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      Texas attorney general urges supporters to protest at capitol ahead of impeachment vote

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      The Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, has urged his supporters to protest at the state capitol when Republicans in the House of Representatives take up historic impeachment proceedings against him.The state House has set a Saturday vote to consider impeaching Paxton and suspending him from office over allegations of bribery, unfitness for office and abuse of public trust – just some of the accusations that have trailed him for most of his three terms.Paxton, a 60-year-old Republican, decried the impeachment proceedings as “political theater” that will “inflict lasting damage on the Texas House”, adding to his earlier claims that it was an effort to disfranchise the voters who returned him to office in November.“I want to invite my fellow citizens and friends to peacefully come let their voices be heard at the capitol tomorrow,” he said at a news conference, without taking any questions. “Exercise your right to petition your government.”The request echoes former president Donald Trump’s call for people to protest against his electoral defeat on 6 January 2021, when a mob violently stormed the US Capitol in Washington. Paxton, who spoke at the rally that preceded that insurrection, called his supporters to the Texas capitol on a day when the governor is supposed to deliver a Memorial Day address to lawmakers.If impeached, Paxton would be suspended from office immediately and the Republican governor, Greg Abbott, would appoint an interim replacement.The Republican-led committee spent months quietly investigating Paxton and recommended his impeachment on Thursday on 20 articles. Paxton has said the charges are based on “hearsay and gossip, parroting long-disproven claims”.As reported by the Texas Tribune, four investigators, testifying before the House general investigating committee on Wednesday, described in “painstaking and methodical detail” ways in which they said Paxton violated multiple state laws.Investigators said they believed Paxton wrongly spent official funds and misused his authority to help a friend and financial backer, the Tribune said.Prominent conservatives have been notably quiet on Paxton, but some began to rally around him on Friday. The chairman of the state Republican party, Matt Rinaldi, criticised the process as a “sham” and urged the Republican-controlled Senate to acquit Paxton if he stood trial in that chamber.“It is based on allegations already litigated by voters, led by a liberal speaker trying to undermine his conservative adversaries,” Rinaldi said, echoing Paxton’s criticism of Republican House speaker Dade Phelan. He said the Senate would have to “restore sanity and reason” by acquitting Paxton.It’s unclear how many supporters Paxton may have in the House, but only a simple majority is needed to impeach. That means just a small fraction of the 85 Republican members would need to vote against Paxton if all 64 Democrats do. Final removal would require two-thirds support in the Senate, where Paxton’s wife, Angela, is a member.The move to impeach Paxton sets up what could be a remarkably sudden downfall for one of the Republican party’s most prominent legal combatants, who in 2020 asked the US supreme court to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory.Paxton has been under FBI investigation for years over accusations that he used his office to help a donor. He was separately indicted on securities fraud charges in 2015, but has yet to stand trial.When the five-member committee’s investigation came to light on Tuesday, Paxton suggested it was a political attack by Phelan, calling for his resignation. Phelan’s office brushed this off as an attempt to “save face”. More

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      Texas panel hears allegations of years of misconduct by state attorney general

