The Texas Report 5/1

The Texas Report 5/1

What’s Happening:

• Mass shooting suspect in Cleveland, Texas on the run. (More here)

• Texas border city struggles with large arrival of migrants. (More here)

• Operation Lone Star Updates (More here)

• Texas Legislative Update

• Former President Donald Trump weighs in on Texas Property Tax Plan (More here)

• Austin Police Department and Texas DPS partnership comes under fire (More here)

Mass Shooting in Cleveland, Texas. (Violence Trigger Warning)

Friday night Francisco Oropeza fled after a shooting that killed five people, including an 8-year-old boy. San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said Saturday evening that authorities had widened the search to as far as 20 miles from the scene of the shooting. (More here)

What we know so far:

• The attack happened near the town of Cleveland, north of Houston, on a street where some residents say neighbors often unwind by firing off guns.

• Law enforcement believes the confrontation began after the victims approached the neighbor's fence and asked the suspect to stop shooting rounds.

• Victims were between the ages of 8 and 31. All believed to be from Honduras.

• Police recovered an AR-15-style rifle allegedly used in the shootings, but authorities are unsure if the gunman was carrying another weapon.

• The FBI & Governor Greg Abbott announced rewards for any information leading to the capture of the shooter. $80,000 from the FBI and $50,000 from Abbott.

Sheriff Capers said his deputies had been to Oropeza's home at least once before and spoken with him about "shooting his gun in the yard." At a Saturday evening news conference, the Sheriff said firing a gun on your property can be illegal but didn't add whether Oropeza had previously broken the law. Authorities have said the suspect could be anywhere now, and while investigators found clothes and a phone in a nearby rural area, tracking dogs had lost the scent.

Texas Border

Brownsville is facing shelter capacity constraints after thousands of migrants arrived last week. Officials said more than 15,000 migrants, mostly from Venezuela, illegally crossed the river near Brownsville since last week. Putting a significant strain on social services and forcing some overnight shelters to turn people away. (More here)

This is a significant increase from the 1,700 migrants encountered by Border Patrol agents over the first two weeks in April.

Gloria Chavez, Chief of the U.S. Border Patrol Rio Grande Valley Sector, explained, "It's quite concerning because the logistical challenge that we encounter is massive. The reason behind the increase is not immediately clear. However, Chavez said migrants are frustrated due to relying on a glitch-plagued government app that can allow them to seek asylum at a port of entry.

The uptick comes as the Biden administration plans to end pandemic-era asylum restrictions. U.S. authorities have said daily illegal crossings from Mexico could climb as high as 13,000 from about 5,200 in March.

Brownsville response:

• Officials in Brownsville issued a disaster declaration this week, following other Texas border cities that have done the same when facing large influxes of migrants like El Paso.

• A spokesperson for the Brownsville Police Department said, "We've never seen these numbers before."

• Title 42 is the public health authority allowing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to reject asylum claims and is set to end on May 11.

Across the state, many eyes are on the President, Governor, and local communities to how they continue to respond to the evolving border crisis.

Operation Lone Star Updates

Governor Abbott released a recent update on Texas multi-agency border security effort Operation Lone Star (OLS). Since the launch of the mission, OLS has led to:

• 369,000 illegal immigrant apprehensions

• 27,000 criminal arrests

• 25,000 felony charges

• 383 million lethal doses of fentanyl seized

Texas Highway Patrol officers made 8,721 traffic stops that involved a vehicle suspected of transporting illegal immigrants between January 1, 2021, and December 31, 2022. During those traffic stops, officers discovered an additional 39,100 illegal immigrants, of which roughly 900 were unaccompanied children.

Val Verde County Sheriff told the Washington Examiner that data from Border Patrol showed many illegal immigrants getting through the border without being stopped. From March 1 through March 15, 2023, Border Patrol agents in the Del Rio region apprehended 12,705 illegal immigrants. Border Patrol observed an additional 6,300 people crossing but could not intercept them.

The State of Texas is spending over $4 billion on border security efforts. That number is anticipated to increase for the 2024-25 biennium based on the proposed budgets by both the Texas House & Senate.

In the 2024-25 biennium, both budgets project spending $4.639 billion on border security. Most of that money flows to the Texas Military Department, Department of Public Safety, and the Trusteed Programs within the Office of the Governor for things like grants to local communities to support border prosecution.

TEXAS LEGISLATIVE UPDATES

The Texas House will consider Senate Bill (S.B) 14 by Senator Donna Campbell (R-San Antonio) and sponsored by Representative Tom Oliverson (R-Cypress) this Tuesday. S.B. 14 prohibits physicians and other health care providers from performing procedures or providing treatments for gender transitioning, gender reassignment, or gender dysphoria for children. This legislation would also prohibit the use of public money or public assistance for these procedures.

