You might think a proposal to force undocumented immigrants to be background checked, fingerprinted, photographed and entered into a database would be an easy sell with Republican lawmakers. But, you’d be wrong. With time quickly running out in the legislative session, a plan to make it possible for undocumented immigrants to obtain a driver permit [...]
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Is There Any Red Meat Left to Throw?
Gov. Perry avoided the hot button issues of abortion, immigration and gun control so that he could instead focus on the infrastructure needs of Texas in his State of the State address. Aman Batheja has the details over at the Texas Tribune. While many in the Austin chattering class have been trying to figure out [...]
Texas is Letting Fear Decide its Fate on Immigration
Texas has an estimated 1.7 million undocumented immigrants living between the Red and Rio Grande Rivers. Houston alone is home to about 600,000 of those. Texas has a 1,200 mile border with Mexico (the longest of any state). Texas has a booming Latino population that sees almost every other issue through the lens of immigration. [...]
Purging the Underground Economy in Texas
In Texas, we pride ourselves on job creation and entrepreneurship. This is the Promised Land, where you can be in charge of your own destiny. For many, if not most, this is true. For others, that rhetoric is used to dodge the law, pay people off the books, avoid taxes and contribute to a cancerous [...]
Conversations Don’t Kill, But Obesity Does
I’ve interviewed many doctors who all say one of the most difficult conversations they can have is telling a parent their child is obese. But, they say investing in the sensitivity and care that goes into that conversation is worth it because it’s the first step in turning around a young person’s life. Share
Unite and Conquer
There are two major religions in Texas: Christianity and high school football. Fortunately for our governor-in-waiting, Attorney General Greg Abbott, a story out of East Texas this week gives him a chance to pander to people of both faiths. Share
Texas Built That
Texas might be able to settle one of the central arguments in the race for the White House: Whether business owners create wealth and jobs on their own or whether we all chip in to make that happen. But, first Texas will have to decide what it’s going to do. Share
Stop Telling Me Latinos Are Important
When Americans see Texans on the national stage in 2012, they won’t be looking at the white faces of Gov. Perry or Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst. You might remember, the former was supposed to be president and the latter was supposed to be our next U.S. Senator. Share
Two Tragedies in Different Shadows
There were two tragedies in America with high death tolls over the last week and I am taken aback by the difference in the reactions to them. One was a mass shooting in a Colorado movie theater that left 12 Americans dead. The other was a truck crash here in Texas that killed 14 undocumented [...]
Obama Misses a Texas-Sized Opportunity on Immigration
We’ve entered an interesting time in American politics when a Democrat can flog a Republican with the issue of illegal immigration. For years, conservative politicians have used it to call their opponents “open borders liberals.” President Obama, during his visits to San Antonio and Austin this week, slammed the presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney for [...]
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About Scott
Scott Braddock is a broadcast journalist and political analyst in Houston.