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      In a dramatic state hearing on Wednesday, the Republican attorney general of Texas, Ken Paxton, faced allegations of years of misconduct.As reported by the Texas Tribune, four investigators, testifying before the house general investigating committee, described in “painstaking and methodical detail” ways in which they said Paxton violated multiple state laws.Investigators said they believed Paxton wrongly spent official funds and misused his authority to help a friend and financial backer, the Tribune said.In response, Paxton maintained his innocence and vowed “to continue my fight for conservative Texas values”.Paxton was elected in 2014 and has won re-election twice. He has faced significant legal scrutiny before. In 2015, Paxton was indicted on securities fraud charges on which he is yet to stand trial. The US justice department is also investigating Paxton over alleged corruption, according to the Associated Press.In Texas, the state investigators initially looked into a possible $3.3m deal to settle a whistleblower complaint brought by four top deputies who were terminated after alleging Paxton pocketed bribes and engaged in other improper conduct.Andrew Murr, the committee chair, said the settlement would have to be allowed by the state. Murr also said a settlement would thwart a trial in which accusations against Paxton could be litigated publicly.Members of the committee asked whether legislators were being made part of a cover-up, the Tribune said.Murr said: “It is alarming and very serious having this discussion when millions of taxpayer dollars have been asked [for] to remedy what is alleged to be some wrong. That’s something we have to grapple with. It’s challenging.”While many accusations against Paxton were previously known, Wednesday’s hearing indicated the broad scope of investigations. The committee has extensive powers and can recommend punishment to the Texas house.Donna Cameron, one of the investigators, reportedly said some of Paxton’s alleged misconduct could constitute felony offenses including abuse of official capacity, misapplication of fiduciary property and misuse of public information.Investigators believe Paxton made top-level employees do tasks that helped his friend and donor, Nate Paul, a real-estate investor. Another allegation against Paxton is that he gave Paul an FBI dossier about an investigation into him, the Tribune reported.Paul did not immediately respond to a Guardian request for comment.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionMaintaining his innocence, Paxton claimed a politically motivated effort to “sabotage my work”.“The false testimony of highly partisan Democrat [sic] lawyers with the goal of manipulation and misleading the public is reprehensible,” Paxton said on Twitter. “Every allegation is easily disproved, and I look forward to continuing my fight for conservative Texas values.”Paxton has long faced criticism and legal scrutiny. Recently, his investigation of gender-affirming care for youth prompted doctors at an adolescent medicine department in Austin to leave the facility en masse.Paxton alleged the investigation was needed because care children were receiving at Dell children’s clinic was illegal, due to their age.While gender-affirming care for minors is legal in Texas, Paxton and the rightwing governor, Greg Abbott, have described such treatment as child abuse and sought to punish providers and guardians through other legal avenues.Last summer, on the day Roe v Wade was overturned, Paxton issued a notice to encourage local prosecutors to swiftly bring criminal charges against Texans who help people obtain abortions.In February, a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction, barring several prosecutors from pursuing organizations that assist with out-of-state abortion care. More

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      Republican bill requiring display of Ten Commandments in Texas schools fails

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      Republicans in Texas failed to pass legislation that would have required the Ten Commandments to be prominently displayed in every public school classroom.The controversial bill, authored by the Republican state senator Phil King, would have required schools to display the Old Testament text “in a conspicuous place in each classroom”, in a durable poster or frame.Passed by the Texas senate last week, the bill failed in the house. But it represented another sign of just how far to the right the conservative-majority Texas legislature is willing to go.Civil rights groups condemned the bill as an assault on religious freedom and the separation of church and state guaranteed by the US constitution.In a statement, the Texas chapter of the American Civil Liberties of Union said: “Parents should be able to decide what religious materials their child should learn.”Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a non-profit advocacy group, told the New York Times: “Forcing public schools to display the Ten Commandments is part of the Christian nationalist crusade to compel all of us to live by their beliefs.”The bill is far from the first attempt by far-right Texas lawmakers to embed Christianity in public education.In 2021, a Texas law came into effect requiring schools to display any donated “In God We Trust” signs, so long as they were in English.More recently, a bill was passed in the Texas legislature that would allow religious chaplains to act as school counselors as soon as the next school year.Another bill would allow public schools to observe a moment of prayer and hear a reading from a religious text, such as the Bible.In 2005, as Texas attorney general, the current Republican governor, Greg Abbott, won a case over attempts to display the Ten Commandments on a monument on the grounds of the state capitol building. More

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      ‘People were stunned’: Uvalde families’ Texas gun safety win lasts just 24 hours

