Social Policy

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ICE Won't Be Nabbing Illegals At Hurricane Shelters

Learning How to Survive (at) CEP

HISD and a paid trustee get entangled in the spreading empire of a private firm touting safe alternative schools for troubled kids. So why are some students and parents so scared?

Gloom And Doom For Uninsured Texas Children

HISD and a paid trustee get entangled in the spreading empire of a private firm touting safe alternative schools for troubled kids. So why are some students and parents so scared?

Texas Receives A Gentlemen's C For Its Emergency Rooms

The bright side of the latest report by the American College of Emergency Physicians is that Texas did not get a failing grade in its efforts to provide emergency-room access and care to residents.On the other hand, we're not making the Honor Roll or anything.ACEP gave Texas a C, placing it 29th amo ... More >>

"A Flaky Deal"

To snare a federal grant, the city of Houston overstated the extent of lead poisoning among children in poor neighborhoods. But now that it's got the money, the city can't figure out how to help those who need it most

Cozy Ties

In the battle to privatize welfare services in Texas, corporate bidders have enlisted some inside help

All in a Day's Work

Lockheed Martin's welfare-reform efforts have cost taxpayers across the country millions. So naturally, Lockheed Martin has been hired to train and find jobs for the poor in Houston and Harris County.

Deporting Disparities

Immigration law divides Central Americans

Shin Splits

Shiatsu doc closes up shop

SPECIAL APRIL FOOLS' DAY EDITION

Shiatsu doc closes up shop

Tom Tancredo and Coconuts

Shiatsu doc closes up shop

Was Cesar Chavez Really Against Illegal Immigration?

Shiatsu doc closes up shop

The DREAM Act Might Be Dead, But These Kids' Hopes Are Not

They are American in everything but name. They can go to college in Texas and improve themselves. Doesn't matter. At the end of the day, they're just illegal immigrants without social security numbers or futures.

College Immaterial for High School Students in Vocational Training

Good paying jobs, no huge loan burdens, exciting course work — the new vo-tech attracts more and more hi-tech students

Immigration: Cubans Enter U.S. at Texas-Mexico Border

Good paying jobs, no huge loan burdens, exciting course work — the new vo-tech attracts more and more hi-tech students

Back to the Future

Andrea Bowers presents life before Roe v. Wade

Children at Risk

Andrea Bowers presents life before Roe v. Wade

Best Democrat

District 147 State Representative Garnet Coleman

Million-Dollar Babies

Some CEP students have been locked in for years

Needling the Mayor

Former drug czar Lee Brown has trouble negotiating a question about why there's no needle-exchange program for addicts in Houston

Paying the Price

Hospital district officials wanted a simple one-sentence policy on immigrant health care. What they got instead was a criminal probe and plenty of politics.

The Bored Patrol

Border Patrol agents in South Texas contend they are getting paid to stay put as illegal immigrants go around them. Is this how the much-hyped crackdown along the Rio Grande is supposed to work?

See George Educate

A Texas journalist gives George W. Bush his due

Placed in the Discard Pile

About to be booted from the Fourth Ward, poor people are being told they are too poor to qualify for public housing in Houston

Old and In The Way

How slow turnings of tiny bureaucratic gears grind up real Texans

Shipley Do-Nuts Pays Up For Using Illegal Immigrants

​Shipley Do-Nuts, the oddly spelled longtime Houston morning favorite, will be forking over a ton of cash to the feds for using illegal immigrants in the workplace.The U.S. Attorney's office has announced the company will pay a $250,000 fine and forfeit $1.3 million to the government for harboring ... More >>

Marriage and...what else? Illegal Immigration...again!

​Shipley Do-Nuts, the oddly spelled longtime Houston morning favorite, will be forking over a ton of cash to the feds for using illegal immigrants in the workplace.The U.S. Attorney's office has announced the company will pay a $250,000 fine and forfeit $1.3 million to the government for harboring ... More >>

If Halloween Is Coming, So Are Offensive Costumes

​The "Illegal Alien" costume causing uproar amongst immigrant rights activists, anti-immigrant supporters and free speech advocates is the first major faux pas of this Halloween season. While anti-immigrant supporters are scrambling to find the costume, immigrant rights activists are calling for ... More >>

SPECIAL MINUTEMAN PROJECT EDITION

​The "Illegal Alien" costume causing uproar amongst immigrant rights activists, anti-immigrant supporters and free speech advocates is the first major faux pas of this Halloween season. While anti-immigrant supporters are scrambling to find the costume, immigrant rights activists are calling for ... More >>

