Reporting Texas
News and features from UT-Austin's School of Journalism
byAbby L. Johnson and Michelle Lavergne
More than a thousand marchers, many shouting “No SB 4” and “si se puede,” descended on the Capitol March 10 in protest of Senate Bill 4, a measure that enables local and state law enforcement to arrest people suspected of crossing the border illegally.
Last week the U.S. Supreme Court halted the law, which has become a flashpoint in the national fight over immigration enforcement, until at least March 13, as the court considers the measure’s fate.
byMichelle Lavergne
More than 500 marchers called for the end of human trafficking at the Texas State Capitol during this year’s Walk for Freedom rally Saturday.
byAmber Williams
Crystal Chen’s soft voice echoed through the Senate chamber as she recounted nightmares of persecution by her own government for her religious beliefs. In the prime of her 20s, Chen was sentenced to four and a half years of forced labor and torture in China. “I was pinned to the concrete floor and force-fed an all-salt mixture which nearly killed me,” Chen said. The room filled with lawmakers was silent. “Some guards handcuffed me to a radiator pipe,” she continued. “I was left there for three days while a police chief groped my body.” Chen was among a group of victims of political and religious persecution who testified before the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services of the Texas legislature in support of Senate Bill 1040 that would prohibit health insurance companies and other benefit plans from covering organ transplant procedures in which the organs come from a country known to engage in forced organ harvesting — namely China.
bySamantha Eisenmenger
House Bill 727, by Rep. Toni Rose, D-Dallas, would end the death penalty fo people with “severe mental illness.” Rose filed similar measures during the last three legislative sessions, but none have made it to the governor’s desk. However, each time her bills were voted on they gained more bi-partisan support, including Representative Jeff Leach, R-Plano, who joint-authored the bill in 2021.