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      Days after a deadly mass shooting in a Dallas suburb, families of another horrific killing gathered in the Texas capitol, demanding a change to the state’s famously lax gun laws.It had been nearly a year since a gunman shot 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, with police waiting more than an hour to confront and kill him. Those children’s parents and relatives hadn’t stopped lobbying Texas lawmakers for stricter gun control.And after eight others were killed at an Allen shopping mall on 7 May, the Uvalde families quickly descended to tell lawmakers to pass their number one priority: to raise the minimum age for Texans to purchase semi-automatic firearms from 18 to 21.They lined the hallways as lawmakers walked through to the House chamber, holding signs and loudly chanting “raise the age”, which in part is an allusion to the 18-year-old Uvalde shooter.“Had this bill been the law in the state of Texas one year ago, the gunman would not have been able to [buy] the semi-automatic weapon he used to murder our daughter,” Kimberly Mata-Rubio, whose daughter Lexi died at the Uvalde school, testified in a Texas house committee hearing. “Our hearts may be broken but our resolve has never been stronger.”But that resolve from the Uvalde families hasn’t coalesced into much legislative progress in the past year, stymied by a strong Republican-led legislature and like-minded governor who has doubled down on opposition to even simple gun control measures.“Disappointment isn’t a strong enough word with regard to the inaction from the legislature,” said Nicole Golden, executive director of Texas Gun Sense, which advocates for gun control laws in the state. “We’re still taking steps in those directions, knowing we’re not there yet.”At the White House, Joe Biden signed one bill into federal law a month after the Uvalde shooting, making some minor changes to congressional gun control measures. In Texas, more than 300 bills relating to firearms have been filed this spring. Few of them will pass. Those that do probably won’t significantly reduce access to guns in the state, and some may make them even more accessible.The federal response to the shooting in Uvalde – exactly one year ago on Wednesday – was swift. The president was quick to demand Congress pass extensive control measures like a ban on assault weapons. But while most Republicans continued to push against the need for stricter gun control, US senator John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, led negotiations to pass modest adjustments.The law closed a “boyfriend loophole” to regulations banning people who have been convicted of domestic violence crimes from owning a firearm. Previously, the ban only prohibited spouses, or partners who live together or share a child. The new law expands that definition to include dating partners.Its passage was a major milestone for gun control advocates. Congress had not passed any similar gun control measures in nearly 30 years.“At a time when it seems impossible to get anything done in Washington, we are doing something consequential,” Biden said when signing it into law.Since then, there have been more than 650 mass shootings in the United States, according to the non-partisan Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more victims are killed or wounded.After many of them, Biden has re-upped calls for an assault weapons ban and other stricter gun control measures. He’s called the lack of response from Republicans “outrageous and unacceptable”.Much of that inaction is driven in part by Texas lawmakers. Especially on the state level, there has been little to no remedy for mass shootings besides tangential promises of better mental healthcare and other stopgap measures.The Texas state legislature only meets for five months every other year, so this spring lobbyists supporting gun control or, on the contrary, wider access to firearms descended on the capitol in Austin.Many of the measures, including red flag laws, community violence intervention measures, background check requirements and raising the minimum age to own a firearm, have stalled in the Texas capitol.Golden said the legislature did agree to allocate $500,000 over the next two years for the Keep ’Em Safe Texas campaign, which teaches gun owners about proper safe storage of firearms. Golden said proper storage helps stop suicides, homicides and mass shootings like the one five years ago at a Santa Fe, Texas, high school.On major measures, even the most recent mass shooting in the state, which killed eight people including three children in Allen, didn’t seem to sway Texas Republicans.But that shooting did move the needle for one bill in Austin.House Bill 2744, which would raise the age to buy semi-automatic weapons from 18 to 21, had stalled in a chamber committee. Two days after the Allen shooting, the bill faced a deadline to be approved by the committee or fail there. Few expected it to move to the full house.After the Uvalde families packed the state capitol, chanting “raise the age” as lawmakers walked to the house floor, the house select committee on community safety quickly called a meeting.The committee voted 8-5 to approve the measure, with two Republicans in support. The room, full of Uvalde families, burst into applause. Some sobbed.“We see so much tragedy with kids getting shot at school. This is a small change we can make to give a lot of people peace of mind and keep kids safe,” Republican Sam Harless, who joined Democrats to advance the bill, told the Dallas Morning News. “I did not come to the legislature to take easy votes.”Golden said the vote was a major milestone for Texas gun policy.“It’s unprecedented at the capitol in general. People were stunned,” Golden said. “I don’t ever want to take away from that.”That win for gun control advocates was short-lived, however.The next day, it failed to meet another critical deadline and was not scheduled for a vote from the full house. Democrats say they will still push for the measure, but it’s unlikely to be approved.“The highs and lows in a matter of a couple days was overwhelming,” Golden said. “You have to take every single step forward and celebrate it and acknowledge it.” More

