Residents across Houston have been reaching out, sharing concerns about ongoing mail delivery problems, especially broken or damaged cluster mailboxes. We understand the frustration, and thanks you to change is happening. Our team, led by KPRC 2 Investigator Amy Davis, has uncovered the extent of the issue, prompting a fresh response from lawmakers.

Some Texans called on Sen. Bob Menendez and former Rep. George Santos to resign amid their own scandals, but have been silent about the Laredo Democrat.

The Commerce Department is announcing new restrictions on U.S. firearms exports in an effort to prevent the guns from ending up in the hands of drug traffickers and criminals in other nations.

From the Texas House to former President Donald Trump, Republicans around the country defended Gov. Greg Abbott’s challenges to the Biden administration's border policies.

Castro, the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, has made improving discussion of Latinos and Latino issues in politics a focus of his time in office.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced his plans Tuesday to launch an impeachment inquiry, saying it was the “logical next step” after months of probing by House Republicans into the Biden family. The investigations have so far yet to turn up evidence that the president violated the law.

The lawmakers’ remarks came after an investigation published Tuesday by Military Times and The Texas Tribune revealed how Texas Guardsmen at the state’s border with Mexico spied on migrants via WhatsApp and allegedly mishandled secret documents.

Escalating their fight over Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ handling of immigration at the southern border, far-right representatives say they will oppose any appropriations for his agency.

Congressman Joaquin Castro of Texas says he is recovering after undergoing cancer surgery in Houston.

The 48-year-old Texas Democrat had tumors removed from his gastrointestinal tract at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

The spectrum of ideas on immigration could throw cold water on hope that there will be a breakthrough in Congress.

The groups say social media companies are not doing enough to curb the spread of falsehoods specifically targeting Latinos.

In the weeks since the FBI searched Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate and seized about 100 documents with classification markings, the former president has insisted he had declassified the information.

The Transparency for Transfer Students Act would require all U.S. colleges and universities to post on their websites more details about their transfer policies to help more students complete degrees.

Venezuelan migrants flown from San Antonio to the upscale Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard have sued Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his transportation secretary for engaging in a “fraudulent and discriminatory scheme” to relocate them.

The Republican governors of Florida and Texas have delivered migrants on planes and buses to Washington, D.

A Texas sheriff has opened a criminal investigation into two flights of migrants sent to Martha’s Vineyard by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

First, her father was lured back to Rwanda under false pretenses and jailed.

The Army’s largest active-duty armored post is named after Gen. John Bell Hood. A commission has recommended naming it for Gen. Richard Cavazos, a native Texan.

The county is the most populous to embrace the Republican governor’s “catch-and-jail” policy to arrest people accused of crossing the border illegally for state crimes, including trespassing.

House Democrats are raising concerns that the proposed merger of Discovery and AT&T’s WarnerMedia, a $43 billion effort to conquer the world of streaming, could affect diversity efforts in Hollywood and particularly hurt Latinos, who are already deeply underrepresented.

Demands by Democrats to fix the nation’s broken immigration system were wielded as a cudgel against Republicans during the 2020 campaign.

A new government report has found that Latinos are vastly underrepresented in newsrooms, Hollywood films and TV and other media industries.

Texas Republicans have doused the Biden administration in criticism. Democratic Texans in Congress have had varied reactions — but some also fault for the president for a frantic scramble after the Taliban swiftly took control.

President Joe Biden is facing a fresh challenge to his oft-repeated commitment to diversity in his administration: assembling a diplomatic corps that gives a nod to key political allies and donors while staying true to a campaign pledge to appoint ambassadors who look like America.

HOUSTON – Republican senators and Democrats spoke at the border Friday after getting a first-hand look at the conditions along Texas’ border with Mexico. Cruz tweeted out photos of dozens of minors, wrapped in foil-like space blankets, lying on the floor of crowded Border Patrol facilities. In particular, is a divide on how to handle families and unaccompanied minors from Central America. In the middle are the border patrol agents and those being caught illegally crossing the border. Of the total, about 450-500 per day are unaccompanied minors, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss preliminary figures.

The Biden administration is mulling over Americas role in Syrias ongoing conflict as the U.S. tries to break away from Middle East wars. AdDealing with Syria's war will test the Biden administration's determination to focus on Asia and not the Middle East. Hence Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's Middle East tour this month. “If this is the security future of the Middle East, we’re all in trouble,” Jeffrey warns. It was the Syrian war that sparked that debate, when President Barack Obama first considered military strikes there, said Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Texas Democrat and member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

But to ensure Republican support, Pelosi said Democrats sent the proposal to GOP leaders “to see what suggestions they may have because, for this to work, it really has to be strongly bipartisan." It is an open question whether the commission will be authorized to investigate Trump's actions. Still, some Republicans have said they think such a commission is necessary alongside other congressional efforts to investigate the attack. “There’s still more evidence that the American people need and deserve to hear and a 9/11 commission is a way to make sure that we secure the Capitol going forward,” said Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del. “Our country has been wounded,” the former 9/11 commission chairmen said.

While Republicans were successful in holding the line for a president who left office nearly a month ago, a majority of the Senate voted to convict the president. The impetus for Democrats and some Republicans to push for Trump’s conviction after he left office was to bar him from running again in the future. U.S. House Rep. Joaquin Castro, a San Antonio Democrat, served as a House impeachment manager — the prosecutorial arm of the proceedings. The state's senior senator frequently raised questions about the constitutionality of holding a trial after a president left office. The U.S. House impeached the president in early January, a week before he left office.

