Valerie Gonzalez

NEW: A Senate report estimates it costs the U.S. $413,000 to send a deportee to Eswatini, a small African country participating in third-country deportations. A detainee released today said they were flown in a private jet to a prison with few resources. apnews.com/article/immigr…

@AP @ValOnTheBorder @GeraldImrayAP "Pheap Rom's release proves what we have argued from the beginning. These third-country deportations are unnecessary and unlawful," said Tin Thanh Nguyen, Rom's U.S. attorney.

@AP @ValOnTheBorder @GeraldImrayAP Pheap Rom came to the U.S. as a refugee at age 3. He served his full sentence. Then the Trump administration sent him to a country he had never been to and imprisoned him again without charges, with little access to an attorney and no timeline for release. florescomms.com/eswatini-state…

NEW from @AP : Cambodian man detained without charges for 5 months in Eswatini under Trump's third-country deportation program is released and heading to Cambodia. 17 others remain detained. via @ValOnTheBorder @GeraldImrayAP apnews.com/article/immigr…

NEW: For the first time, ProPublica has been able to quantify how many U.S. citizen children have been directly affected by Trump’s immigration crackdown: more than 11,000 kids had a parent detained — and that’s an undercount. 1/ 🧵 propublica.org/article/trump-…

DMV quietly passes legal status rule for vehicle registration, renewal | #RGV myrgv.com/local-news/202…

@nunez_anna @arelisrhdz @edjsandoval @laurenvillagran @Perla_Trevizo @FrancescaDnunz @ujohnnyg @lomikriel @acolleendg @nachoaguilar @AaronTorres_ @SergioMarBel @pblodlr Thank you for mentioning the work we all do 🙏🏽

TOP Texas immigration reporters @ValOnTheBorder AP @arelisrhdz WaPo @edjsandoval NYT @laurenvillagran USA Today @Perla_Trevizo @FrancescaDnunz ProPublica @ujohnnyg @lomikriel @acolleendg Texas Tribune @nachoaguilar Houston Chronicle @AaronTorres_ DMN @SergioMarBel NPR @pblodlr

Point Isabel ISD approves tax break for proposed high-tech ‘Port Alpha’ | #RGV myrgv.com/local-news/202…

The AP's most-read piece right now is this analysis by @apwillweissert, saying Trump has "grown more agitated with news coverage and has failed to find a way to explain why he started the war — or how he will end it — that resonates" with the public...

"We have been here for nine months,” wrote the 9-year-old. “Please get us out.” "I miss my bear," the 5-year-old said. In letters & drawings, the longest-held family at the Dilley ICE detention center describe it as "slowly killing us on the inside." texastribune.org/2026/03/11/el-…

Photo Gallery: #RGV community welcomes Gámez-Cuéllar family back home to McAllen | 📸 @MonitorDelcia myrgv.com/media/2026/03/…

14-year-old Caleb Joshua Gámez-Cuéllar serenading his supporters at McAllen High School #RGV

@ShamashAran Fact-check: They entered through the CBP One app which was a legal pathway at the time.

They entered the U.S. illegally in 2023 near Brownsville, Texas.

18-year-old McAllen High School student and mariachi musician Antonio Gámez-Cuéllar and his family have arrived back in McAllen #RGV

McAllen ISD students and their parents are waiting to welcome the Gamez Cuéllar brothers with open arms back home.

The 18-year-old Mariachi band member, Antonio Gamez-Cuéllar, was just released from an ICE detention center in Raymondville, Texas. Story: apnews.com/article/immigr…

Rep. Monica de la Cruz, GOP, escorted Antonio out: “I challenge my colleagues to work together for new enforcement policies that not only secure our border but make safer communities and that ultimately are common sense. These two things do not have to be in contradiction.”

Update: Conflicting statements — from bodycam footage to witness accounts — muddy DHS narrative of San Antonio man’s death on SPI | #RGV myrgv.com/alerts-mcm/202…

MyRGV.com obtains case file of DHS shooting of San Antonio man on SPI | #RGV myrgv.com/alerts-mcm/202…

It’s now 7 pm and the long lines seen all day at McAllen’s Lark Community Center are closed but anyone in line will get to vote. Voters have averaged an hour to an hour and a half waiting to cast their ballots.