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      Mother of girl who died in US border patrol custody says agents ignored her

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      The mother of an eight-year-old girl who died in US border patrol custody said on Friday that agents repeatedly ignored pleas to hospitalize her medically fragile daughter as she felt pain in her bones, struggled to breathe and was unable to walk.Agents said her daughter’s diagnosis of influenza did not require hospital care, Mabel Alvarez Benedicks said in an emotional phone interview. They knew the girl had a history of heart problems and sickle cell anemia.“They killed my daughter, because she was nearly a day and a half without being able to breathe,” Alvarez Benedicks said. “She cried and begged for her life and they ignored her. They didn’t do anything for her.”The girl died on Wednesday on what her mother said was the family’s ninth day in border patrol custody. People are to be held no more than 72 hours under agency policy, a rule that is violated during unusually busy times.The account is almost certain to raise questions about whether the border patrol properly handled the situation, the second death of a child in federal officials’ custody in two weeks after a rush of unlawful border crossings severely strained holding facilities.Roderick Kise, a spokesperson for the border patrol’s parent agency, Customs and Border Protection, said he could not comment beyond an initial statement because the death remained under investigation. In that statement, Kise’s agency said the girl experienced “a medical emergency” at a station in Harlingen, Texas, and died later that day at a hospital.Alvarez Benedicks, 35, said she, her husband and three children, aged 14, 12 and eight, crossed the border to Brownsville, Texas, on 9 May. After a doctor diagnosed the eight-year-old, Anadith Tanay Reyes Alvarez, with influenza, the family was sent to the Harlingen station on 14 May. It was unclear why the family was held so long.Anadith woke up her first day in the Harlingen station with a fever and had a headache, according to her mother, who said the station was dusty and smelled of urine.When she reported her daughter’s bone pain to an agent, she said he responded: “Oh, your daughter is growing up. That’s why her bones hurt. Give her water.”“I just looked at him,” Alvarez Benedicks said. “How would he know what to do if he’s not a doctor?”She said a doctor told her the pain was flu-related. She asked for an ambulance to take her daughter to the hospital for breathing difficulties but was denied.“I felt like they didn’t believe me,” she said.Anadith received saline fluids, a shower and fever medication to reduce her temperature, but her breathing problems persisted, her mother said, adding that a sore throat prevented her from eating and she stopped walking.At one point, a doctor asked the parents to return if Anadith fainted, Alvarez Benedicks said. Their request for an ambulance was denied again when her blood pressure was checked on Wednesday.An ambulance was called later that day after Anadith went limp and unconscious and blood came out of her mouth, her mother said. She insists her daughter had no vital signs in the border patrol station before leaving for the hospital.The family is staying at a McAllen, Texas, migrant shelter and seeking money to bring their daughter’s remains to New York City, their final destination in the US.Anadith, whose parents are Honduran, was born in Panama with congenital heart disease. She received surgery three years ago that her mother characterized as successful. It inspired Anadith to want to become a doctor.Her death came a week after a 17-year-old Honduran boy, Ángel Eduardo Maradiaga Espinoza, died in US health and human services department custody. Maradiaga traveled alone.A rush to the border before Covid-19 asylum limits known as Title 42 expired brought extraordinary pressure. The border patrol took an average of 10,100 people into custody a day over four days last week, compared to a daily average of 5,200 in March.The border patrol had 28,717 people in custody on 10 May, one day before pandemic asylum restrictions expired, which was double from two weeks earlier, according to a court filing. By Sunday, the custody count dropped 23% to 22,259, still historically high.Custody capacity is about 17,000, according to a government document last year, and the administration has been adding temporary giant tents like one in San Diego that opened in January with room for about 500 people.On Sunday, the average time in custody was 77 hours. More

