Opinions

Early voting in the March 5 primary election ends Friday with a host of candidates on the ballot in both parties, including president, U.S. Senate, all 38 Texas U.S. representatives, all 150 Texas House representatives, and down to local races for district attorney, sheriff and other positions.

Lights, cameras, action. Surrounded by Texas National Guard members, military vehicles, and Republican counterparts from 11 states, Gov. Greg Abbott cut a dramatic figure last Sunday near downtown Eagle Pass. He was announcing his plan to continue Operation Lone Star, a nearly $10 billion immigration enforcement initiative, and to maintain state control of Shelby Park, a migrant processing site and site of a standoff with the federal government over control of immigration enforcement. He repeated the spectacle Thursday, joining 22 Republican state representatives at the park to announce more guards, razor wire and barriers on the border.

When I read about the “silent book club” trend, it filled me with instant calm and hope.

A federal judge is expected to rule quickly on the constitutionality of a Texas law about to go into effect that institutes new state penalties for illegal border crossings. During a hearing last week, U.S. District Judge David Ezra said he had concerns that other states would follow Texas’ lead in creating their own immigration laws – a power given exclusively to the federal government under the U.S. Constitution.