Texas
Entries whose effect landed somewhere in Texas (TX) — a city, a county, a campus, a detention facility — whichever government acted. Federal conduct inside Texas counts here.
This is not the same set as Texas's jurisdiction page, which records the 46 entries where Texas's own government was the acting authority, wherever those events happened. The two overlap and neither contains the other: place and power are separate facts, and statewide acts appear there and not here.
23 entries · 14 places
One square per place, sized equally, coloured by how many entries landed there. Ordered most-documented first: a grid of equal tiles has no reading order of its own.
El Paso city 7 entries
ICE detained Padres coach Oswaldo Pirela at El Paso airport; family says his 2014 asylum case is still pending
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Oswaldo Jose Pirela, a Venezuelan-born San Diego Padres minor-league catching coordinator, at El Paso International Airport at approximately 5 a.m. on August 16, 2026, while he was traveling for work. The Department of Homeland Security said Pirela's authorized stay expired in February 2018 and that he lacked legal immigration documentation when encountered; his family says he filed for asylum in 2014 and that the case has remained pending since. He remained in ICE custody as of August 18, 2026, pending removal proceedings.
GAO finds ICE wasted up to $11.5M and endangered detainees in rushed Camp East Montana launch
On June 9, 2026, the U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report (GAO-26-108886) finding that ICE rushed the opening of Camp East Montana, the nation's largest immigration detention facility and a tent camp at the Army's Fort Bliss base in El Paso, wasting up to $11.5 million during its first two weeks in August 2025 while the camp sat empty. The watchdog found ICE awarded a roughly $1.3 billion operating contract to Acquisition Logistics LLC, a firm with no detention experience, and documented unsafe conditions including a contract guard's loss of a loaded firearm that was never recovered and the contractor's failure to provide required use-of-force and death reports. ICE terminated the Acquisition Logistics contract in March after three detainee deaths, a measles outbreak, and mounting human-rights allegations.
Detainees sue ICE over conditions at Camp East Montana amid three deaths and a homicide ruling
On May 30, 2026, the ACLU, the ACLU of Texas, the Texas Civil Rights Project, and the law firm Farella Braun + Martel filed a federal class-action suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement over conditions at Camp East Montana, the nation's largest immigration detention facility — a tent camp on the Army's Fort Bliss base in El Paso. In under a year of operation the facility has recorded at least three detainee deaths, including one the El Paso County medical examiner ruled a homicide with no one charged, a nearly month-long measles outbreak, and roughly 49 detention-standards violations documented by ICE's own inspectors. The Department of Homeland Security called the inhumane-conditions claims "categorically false."
ICE deported Colombian woman to DR Congo after Congolese officials refused her on medical grounds
On April 16, 2026, ICE placed Adriana Maria Quiroz Zapata — a 55-year-old Colombian woman with diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and hypothyroidism — on a removal flight to the Democratic Republic of the Congo two days after Congolese officials had formally refused to accept her because they could not guarantee the medical care her conditions required. On May 13, 2026, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon (D.D.C.) granted a 14-day temporary restraining order finding the deportation likely unlawful under the Immigration and Nationality Act and directing the Trump administration to facilitate her return, citing her "daily risk of medical complications, up to and including death." Judge Leon modified that order on June 5, 2026, after finding her lawyers had not established that ICE received the Congolese refusal before the flight departed. She remained in the DRC.
ICE routes Diaz autopsy to military hospital, bypassing ME who ruled prior Camp East Montana death a homicide
Victor Manuel Diaz, a 36-year-old Nicaraguan detained in the Minneapolis area under Operation Metro Surge, died on January 14, 2026 at Camp East Montana, the ICE tent facility on the Army's Fort Bliss base in El Paso, Texas — eight days after his arrest and roughly 1,200 miles from where he was taken. ICE called the death a "presumed suicide," but his family rejected that account, and the agency routed his autopsy to a military hospital that withholds its findings from the public, bypassing the El Paso County medical examiner who had ruled an earlier detainee's death at the same camp a homicide. Diaz was the third person to die at Camp East Montana in a 44-day span.