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      Vigilante fears as Texas Republicans push for special unit to detain migrants

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      A new Texas bill could soon establish a taskforce using civilians that would have the authority to “arrest, apprehend or detain persons crossing the Texas-Mexico border unlawfully”, raising concerns around state-sponsored vigilantism.House Bill 20, authored by Republican state representative Matt Schaefer, seeks to create a new “border protection unit” that would deter migrants from unlawfully entering Texas using non-deadly force. It could include civilians with prior military experience among its members – such as national guards or former border patrol agents – who would be granted some immunity from prosecution for actions they carried out as members of the force.The HB20 bill itself was killed last week in the Texas legislature but then quickly resurrected as HB7 – a slightly different amendment to existing immigration legislation. The proposed unit was renamed the “Texas border force” and put under the command of the Texas ranger division.With a Republican majority in both the state house and senate, the fresh bill seems likely to pass.Bernardo Cruz, an attorney for the Texas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), told the Guardian: “It’s really an unlawful action or exercise by the state government. We are really afraid it’s going to lead to more racial profiling of current migrants, and also that it affects everyone who lives across the border and the states.”Although immigration law and enforcement on the US border is under federal jurisdiction, border states like Texas argue they have the right to protect themselves if the federal government fails to do so, as per the “invasion” clause of the US constitution.Such a drastic move by a state to enforce federal immigration law is likely to end up in court.Schaefer, one of the Texas legislature’s most conservative members, said in a statement: “Enough is enough. If [Joe] Biden won’t defend this country, we will.”The news of the bill comes shortly after the expiration of Title 42, the pandemic-era policy that gave US officials authority to turn away migrants who came to the US-Mexico border claiming asylum in order to prevent the spread of Covid-19.Immigration and civil rights activists have condemned the legislation and said its potential passage was “disheartening”. These critics of the bill, such as the non-profit Human Rights Watch, say it will embolden state-sponsored vigilantism.Testifying in front of the Texas house state affairs committee in April, Bob Libal of Human Rights Watch said the border protection unit would lead to the “codification and expansion of a border policing, court and jailing system that has to date resulted in injuries, deaths, racial discrimination, abusive detention conditions, and a chilling effect on freedoms of association and expression.”The unit would be overseen by the Texas public safety department and would controversially give its officers broad authority to make arrests, build border barriers and search vehicles they deem suspicious.Rochelle Garza, president of the Texas Civil Rights Project, told the Dallas Morning News that she was “appalled by this dangerous and unconstitutional proposal designed to violate federal law at the expense of the border community I call home”.She added: “Not only does this bill mobilize a new military force under the governor, it also allows the head of the force to deputize almost anyone to enforce federal immigration law, including vigilante groups that have targeted Texas border communities.”The ACLU’s Cruz said the unit would be an extension of Operation Lone Star, another state effort to secure the US border with Mexico, launched by the rightwing Republican governor, Greg Abbott, in March 2021.Operation Lone Star is a joint operation between the public safety department and the Texas national guard. It was established during an increase of migrants at the state’s border for which Abbott issued a disaster declaration.“Texas does not have the authority to enforce immigration law,” Cruz said. “There’s clear both federal law and supreme court precedent that establishes that the appropriate entity to enforce immigration laws in this country are federal law enforcement agencies.”Like Operation Lone Star, Cruz said the new border protection unit would lead to racial profiling.In a federal complaint filed in July last year, the Texas ACLU, along with the Texas Civil Rights Project, alleged state troopers excessively pull over Latinos as part of Operation Lone Star. The complaint also said at least 30 people were killed in state police car chases connected to Texas’s expansive border security operation.“We really afraid it’s going to lead to more racial profiling of migrants and also that it affects everyone who lives across the border and the states. There’s nothing in the language it just narrows it to specific area of Texas. So this really is an extremely broad attempt by the state of Texas, to really just militarize communities.“And that, of course, impacts everyone’s day-to-day life in a negative way.” More