More specifically, S.B. 14 would amend the Health and Safety Code to:

• Prohibit state-licensed physicians or health care providers from assisting or helping someone below eighteen transition their gender.

• Prohibit surgeries like mastectomies, castration, vasectomy, phalloplasty, vaginoplasty, and more.

• Prevent the providing, prescribing, or administering of drugs inducing transient or permanent infertility. (Puberty blockers)

The bill would exempt from prohibition prescription drugs to a child that is part of a continuing course of treatment that the child began before June 1, 2023, if the child attended 12 or more sessions of mental health counseling or psychotherapy during a period of at least six months before the date the course of treatment began.

There are likely to be several significant protests by members of the LGBTQ community, and the votes will be primarily on party line.

Other legislation up Monday & Tuesday includes:

• S.B. 10 by Senator Joan Huffman (R-Houston) is intended to be a one-time cost-of-living adjustment for retired teachers. It would provide a one-time payment of $5,000 for eligible annuitants who are at least 70 years of age. And the bill would increase the active member contribution rate and state contribution rate to nine percent.

• H.B. 19 by Representative Andrew Murr (R-) would create a specific business trial court to handle issues in which the amount in controversy exceeds $10 million. These judges would have similar powers to district judges but would be appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate instead of elected.

• S.B. 839 by Senator Royce West (D-Dallas) would establish a witness protection unit within the Department of Public Safety.

DONALD TRUMP

Former President Donald Trump decided to wade into Texas politics Sunday evening with a Truth Social post advocating for the Senate/Lieutenant Governor Patrick's property tax plan.

Trump said in a very similar style to language recently used by Patrick, "I fully support Dan Patrick's and the Senate's, $100K senior homestead exemption & $70k for those under 65. "California Dade's" plan is a disaster for Texas. House members - vote for the homestead exemption - $27 billion bigger tax cut than House plan!

California Dade is a recent nickname from the Lieutenant Governor for the Texas Speaker. Now while it does seem a little strange for the former President to be wading into Texas politics, it certainly isn't the first example, as Trump released attack memos in 2021 during a Texas special session after the Speaker chose not to push certain election audit legislation Trump wanted.

Property taxes have been one of the marquee issues of the legislative session, and the House & Senate have vastly different proposals on attempting to alleviate the burden felt by Texas homeowners. If anything is likely to cause a special session, it's this issue, as both chambers seem far from a compromise.

Here is a good summary of the differences between the two property tax plans. (More here) Essentially:

• The House plan proposes adding $12 billion to Texas school districts so that they, in turn, can lower their property taxes on home and business owners. For the owner of a $350,000 home, the package would result in more than $1,000 in savings over two years, according to Phelan's office. Additionally, the plan looks to tighten the state's "appraisal cap" from 10% to 5%.

• The Senate seeks to raise the Homestead exemption from $40,000 to $70,000 and give seniors an additional $20,000 bump with tax credits to businesses.

Austin Police Department

The Austin Police Department (APD) is facing a major staffing crisis as it is down nearly 300 officers from its authorized force strength. To help address this crisis, a partnership was created between APD and the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) for the state to provide additional patrol support in Austin.

Some of the first data reports have been released, resulting in an outcry from various Austin city council members and criminal justice advocates who believe that DPS may be targeting specific communities of color.

The arrest data shows that nearly nine out of ten people arrested on misdemeanor charges by DPS since the collaboration began on March 30 are Black or Hispanic. The data came from the Travis County Attorney's Office and was compiled by prosecutors who went through the 167 arrest affidavits since the partnership started.

The new data sparked a backlash from some council members and criminal justice leaders in the community. Travis County Attorney Delia Garza met Thursday with City Manager Jesús Garza, Mayor Kirk Watson, Police Chief Joseph Chacon, and other Travis County criminal justice and law enforcement leaders to discuss the issue.

Watson said, "Data is essential to ensuring that our public safety is reflecting Austin values." "We are committed to making sure that the data is readily available to our community. ... While the county attorney's data raises important questions, it doesn't tell the whole story. APD and DPS need to do that."

However, in prior listening sessions about the partnership, APD explained that DPS is patrolling the areas with the most calls for service. So, if those areas are predominantly minority communities, it may explain the disparity.

Stakeholders will meet Tuesday for a briefing that should include DPS & APD to discuss this partnership going forward, as several council members have expressed significant concerns. (More here)