Reporting Texas
News and features from UT-Austin's School of Journalism
bySheldon Munroe
Despite the federal government’s assertion that construction of the Big Bend border wall has stopped, locals say barrier construction both in the national park and greater region is still underway.
West Texas residents say damage is already visible to one of the most prestigious remaining American frontier landscapes after a months-long process that has involved no public consultation. They say that both public and private lands are being divided with great swaths about to become inaccessible even to owners.
“They’re still preparing to build physical walls and barriers in those areas,” said a retired Big Bend National Park ranger . “We don’t trust them.”
byErika Gonzalez
Four months after leaving the family detention center in Dilley, Kelly Vargas’ 6-year-old daughter still wakes up at night asking about “the bad ICE men.” Vargas, a Colombian mother who had lived in New York for more than a year before being detained in late 2025, is now trying to rebuild her life in Bogotá, Colombia. But the effects have stayed with her.
“She doesn’t forget,” Vargas said, adding that her daughter often asks, “Mom, do you remember when we were in jail?”
Others in Texas have described similar experiences. Immigration detention centers have drawn growing attention as advocates, lawyers and medical professionals say problems with health care, crowding and oversight are affecting people held in custody.
byMikhelia Williams
In Italy, they call it Texani style.
In New York City, cowboy boots walk runways and concrete sidewalks.
The Western look has traveled far from Texas. The weirder development is that Texas may no longer own it.
On a midafternoon on South Congress Avenue, the look is everywhere.
byMax Mazoch
Whitney Lauderdale has loved the beauty of the Texas Hill Country for as long as she can remember. It was the place that captured the heart of her grandfather, who purchased the 28-acre Comal County property Lauderdale lives on, and one that she hopes to pass to her two children.
“This is where we plan on spending our forever,” Lauderdale said.
It’s idyllic. But Lauderdale worries it may not be in years to come.
In the past year, Comal County residents were shocked to learn a new permit for a wastewater treatment facility had been proposed for a development in Fischer in the northern part of the county.