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      Texas Democrat Jasmine Crockett: ‘A Black woman’s voice needs to be at the table’

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      Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett was in Dallas when the shocking news broke. At a shopping mall in the suburb of Allen, a gunman shot and killed eight people, including three children. He was later revealed to have posted photos online displaying Nazi tattoos on his arm and torso.“I was texting my mom to see where she was, because it’s a suburb 30 miles north of my district, and on the weekends she usually goes shopping,” Crockett, 42, recalls in an interview at her office in Washington. “She texted me: ‘I’m at my friend’s house. Why?’ ‘Because of Allen.’ ‘What’s going on in Allen?’ And I’m like, ‘There’s a shooting at the mall.”Crockett was already scheduled for an interview on the MSNBC network and spent the next hours responding on air to a developing story that now has a sickening deja vu quality in America with the nation’s political class seemingly paralysed.The Democrat reflects: “It’s heartbreaking. At the end of the day, as we saw the carnage, I wasn’t thinking or wondering, well, is that a Democrat or Republican or independent? I was thinking, ‘We’ve got to do better,’ and honestly, those bullets didn’t have R, D or I on them, either.”Crockett can see the failings and follies of Washington on this and other issues through fresh eyes.The former lawyer and Texas state representative was sworn in last January to represent Texas’s 30th congressional district, which is home to 750,000 people and includes portions of Dallas and Tarrant counties. She is the first Black woman to serve as freshman leadership representative.After the mass shooting in Allen, she saw firsthand Republicans’ refusal to budge on gun safety. Ted Cruz, senator for Texas, and Keith Self, a freshman congressman who represents Allen, both offered prayers for the families but offered no meaningful solutions.Crockett adds: “No one seemingly wants to take up the conversation about the far- rightwing extremism that he had. No one wants to accept that part of the chaos and carnage is actually being stoked by the rhetoric that is being spewed by the Republican party.”If Congress took responsibility, she argues, it could pass smart gun legislation instead of staging yet another partisan brawl. “I myself am a Texan. I own a gun – or a couple. I am licensed to carry. I am all the things. But it’s all or nothing, ‘Oh, well, Democrats just want to take your guns away.’ No.”She does support Joe Biden’s call for an assault weapons ban. “There are definitely guns that we want to take away because it’s the equivalent of some of these people having cannon; I’m sorry, but it’s not OK for my next door neighbor to have a cannon.“If we want to minimise the carnage and damage that is done when someone is evil and is just going to do what they do, this is about mitigation, this is about saving lives. People literally have almost no chance of surviving when some of these weapons are used. I don’t understand why we need them.”She describes Republicans as “cowards” on the issue and believes that their stance can be explained by a primary election system that rewards extremism and discourages moderation. This, in turn, flows from gerrymandering – the manipulation of district boundaries to favor one party – made easier by erosion of the Voting Rights Act.“People have told me, ‘I’ll lose my primary if I don’t do this,’ even if it’s completely against what even the majority of their district wants because of who’s going to show up in that primary.”Two years ago Crockett was among Democrats in the Texas legislature who fled Austin for Washington to deny a quorum to Republicans seeking to overhaul elections and impose new voting restrictions. The standoff lasted for 38 consecutive days and remains one of the dramatic showdowns over voting rights in America. Crockett believes there was a lesson for national Democrats: sometimes you have to fight fire with fire.“I’ve been all over the state of Texas for various campaigns and I talk to people and ask them, why is it that you don’t want to vote? Honestly, I have heard more than once that Democrats are weak. We are not weak, but there is this perception.”She added: “I was only the 22nd black woman ever elected to the Texas House, and I wouldn’t be here but for people having courage. At some point in time we can’t just rely on the traditions and sit here because it doesn’t work if both sides aren’t in and, at this point in time, I’ve decided that the Republicans are not in for democracy. So we have to be in.”Republicans are determined to retain power by any means necessary, she argues, because they know their policies do not align with the majority of Americans. She cites examples such as abortion bans, firmly rejected by voters in Kansas, and student loan forgiveness, popular in opinion polls, as evidence that Democrats are more in touch with public sentiment.Yet this does not always translate at the ballot box as Republican tout themselves as the party of middle America and Democrats as the party of coastal elites. “It’s hard to understand how we are failing at communicating that, no matter if you’re in urban America or if you’re in rural America, we’re fighting for you.”Is it lonely to be a Democrat in Texas? The Lone Star State has gone red in 11 consecutive presidential elections from Ronald Reagan in 1980 to Donald Trump in 2020. Both its senators and its governor are Republicans. Counterintuitively, however, Crockett contends that Texas is already a blue state.