Good morning!

This is the Texas Minute for Tuesday, July 29, 2025.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

ICE Arrests More Than 200 Illegal Aliens Who Have Sexually Abused Children

• Over the last six months, 214 illegal aliens who have committed sex offenses against children were arrested by federal agents in the Harris County area. As Joseph Trimmer reports, this exceeds the 211 similar arrests made in the region during the entire 2024 fiscal year.
      
• These arrests are the result of coordinated enforcement operations led by ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations Houston and supported by multi-agency teams including the FBI, ATF, DEA, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Diplomatic Security Service, U.S. Marshals Service, and state and local law enforcement.
      

• In June, ICE operations led to 1,361 arrests in the Houston area, including 32 convicted child sex offenders.
        

• Harris County has spent $1.1 million so far in FY2025 on legal services for illegal aliens in deportation proceedings, including those with heinous criminal records.

Texas A&M Continues To Push DEI Statements

• A series of course syllabi at Texas A&M’s Bush School of Government & Public Service contain statements aligning with the diversity, equity, and inclusion ideology, despite efforts by state lawmakers to eradicate the practice. Adam Cahn has the story.
     

• An investigation by Texas Scorecard has uncovered at least 12 courses with syllabi that contain these sorts of statements. Of these, seven were part of the Bush School’s Washington, D.C. program, while five were taught in College Station. 

     
• The state law prohibiting DEI in hiring practices, admissions, and training took effect in January 2024. Because the measure included an exception for "academic course instruction," such syllabi statements are probably still allowed under the letter of the law.

Paxton Files Legal Petition Against New York Clerk

• Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a legal petition in New York, seeking to compel an acting Ulster County Clerk to enforce a Texas civil judgment against a New York-licensed physician. Addie Hovland has the details.
      
• Paxton's petition comes after Taylor Bruck twice refused to uphold a ruling from a Texas judge requiring Dr. Margaret Carpenter to pay $100,000 in civil penalties for prescribing abortifacient drugs to a Texas woman. The prescribed drugs not only ended the life of the unborn child, but also caused complications for the mother that required medical intervention.
      
• In December 2024, Paxton filed suit against Dr. Carpenter. After she failed to appear in court, Collin County District Judge Bryan Gantt issued a default judgment requiring her to pay $100,000 in civil penalties. Since then, Bruck has refused to record the order in New York, citing a New York law shielding abortion providers from legal consequences imposed by other states.

Former Texas National Guardsman Convicted of Smuggling Aliens

• Michael Wilson reports that a former member of the Texas National Guard, who once served on the front lines of Operation Lone Star, is now facing up to 10 years in prison after a federal jury convicted him of human smuggling.
     
• Mario Sandoval, a 27-year-old Houston resident, had been deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border as part of Operation Lone Star. In July of last year, he began smuggling illegal aliens north of the immigration checkpoint.
       

• Jurors were shown text messages confirming Sandoval’s coordination in the smuggling operation—including his role arranging drivers and alerting others to law enforcement locations. Surveillance footage also placed him near the checkpoint during the times those messages were sent.

      

• The case was part of Operation Take Back America—a federal initiative targeting human smuggling and illegal immigration.

OTHER BORDER NEWS

• During the search of a 2020 Renault Oroch, CBP officers discovered 30 packages containing nearly 77 pounds of a substance believed to be cocaine. 

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Quote-Unquote

"My friends, it has always been my faith that the eventual triumph of decency and freedom and right in this world is inevitable. But, as a wise American once observed, it takes a lot of hard work and sacrifice by a lot of people to bring about the inevitable."

– Dwight D. Eisenhower​

Y'All Answered

Included in the "One Big Beautiful Bill" recently passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump was money to reimburse the states for border security spending during the Biden administration. Some are suggesting the estimated $13 billion coming to Texas should be used exclusively for property tax relief.

We asked reader what they prefer: 86.9 percent want the money used for property tax relief, while 13.1 percent think there are other things needing that money. 

Here is a sampling of the responses I received.

• “For any tax surplus now and in the future, until property taxes are completely banned, my answer is going to be: apply the surplus to pay down property taxes!” – Allison Love
      

• “As much as I would love a lighter property tax load, establishing a fund to support (expand) education choice and increasing pay for first responders would be more appropriate (and an investment in the future health of the state).” – Arthur Potter
      

• “I believe the money should be spent on education.” – Beverly Randolph
      

• “No matter what is suggested, our illustrious legislators will do what they want so as to continue appeasing their donors. I have as much faith in legislators as I do in the media.” – Garry Meissner
      

• “The money should be used for the electric grid. Between population increases due to people moving here from Blue states and the increased use and future need of power for AI and the powering of electric cars, we need to have a grid that supports those needs.” – Vicki DeVault
      

• “Use that money for the SNAP program to feed hungry children.” – Jane Morrill
      

• “If 100% of that money is not devoted to reducing property taxes, it will be a slap in the face to every Texan. The legislature has a spending problem!” – Fran Rhodes 
      

• “Property tax relief! Why should I rent my property from the state, government, or any other entity.” – Gene Klutts
      

• “The money spent on our border was taxpayer money, so it should go back to us in the form of property tax relief.” – Donna de Socarrez
      

• “Reality Check: $13 Billion comes to less than $450 per citizen of Texas. One time. My property taxes go up by that much every year due to the conspiracy between the appraisal boards and the taxing authorities. It's time to scrap the entire system.” – Mike Bow
      

• “The money belongs to the taxpayers and should be refunded! This is typical politician mumbo-jumbo to try to rationalize and scheme how to justify keeping more funds to spend on pet projects!” – Deb Hillis 
       

• “Yes, I would like to OWN my property, not RENT it from Texas.” – Danny Burrows
       

• “It can't just be relief, it has to be NO property tax! Because appraisals just keep increasing, causing the need for relief, it becomes moot!” – Barbara Rivera
      

• “It was, is, and always will be, taxpayers that provided the funding for the State. Therefore, the taxpayers should be reimbursed. Otherwise, the scoundrels in Austin will spend it on pet projects for which they will be unduly compensated.” – Steve Sullivan
      

• “The reasonable and honorable thing would be to have the $13B federal dollars given to the property owners.” – Susan Valliant
      

• “It SHOULD be returned to we the taxpayers. But it won’t. It’ll be spent on whatever the puppet masters want.” – Bob Davis
      

• “While I answered 'no' to spending $13b solely on Property Tax Relief, my real feeling is that most of it should go specifically to the border owners who incurred losses due to border issues, and border agents who suffered mentally and physically. The balance? Veterans in need.” – Michelle Lantz

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