Cuban ICE detainee dies under restraint at Camp East Montana; death ruled a homicide
On January 3, 2026, Geraldo Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old Cuban man, died at ICE's Camp East Montana detention camp on the Army's Fort Bliss base in El Paso, Texas. The El Paso County Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide, finding the cause to be asphyxia due to neck and torso compression while he was being physically restrained by law enforcement. ICE first said he died after "experiencing medical distress," then attributed the death to a suicide attempt and an ensuing struggle with staff; it was the third detainee death at the facility, and no one has been charged.
ICE detained Irish national Seamus Culleton, then blocked his green-card interview and reversed his court-approved bond during prolonged detention
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Irish citizen Seamus Culleton on September 9, 2025, after running his license plate at a Home Depot in Saugus, Massachusetts, and transferred him to Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas. During his ensuing detention, ICE caused him to miss at least two scheduled USCIS interviews confirming his pending marriage-based green card, and DHS successfully moved to reverse an immigration judge's $4,000 bond grant on a jurisdictional ground specific to the Visa Waiver Program he entered under.
Dallas city 3 entries
Former USCIS Senior Immigration Services Officer Lukman Ganiyu charged in $960,000 bribery scheme to fast-track green cards, citizenship
A federal criminal complaint filed August 31, 2026 in the Northern District of Texas charged former USCIS Senior Immigration Services Officer Lukman Owolabi Ganiyu and an associate, Adeniyi Akeem Somoye, with conspiracy to receive illegal gratuities by a public official. Prosecutors allege that from December 2019 through March 2026, Ganiyu used his USCIS access to reroute and approve immigration applications from field offices outside his own jurisdiction — including Minneapolis, Charlotte, and Houston — bypassing required interviews, background checks, and supervisory review, in exchange for roughly $960,000 in payments funneled through Somoye. Ganiyu, who according to court filings had been promoted to Senior Immigration Services Officer in a USCIS office in Dallas in April 2024, resigned from the agency in March 2026.
ICE detained Afghan war ally Mohammad Nazeer Paktiawal, who died in custody the next day after agents denied his inhaler
Mohammad Nazeer Paktiawal, a 41-year-old Afghan national who served alongside U.S. Army Special Forces, was detained by ICE agents outside his Richardson, Texas home on March 13, 2026, and died the next day at a Dallas hospital after suffering anaphylaxis and an asthma exacerbation in ICE custody. A death certificate reported July 6, 2026 lists the death as accidental, citing an unidentified adverse drug reaction; his family disputes the finding.
ICE detained Jordanian father of disabled US-citizen son despite standing caregiver accommodation
On October 28, 2025, ICE detained Maher Tarabishi, a 62-year-old Jordanian national, during a routine annual check-in at its Dallas field office, despite a supervision order in place since 2008 that permitted him to remain in the country as the full-time caregiver for his disabled adult son, Wael, who has Pompe disease. DHS said Tarabishi was a "self-admitted member" of the Palestine Liberation Organization and that a prior removal case against him had been dismissed in 2011; his family disputes that characterization and says he has never been charged with a crime, has paid taxes, and had attended every required ICE check-in without failure. Tarabishi remains in ICE custody at the Bluebonnet Detention Center in Anson, Texas.
Houston city 2 entries
DOJ implements $68M Colony Ridge settlement without court approval after judge rejects deal
At an April 10, 2026 hearing in Houston, U.S. District Judge Alfred H. Bennett refused to approve the Justice Department's proposed $68 million settlement with land developer Colony Ridge — sued in 2023 for deceiving tens of thousands of Hispanic buyers into predatory high-interest loans — because it contained no compensation for victims while earmarking more than $20 million for policing and immigration enforcement. When Bennett offered revisions to win his approval, DOJ refused, dismissed the case with prejudice, and implemented the settlement out of court, leaving no judicial supervision of compliance and extinguishing the victims' claims.