“People think I’m crazy because it’s so extreme and all we get is the extreme stories. But I believe my state is blue because we’re probably the only majority-minority state that is ‘red’; most majority-minority states are blue. So demographically it’s there.”But despite record turnout in 2020, Texas ranked 44th out of 50 states in terms of ballots counted as a proportion of the total voting-eligible population, according to the United States Elections Project.Crockett said: “We continually have one of the lowest voter turnouts in the entire country. If you make it difficult to access the ballot box, then you can have this minority rule.”Another opportunity to change the narrative of Texas politics will come in next year’s presidential election. When Crockett speaks to young people, she finds that their first concern is guns and their second is voting rights. Since the overturning of Roe v Wade by the supreme court, Republicans have been struggling to defend unpopular restrictions on abortion or even a potential national ban.“As a criminal defence attorney, I have had to deal with cases where fathers were raping their little girls. This is the reality of some of the things that happen and then telling that little girl you can’t do anything about it? There are people that aren’t necessarily for abortion for whatever reasons but they understand that you can’t just say under no circumstances, we’re not doing this, period, ever. Honestly, the Republicans have thrown us a bone and it is going to be moms and young people.”Biden was elected on a vow to heal the soul of the nation after the horror of white supremacists and neo-Nazis marching in Charlottesville, Virginia. But the president’s efforts to pursue racial justice through police reform and voting rights stalled in the Senate while Trump still looms large in the political landscape. The government has warned racially motivated extremists pose a bigger terrorism threat than potential attacks from overseas.Crockett admits: “We’ve got an affirmative action case in the supreme court and I’m sure the darkest one [Justice Clarence Thomas] on the supreme court is probably gonna lead the charge in getting rid of it. Then it’s like, ‘Oh, see? The Black man on the supreme court said it.’ It’s ridiculous. We also know, especially in the state of Texas, that our governor is going after DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion].”But, if Biden faces Trump in the race for the White House again, Crockett believes the Democrat will repeat his 2020 victory, in part because of LGBTQ+ voters and young voters who feel they are under attack. But what of the Black voters who were so fundamental to Biden’s success?“It’s always complicated for the African American community but, if we make the investments, then we’re fine. Black people for the longest have felt like they have carried this country, whether it is building literally these houses that I sit in right now, or showing up and being the backbone of the Democratic vote. It is a tough conversation to have with Black folk.”This was a crucial motivation for Crockett to become the freshman representative to leadership. “I thought, golly, I have enough on my plate trying to figure out how to be a member of Congress but it was time that we are at the table. There had not been a Black woman elected to leadership in the Democratic caucus since Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman in Congress.“It is important I make it clear that we are making strides, ever so slightly. It’s even a fight within our party. A lot of times there’s this idea that we should paint everything as if it’s perfect and I don’t subscribe to it. I subscribe to being real and most people respect when they feel like you’re being honest and real.”Crockett has to head off to the House chamber to cast a vote. But first she shares another thought. “Nothing in this world is perfect but at least the Democrats are fighting for a more perfect union. The Republicans are not.“I am in leadership because I think a Black woman’s voice needs to be at the table as we are crafting our messages, as we are prioritising our voters. That’s necessary, and so that’s the role that I intend to continue to play – fight for the courting of Black voters, fight for listening to what their priorities are, fight for them to truly believe that they will be heard if they show up.” More

