How far beyond “thoughts and prayers” is Abbott willing to go to curb gun violence?
THIS WEEK: Activists on Thursday took the paid sick leave fight to San Antonio. San Antonians turned in 144,000 signatures to city hall — roughly twice the amount necessary to get mandatory paid sick leave on November’s ballot. “For two months, we’ve been canvassing communities,” said Alex Birnel, an organizer with MOVE San Antonio, a youth organization that helped gather the signatures. “We heard the message loud and clear: Paid sick time is coming to San Antonio.”
In “The Surge,” Melissa del Bosque and G.W. Schulz take stock of how politicians have turned South Texas into one of the most heavily policed regions of the nation, changing day-to-day life for hundreds of thousands of Texans.
Far from securing the border or dealing a blow to Mexican drug cartels, the state’s expensive border-security operation has coarsened life in the Valley and other border communities. It’s created a climate of fear for law-abiding citizens while trapping undocumented people in their homes — and it’s turned state law enforcement officers into agents of harassment.
In addition, an Observer analysis finds that DPS’ spy planes are flying over Texas communities with little oversight. View our interactive map to see if they've flown over your neighborhood.
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From the archives
Death on Sevenmile Road
Melissa del Bosque chronicles the tragic consequences of the rush to militarize the U.S.-Mexico border.
From the 2015 story: "The pickup truck accelerated. Jose Isabel Coj Cumar could see the glow of the sun through the thin black fabric that concealed him and the five other men in the bed of the truck. They lay staggered side by side, packed so tight Jose Isabel could scarcely move. The truck swerved then drove faster, and now he heard the wail of a siren and understood they were being pursued. His heart began to race. Then a sound like rocks pelting the side of the truck, and a scream so terrible he felt a chill in the sweltering heat."
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