ICE deportation officer Jose Muniz indicted for accepting bribes to lift immigration detainers at Harris County Jail
On June 24, 2025, a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Texas indicted Jose Angel Muniz, an ICE deportation officer, on charges of accepting bribes from three Houston bail bondsmen to lift immigration detainers on inmates at the Harris County Jail. Prosecutors allege the scheme ran from April 2023 to March 2024 and let people the government was holding for removal be released on bond. All four defendants were taken into custody when the indictment was unsealed on July 2, 2025, and face up to 15 years if convicted.
Amarillo city 1 entry
Former Amarillo, Texas officer charged with 78 counts for using Flock database to track romantic rival
Former Amarillo, Texas police officer Christian Slade Eder, 29, was charged on August 31, 2026 with 78 counts of tampering with a government record after an audit found he searched a license-plate database 76 times and a law-enforcement records database twice to track a man who had previously dated a fellow officer Eder had expressed romantic interest in, entering false reasons for the searches each time. The Amarillo Police Department had fired Eder on July 17, 2026 following an internal investigation but did not publicly disclose the firing for 33 days. Eder turned himself in on September 1, was released on a $4,500 bond, and pleaded not guilty at arraignment the next day.
Austin city 1 entry
ICE deported 5-year-old U.S. citizen Génesis Gutiérrez Castellanos to Honduras without a hearing or access to counsel
On January 11, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported five-year-old Génesis Ester Gutiérrez Castellanos -- a U.S. citizen born in Austin, Texas -- to Honduras alongside her mother, Karen Guadalupe Gutiérrez Castellanos, who was removed under a 2019 administrative deportation order issued before Génesis was born. ICE took the pair into custody in Austin on January 5 after local police, responding to a domestic-disturbance call, found an active ICE warrant against Gutiérrez and notified the agency, then held them nearly a week in a San Antonio-area hotel without a hearing or access to a lawyer before deporting them.
Beaumont city 1 entry
TDCJ staff falsified Stiles Unit prison heat logs during federal lawsuit; investigation found leadership likely knew or consented
An internal investigation by the Texas Board of Criminal Justice, made public on March 21, 2025, found that Texas Department of Criminal Justice staff at the Mark W. Stiles Unit in Beaumont falsified temperature logs during summer 2022, in the middle of federal litigation over unconstitutional prison heat conditions. The investigation concluded the Stiles Unit warden and other unit leadership "likely knew about or even consented to the falsification," corroborating a federal judge's own August 2022 characterization of one log as "a fabricated document." TDCJ's attorneys acknowledged the logs were inaccurate but denied any intent to mislead the court.
Dilley city 1 entry
ICE deports critically ill 2-month-old and family to Mexico after hospitalization
On February 17, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported a critically ill two-month-old, Juan Nicolás, to Mexico along with his mother, father, and 16-month-old sister, hours after the infant was hospitalized for bronchitis and roughly three and a half weeks after the family was taken into custody at the CoreCivic-run South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas. The baby had become unresponsive and was treated at a Pearsall hospital the night of February 16, then discharged around midnight and returned to detention; Rep. Joaquin Castro, who had demanded the child's release, called the removal "heinous," while ICE described the hospital visit as a "precautionary evaluation" and said the child received "proper care."
Fort Bend County county 1 entry
Documents show Fort Bend County sheriff's lieutenant misused Flock cameras 189 times, suspended two days
ABC13 reported on July 17, 2026, that documents it obtained show a Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office lieutenant used the department's Flock license-plate-reader network to search one license plate 41 times and another 148 times from January 2022 through December 2025, admitting the searches were unrelated to official law-enforcement work. An internal affairs investigation, opened after a resident accused the lieutenant of "stalking" them, found the lieutenant violated the department's general orders and imposed a two-day suspension; ABC13 is not naming the lieutenant because no criminal charges have been filed.