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      Fear, anger and hope as Texas border city mourns migrants killed by truck

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      A vigil in Brownsville mourning eight men killed when a car crashed into migrants waiting at a bus stop drew local residents and migrant families on Monday evening expressing a mix of grief, anger, hope and love in the shaken border city.“My son is my whole life, and that man may have taken it,” a Venezuelan mother, Marilín de los Ángeles Medero Piña, lamented, sobbing desperately into the microphone.As the heat of the day began to cool, about 300 people gathered at Linear Park in downtown Brownsville at the eastern end of the US-Mexico border.The day before, a local man with an extensive criminal history – whom witnesses said was shouting anti-immigrant insults – had smashed into a group of people when he drove an SUV through a red light near a migrant shelter, killing eight and injuring 10 more.Medero Piña’s son, Héctor David Medina, 24, is missing and his family is trying to establish if he is among those injured or killed.“Help us, please. I want to find my son,” Medero Piña appealed to the crowd. “One moment they tell me he’s alive and the next that he’s dead.”Many clustered around the stricken mother, offering prayers, hugs and donations. With her were her husband and three other children. All wept, recounting how local police couldn’t tell them whether Medina was dead or alive.George Alvarez, 34, was charged on Monday with manslaughter. Investigators are yet to determine whether the crash was intentional and are awaiting toxicology reports. Brownsville authorities have not yet been able to name those killed.Among the speakers at the vigil were two Venezuelan men who survived the attack on Sunday.“I know God exists because he gave me another chance to live,” said Luis Herrera, one of the survivors.Unable to hold back his tears, Herrera thanked the people of Brownsville for their kindness.“Not all people are bad,” Herrera said. “This is a beautiful community.”According to Herrera and other witnesses, Alvarez yelled anti-immigrant statements and asked why so many migrants were “invading” the city.“It’s because the country I longed for, and once had, doesn’t exist any more,” said Crismar García, 34, from the state of Táchira in crisis-gripped Venezuela, who has been in Brownsville for a year navigating her asylum process, during the vigil.The strong sense of grief pervading migrants in the community for the previous 24 hours was for some surpassed by fear.Ronny García, 35, and Jesús Moreno, 35, both from the state of Bolívar in Venezuela, worried they will encounter more tragedy in the near future, after witnessing Sunday’s events.“Honestly, we’re scared,” said García. “Anything could happen to us.”Moreno explained how they believe migrants have become “dirty business,” as they had been repeatedly taken advantage of and blackmailed in their months-long overland journey to the US.“Especially in this part of Texas, close to the border – migrants have become cannon fodder,” Moreno said.Police are investigating reports of a man with a gun turning up at the Ozanam Center migrant shelter near the crash site on Monday, according to a local news outlet.With Title 42, a Covid-era government restriction on immigration, set to expire at just before midnight on Thursday, residents are concerned there will be a fresh influx of migrants to the city that will be overwhelming, even though most are aiming just to pass through.Last week the city declared a state of emergency – as did El Paso, in west Texas, where an estimated 2,000 people are stuck on the streets after crossing the border seeking refuge, and shelters are full.Marisela Camarillo, 53, a retired school teacher and lifelong Brownsville resident present at the vigil, said she thought there was “absolutely no way” her city was ready for what may unfold on Thursday and Friday.“It’s not the fact that migrants are coming that’s concerning, it’s the fact that we’re not ready,” Camarillo said. “We don’t have the resources, we’re not equipped, and the federal government is not stepping up.”The Texas governor, Greg Abbott, announced on Monday the deployment of what his office calls a tactical border force, a new military unit of the Texas guard specifically assembled to “intercept, repel and to turn back” migrants at the border.“That’s not what the state guard should be used for,” Camarillo said. “We should have been preparing for this all this time.”However, Victor Maldonado, executive director of the Ozanam Center, said he was fully prepared with extra beds and resources. He also assured there would be collaboration with the local authorities, religious organizations, and non-profits to guarantee safety, he said.Sister Norma Pimentel, a well-known nun and immigrants’ advocate in the area, who is the executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, offered some words of encouragement at the vigil.“They’re people, and the only thing they want is an opportunity to live,” Pimentel said. “So let’s welcome them, and let’s love them.” More