Even Rick Perry Can't Support Arizona's Immigration Law

Rick Perry appeals to Move On, ACORN and Daily Kos​People, if there is one rule in life, it's this: If Rick Friggin' Perry thinks you've gone too far to the right, it's time to check yourself before you wreck yourself.Perry's office has just issued a statement saying the controversial new Arizona ... More >>

Former Fed Prakash Khatri Says The Immigration Fast Track Takes 130 Years, On Average

Approximate time on hold remaing...130 years​Some people seem to believe that for a Mexican immigrant to become a U.S. citizen and come here legally, all he needs to do is to sign some forms, pay a fee, and then wait a little while. "Eventually they'll have their day," these people say, "just like ... More >>

Special Potpourri Edition

Approximate time on hold remaing...130 years​Some people seem to believe that for a Mexican immigrant to become a U.S. citizen and come here legally, all he needs to do is to sign some forms, pay a fee, and then wait a little while. "Eventually they'll have their day," these people say, "just like ... More >>

Badlands

From Ground Zero of the immigration crisis along the Mexican border

What's a Little Marriage Fraud Between Amigos?

It's a felony, sure, but in the absence of real immigration reform, some young, assimilated illegal immigrants see it as their best path to citizenship.

Welcome to Mi Pueblito, Washington

The small-town, family-farm lifestyle that we love to celebrate is being preserved — thanks to Mexican immigrants.

Hip-Hop for HIV Awareness Concert

The small-town, family-farm lifestyle that we love to celebrate is being preserved — thanks to Mexican immigrants.

Seized

Inside the brutal world of America's kidnapping capital

Asylum Denied

Unlike refugees from other troubled countries, only a fraction of Mexicans seeking U.S. asylum are accepted – no matter how horrible their wounds or their stories.

State Rep Leo Berman: A "Birther" Bill And Oh, So Much More

Leo Berman: Probably not a big Jon Stewart fan​Texas, we have our birther bill!! Thanks to Rep. Leo Berman of the Panhandle Tyler, the Texas legislature will take up a bill saying no one can be on the ballot in Texas for president (or vice-president! All bases covered!!) unless they present t ... More >>

FAIR-y Tales

Russell Pearce and Other Illegal-Immigration Populists Rely on Misleading, Right-Wing Reports to Scapegoat Immigrants and Terrify Penny-Pinched Americans.

FAIR-y Tales: Mexican Macro-economics

Russell Pearce and Other Illegal-Immigration Populists Rely on Misleading, Right-Wing Reports to Scapegoat Immigrants and Terrify Penny-Pinched Americans.

Return to Sender

What Would Comprehensive Immigration Reform Look Like If the Feds Got Off Their Duffs?

Cactus Poaching

What Would Comprehensive Immigration Reform Look Like If the Feds Got Off Their Duffs?

Lack Of Social Safety Net Tying Many Musicians To Day Jobs

"I fantasize sometimes that my musical career would hit gold and help us escape these grim realities, but it's not something I really expect to happen." ​There are few issues in the current political climate more fraught with contention than whether or not the U.S. government will take a more ... More >>

Planned Parenthood: Punched in the Uterus by Misguided Texas Senate

More bad news for women who rely on Planned Parenthood.​A Texas Senate subcommittee wrangled the vulvas of Texas women into a chokehold yesterday with its latest assault on Planned Parenthood. Republican Senator Robert Deuell, who is a physician, introduced a bill to a three-member subcommitte ... More >>

May Day Immigration Rally Draws Thousands (and Opponents) in Houston

Photos by Christopher Patronella, Jr.​Some three thousand people joined together in Houston on Sunday to take part in May Day rallies held all across the nation as the battle over immigration laws has taken center stage. Demonstrators blanketed the streets around Burnett Bayland Park as they flow ... More >>

Texas: Immigration Detention Capital of the Country

In Texas, illegal immigration is often extremely lucrative.​Texas is number one again today. To our trophy case of great honors, we add Most Beholden To Private Corporations, When It Comes To Illegal Immigration. The Detention Watch Network recently released aggregated data about the big busi ... More >>

More Than 20,000 Deported from South Texas in 2011, Feds Say

La Migra piles up the numbers.​The federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency announced its deportation numbers today for fiscal 2011, which ended in September. Nationwide almost 400,000 were deported -- an ICE record -- and more than 20,000 were deported from South Texas, the agency ... More >>

Ron Paul and Sci-Fi

La Migra piles up the numbers.​The federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency announced its deportation numbers today for fiscal 2011, which ended in September. Nationwide almost 400,000 were deported -- an ICE record -- and more than 20,000 were deported from South Texas, the agency ... More >>