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In Lone Star 2.0, more than 3,000 undocumented immigrants have been arrested by Texas Department of Public Safety officers this year, according to records obtained by The Texas Tribune. As illegal border crossings plunge, state police are shifting their energies toward aiding the Trump administration’s mass deportation effort.
From late January through early September, DPS recorded 3,131 arrests by specialty teams created at the direction of Gov. Greg Abbott and previously unreported. Nearly all those arrests involve investigations into potential violations of federal immigration laws.
“Operation Lone Star 2.0 is underway statewide — with DPS personnel working to combat and interdict criminal activity with a nexus to the border,” DPS spokesperson Sheridan Nolen said in an email.
State and local police cannot arrest someone solely for being undocumented without agreements made with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security or the agencies under its umbrella, The Tribune reported.
NEARLY HALF OF TEXAS COUNTIES ARE MATERNALCARE DESERTS
A recent report concludes 47% of Texas counties are “maternity- care deserts,” The Dallas Morning News reported. The report from the nonprofit March of Dimes concludes those counties have no obstetric providers, birth centers, hospitals with obstetric units and no OB-GYNs or family doctors who practice obstetrics.
Further, another report indicates 93 of the state’s 160 rural hospitals do not have labor and delivery units.
Shortages of obstetric care occur throughout the state, regardless of geography, though rural areas are most affected. As a result, rural mothers are at much higher risk of death than mothers in urban areas, according to reports. In some areas, maternal-death rates in rural areas are nearly double the rates of urban areas, figures show.
The Legislature approved more than $300 million in funding for rural health care in hopes of boosting rural hospitals.
“Anything in the positive helps,” said Dr. Kia Parsi, executive director of Texas A&M’s Rural and Community Health Institute, “but we are not at the point where we have stabilized rural maternal health care.”
MEDIA ORGANIZATIONS WANT PAXTON DIVORCE RECORDS UNSEALED
Eight Texas news organizations are asking a state judge to unseal records in the divorce case of Attorney General Ken Paxton and his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney.
Lawyers for the news organizations argue the Paxtons are both public officials, the Houston Chronicle reported. Hearst Newspapers, owners of the Chronicle and several Texas newspapers, is one of the groups suing. Reporters argue the public has a legitimate interest in information regarding allegations of adultery and requests to disproportionately divide the couple’s property.
“The public has a compelling and legitimate interest in understanding the conduct of these public officers, the nature and extent of assets held by these long-serving public officers, and any allegations of fault, misconduct or abuse of trust — particularly where such issues may bear on the performance of official duties, the ethical obligations of office or AG Paxton’s service in current or future public office,” reads the filing by Tyler J. Bexley and Joel W. Reese of law firm Reese Marketos LLP.
Angela Paxton filed for divorce in July after 38 years of marriage, citing adultery as the reason. The case was sealed by a Collin County judge at her request.
Ken Paxton is running in the GOP primary next March against incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn.
TEA INVESTIGATING MORE THAN 280 COMPLAINTS OVER KIRK COMMENTS The Texas Education Agency is investigating more than 280 complaints against teachers accused of making inappropriate comments online after the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, The Texas Tribune reported. Abbott said on X that TEA is investigating teachers “whose actions called for or incite violence following the Charlie Kirk assassination.”
TEA has not specified what policy or ethics code would be violated if a teacher made what it considered an inappropriate comment. Agency Commissioner Mike Morath said he would recommend the State Board for Educator Certification suspend the licenses of those teachers.
“While all educators are held to a high standard of professionalism, there is a difference between comments made in poor taste and those that call for and incite further violence — the latter of which is clearly unacceptable,” Morath said.
At least six schools have already taken disciplinary action regarding comments made on Kirk’s death. Critics have called crackdowns “authoritarian,” and maintain such comments are protected by the free-speech clause of the First Amendment.
“What started with lawmakers weaponizing their platforms against civil servants has morphed into a statewide directive to hunt down and fire educators for opinions shared on their personal social-media accounts,” said Zeph Capo, president of the Texas’ American Federation of Teachers union.
DEMS NOT LINING UP TO TAKE ON ABBOTT IN 2026 Despite his approval rating being at an alltime low as he seeks a fourth term as Texas governor, Democrats are not lining up to challenge Abbott next year, the Houston Chronicle reported. U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crocket, D-Dallas, who has high name recognition, has said the only statewide race she is considering is for U.S. Senate. That Democratic primary already has two of the party’s most prominent young prospects: James Talarico and Colin Allred.
Abbott’s approval rating in August was 40%, the lowest since he took office in 2015.
“I think failing to run a serious candidate against Greg Abbott is a mistake,” said Matt Angle, a Democratic strategist. “There’s a sense he’s more vulnerable than any other time he’s been governor. He’s become such a polarizing figure.”
The governor has amassed a massive campaign war chest and has no serious Republican primary challengers to date. Some lesser-known Democrats are reportedly considering challenging Abbott, including state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin.
Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke, considered the state’s best-known Democrat, has not ruled out a rematch. He lost handily to Abbott in 2022.
Borders is a veteran award-winning Texas journalist. He published a number of community newspapers in Texas during a 30-year span, including in Longview, Fort Stockton, Nacogdoches, Lufkin and Cedar Park.