Fort Worth city 1 entry
Tarrant County commissioners voted 3-2 to cut 92 polling locations ahead of 2026 midterms
On September 1, 2026, Tarrant County's Republican commissioners -- County Judge Tim O'Hare and Commissioners Matt Krause and Manny Ramirez -- voted 3-2 along party lines to cut 92 Election Day polling locations in Fort Worth, Texas, reducing the county's sites from 316 in 2022 to 224. Democratic Commissioners Alisa Simmons and Roderick Miles Jr. voted against the plan after civil-rights groups said the cuts would fall hardest on Black and Hispanic precincts in Fort Worth and Arlington.
Katy city 1 entry
Katy, Texas police officer Sergio Rodriguez indicted, fired for using Flock cameras to stalk ex-wife 2,386 times
Katy Police Department officer Sergio Rodriguez was indicted April 6, 2026, in Fort Bend County on felony charges of stalking and misuse of official information, and fired from the department April 20 after an internal-affairs investigation found he used the Flock automated license-plate-reader system 2,386 times over roughly 11 months to track his ex-wife, Kayland Johnson, and placed a GPS tracking device on her vehicle. Court records show the indicted conduct occurred between November 2024 and April 2025; Johnson reported the tracking to Katy police in October 2025, and Rodriguez admitted during the department's investigation that it was a "dumb decision" with "no excuse." Fort Bend County prosecutors said it was the first case their office has charged for Flock misuse.
Laredo city 1 entry
Mexican detainee Felix Alcorta-Rodriguez, 63, died in ICE custody at Webb County Detention Center in Laredo; 20th ICE death of 2026
Felix Alcorta-Rodriguez, a 63-year-old Mexican national, died on June 19, 2026, about an hour after being found unresponsive and rushed from the Webb County Detention Center in Laredo, Texas, where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had held him since June 16. Webb County's medical examiner said he died of natural causes with a full autopsy pending; his death was at least the fifth in Texas ICE detention in 2026 and at least the 20th nationally. The CoreCivic-operated facility had been cited in a February 2026 ICE inspection for at least nine proper-care violations, about a third involving improper medical care.
Lufkin city 1 entry
Lufkin, Texas officer misused Flock license-plate database to track 11 people over a year, indicted on 100 felony counts
Lufkin, Texas police officer Zachary Anthony Klein was arrested by Texas Rangers on August 20, 2026, following an internal audit and an outside investigation into his use of the department's Flock automated license-plate-reader system. He was indicted the next day on 100 felony counts of misuse of official information, accused of tracking the vehicles of 11 people -- most connected to an ex-girlfriend -- for nongovernmental purposes between June 2024 and December 2025. The Lufkin Police Department suspended its use of Flock cameras department-wide as a result.
Midland city 1 entry
Midland County Judge Terry Johnson posted critic's Social Security number on Facebook in apparent retaliation
On July 18, 2026, Midland County Judge Terry Johnson used his official access to a restricted criminal-justice-information system to obtain an old, unredacted 2015 arrest-warrant record for Christino Rodriquez — a local citizen journalist who publishes government-accountability content as "Nino America" — and posted it to Facebook with Rodriquez's Social Security number, date of birth, and driver's license number visible, captioned "Convicted felon trying to be a player," even though the underlying charges had been dismissed. The post came less than 24 hours after Rodriquez published court records critical of Midland County government, including one lawsuit that resulted in a $150,000 county settlement.
San Benito city 1 entry
ORR blocked a physician-lawmaker's oversight visit to pregnant migrant minors held in an abortion-restricted Texas shelter
When Rep. Maxine Dexter — a physician serving in Congress — made an oversight visit to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) shelter in San Benito, Texas on April 24, 2026, officials blocked her from speaking with the pregnant migrant minors held there and would not say where detainees who had left the facility had been transferred or what continuity of care they received. The minors — some as young as 13, at least half of whom became pregnant as a result of rape — had been concentrated at the single facility since a July 22, 2025 directive by ORR Acting Director Angie Salazar, in a state that bans abortion and over the objections of the agency's own health officials. Nearly 50 members of Congress demanded answers from HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Salazar; HHS says its placement decisions follow child-welfare best practices.