Sept. 1. There are more than 800 bills, not 750.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/28/texas-new-laws-sept-1/.

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.

The post About 750 new laws will go into effect in Texas on Sept. 1 appeared first on feeds.texastribune.org

Political Bias Rating: Center-Right

The content presents a detailed overview of recent Texas legislation, highlighting laws typically supported by conservative and Republican lawmakers, such as school voucher programs, restrictions on diversity and inclusion policies, and measures emphasizing parental control in education. While it also notes some bipartisan support and includes perspectives from critics, the overall framing aligns more closely with center-right viewpoints, reflecting Texas’ current political climate and Republican governance.