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#Border

2 posts1 participant0 posts today

Our top story: “One thing that is abundantly clear is that #border enforcement, and in particular the construction of detention facilities ... is big business. It’s a huge business. It’s incredibly lucrative for a very small number of people who have every incentive to make this system as big and as bloated as possible.” texasobserver.org/abbott-opera

The Texas Observer · Abbott’s Border Disaster Has Created a No-Bid Bonanza for Private ContractorsThere is now a powerful, well-heeled constituency that has built up around Operation Lone Star.

“Somehow this little town, Los Fresnos—it’s become a part of this huge conversation that I don’t think anyone really expected. Maybe this is a chance for people to really look at what’s happening.”

Earlier: In Cameron County where 8.5 percent of the population is undocumented, controversial raids at this popular eatery have rocked an already divided community. texasobserver.org/ice-raids-ab

The Texas Observer · ICE Raids on Beloved Bakery Reverberate Through Rio Grande ValleyHomeland Security Investigations arrests at Abby's Bakery shake up a small town in politically shifting Cameron County.

“Rank favoritism, such as a sole-source award to a contractor who is a major donor to the governor, leads past waste to outright #corruption, for the motivation of the award is not the bid’s economy but the governor’s campaign treasury.”

Our top story: Abbott's Operation Lone Star boondoggle has been lining donors pockets for four years now, with no sign of stopping. texasobserver.org/abbott-opera

The Texas Observer · Abbott’s Border Disaster Has Created a No-Bid Bonanza for Private ContractorsThere is now a powerful, well-heeled constituency that has built up around Operation Lone Star.

Our top story: The list of purchased matériel seems fit for a nation at war. Drones, helicopters, and airplanes. All-terrain vehicles, tactical marine vessels, and bulldozers. AI surveillance software and mobile surveillance units. Fuel and generators, food and water, zip-ties and razor wire. texasobserver.org/abbott-opera

The Texas Observer · Abbott’s Border Disaster Has Created a No-Bid Bonanza for Private ContractorsThere is now a powerful, well-heeled constituency that has built up around Operation Lone Star.
Continued thread

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s “declaration of disaster,” on the border crisis, signed in 2021, allows him to ignore the usual protocol when handing out valuable contracts to private contractors and vendors. And it’s an expensive business: State agencies are paying for everything from zip ties and razor wire to helicopters and planes. Here’s @TexasObserver’s story on who have been the big winners, including some who have become Abbott’s campaign “patrons.”

texasobserver.org/abbott-opera

The Texas Observer · Abbott’s Border Disaster Has Created a No-Bid Bonanza for Private ContractorsThere is now a powerful, well-heeled constituency that has built up around Operation Lone Star.

“It changes your life when you get arrested and you see everything that you ever had about to go away because you were trying to provide a living. A lot of these people provide work for people because nobody else wants to do the job.” texasobserver.org/ice-raids-ab

The Texas Observer · ICE Raids on Beloved Bakery Reverberate Through Rio Grande ValleyHomeland Security Investigations arrests at Abby's Bakery shake up a small town in politically shifting Cameron County.

Our top story: The governor's “border emergency” has lasted even longer than the governor’s COVID-19 declaration, which he let expire in June 2023. In this time, the #Texas Legislature has allocated more than $11 billion to fund the sprawling tentacles of the Operation Lone Star. texasobserver.org/abbott-opera

The Texas Observer · Abbott’s Border Disaster Has Created a No-Bid Bonanza for Private ContractorsThere is now a powerful, well-heeled constituency that has built up around Operation Lone Star.

“People are scared to go out because they go out with their kids, and they don’t want to go to a place where (people are) going to show up with guns to check whether they’re a U.S. citizen or not.”

New: ICE raids at Abby's have divided an already politically shifting community in South #Texas. texasobserver.org/ice-raids-ab

The Texas Observer · ICE Raids on Beloved Bakery Reverberate Through Rio Grande ValleyHomeland Security Investigations arrests at Abby's Bakery shake up a small town in politically shifting Cameron County.
#ICE#politics#USpol

Our top story: “Texas has become a pay-to-play [state] if you want these big government contracts because we don’t have fair bidding requirements. Now we see these political donors getting rich off taxpayer money with no accountability. Abbott acts as if he’s king, and he’s rewarding his patrons.”
texasobserver.org/abbott-opera

The Texas Observer · Abbott’s Border Disaster Has Created a No-Bid Bonanza for Private ContractorsThere is now a powerful, well-heeled constituency that has built up around Operation Lone Star.
Continued thread

#Trudeau: “They’ve chosen to launch a #TradeWar that will first & foremost harm American families.”

Noting that #Canada’s #border measures in response to the US #tariff threats brought seizures of #fentanyl from Canada at the #US border to “a near-zero low of less than half an ounce” last month. “We stepped up…We did everything we promised.”

Trudeau appeals to #Trump directly, addressing him as “Donald” & citing the #WSJ says, “You’re a very smart guy, but this is a very dumb thing to do.”

“You know, he always said that he was going to be a dictator on day one. These executive orders are just the first step in his quest to be the dictator of the country. He is trying to act like a king, although he is not one, so he’s doing the next best thing.” texasobserver.org/sylvia-garci

The Texas Observer · Sylvia Garcia Holds the Line on Immigration“When you poll this country, America loves Dreamers. … I’ll keep working to get this done till they have to roll me off the floor.”