In American political speech — and particularly in Donald Trump’s impeachment trial and the discussions around it — words matter. Fight for your rights, fight for your children, join the fight against breast cancer: Do those always involve fists? Finally, the question of fight or “fight” points, too, to the status of Trump himself — his position as president. Does a president saying “fight” in that situation remove the quote marks like a street brawler tossing aside his jacket? Much of the time, when we fight, we “fight.” On Jan. 6, 2021, outside and inside the U.S. Capitol, some Americans decided to actually fight.

WASHINGTON — In the country’s fourth presidential impeachment trial, Texans were involved in nearly every angle this week as House Democrats pressed their prosecutorial case that President Donald Trump incited an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. And, surprisingly, Texans back home surfaced in video footage to unintentionally help House Democrats make their case. House Democrats are unlikely to see 67 senators side with them, but at the very least, Texas' senior senator offered them some praise. A former justice on the Texas Supreme Court and state attorney general, Cornyn said the House Democrats presented a strong case. In a recent Fox News op-ed, he vouched for the consitutionality of a post-presidential impeachment trial.

Even out of office, Democrats warned, Trump could whip up a mob of followers for similar damage. Even out of the White House, the former president holds influence over large swaths of voters. Rioters roamed the halls chanting, “Hang Mike Pence,” and eerily singing out, “Where are you, Nancy?” in search of Pelosi. The first president to face an impeachment trial after leaving office, Trump is also the first to be twice impeached. His lawyers say he cannot be convicted because he is already gone from the White House.

NEW SURVEILLANCE FOOTAGETo reconstruct the siege for senators, Democrats aired never-before-seen security footage from inside the Capitol that showed the attack unfolding. Ad“Vice President Pence had the courage to stand against the president, tell the American public the truth and uphold our Constitution. Many Republicans had been appalled by Trump's treatment of his most loyal soldier during his final days in office. REPUBLICANS HOLD FIRMThere appears little chance enough Republicans will break with Democrats to convict Trump at the end of the trial. AdThe video evidence was “nothing new here, for me, at the end of the day,” said Hawley, who maintains the trial is unconstitutional.

(Senate Television via AP)WASHINGTON – The Latest on former President Donald Trump's second Senate impeachment trial (all times local):8:20 p.m.House Democrats have wrapped up their first full day of arguments at the historic second impeachment trial of Donald Trump. The impeachment trial is set to resume at noon Thursday. Lisa Murkowski and Mitt Romney say they are deeply disturbed by the evidence shown by Democrats against former President Donald Trump at his second impeachment trial. Prosecutors at Trump’s impeachment trial on Wednesday played security footage from inside the Capitol on Jan. 6. ___2:20 p.m.Democrats are arguing that former President Donald Trump “built” the mob that attacked the Capitol.

While the Democrats have appealed to the senators’ emotions, Trump’s lawyers have tried to tap into raw partisan anger. REPUBLICANS TO WATCHSix Republican senators voted with Democrats on Tuesday not to dismiss the trial on constitutional grounds. AdCassidy was the only one who did not side with Democrats in a similar vote two weeks ago. He said after the vote Tuesday that he thought Democrats had a better argument and that Trump’s team had done a “terrible” job. He said he will watch the additional arguments as an impartial juror and then decide whether to convict.

– For over three years, Maria Macario has been too afraid to leave the white steepled First Parish church just outside Boston. AdThose who have taken sanctuary have enlisted lawmakers to ask Biden for relief, pushing to cancel deportation orders and reviving the use of private bills — measures to protect a person or group. The Trump administration was more hardline, taking an Indonesian immigrant into custody on church grounds last year. After all, her family was ordered to leave when Biden was vice president. “My lawyer says I could leave the church today, but I just don’t trust things,” Macario said.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz called the impeachment trial “vindictive and punitive” when he spoke to reporters in Capitol Hill last week, adding that “Congressional Democrats seem obsessed with their hatred for Donald Trump.”And U.S. Sen. John Cornyn has expressed skepticism at the idea of a trial. Like Cruz, Cornyn also called the impeachment trial “vindictive” in a recent interview with KHOU-11. Every House Democrat along with 10 Republicans voted to impeach Trump — the most bipartisan impeachment vote in American history, Politifact confirmed. Neither Cruz nor Cornyn have explicitly stated how they’ll vote in the impeachment trial. However, many GOP senators have pledged to carefully consider all of the evidence that will be presented during the impeachment trial.

WASHINGTON – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has tapped nine of her most trusted allies in the House to argue the case for President Donald Trump’s impeachment. Pelosi hasn’t yet said when she will send the article of impeachment to the Senate. Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette, another manager, says the nine prosecutors plan to present a serious case and “finish the job” that the House started. REP. TED LIEU, CALIFORNIALieu, who authored the article of impeachment with Cicilline and Raskin, is on the Judiciary and Foreign Affairs panels. She is also a member of the House Judiciary Committee, and is a former lawyer and member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, and Vice President Mike Pence at a joint session of Congress before last week's violent insurrection at the Capitol. U.S. House members asked Pence on Tuesday to remove President Donald Trump from office over his role in the violent siege. With the backing of Texas Democrats, the U.S. House called on Vice President Mike Pence to remove President Donald Trump from office Tuesday, even though the vice president said he planned to take no such action. Prior to the vote, Pelosi named U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, to the team of House impeachment managers. "I will not support any measure to remove President Trump from office," he said.

Lawmakers are hoping to boost Latino representation in the U.S. media by adding “Selena” to the National Film Registry, NBC News reported. The 1997 blockbuster movie starring Jennifer Lopez directed by Mexican-American filmmaker Gregory Nava has been nominated to be included in the registry by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, chaired by Texas U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro. “And this is one effort to make sure that Latinos are represented in the telling of American culture and the retelling of American culture, and part of that includes American films.”The film touched important cultural identity themes that depicted Mexican-American communities living between bilingualism and navigating personal connections between the two cultures, according to Castro’s letter. He felt there was a “renewed sense of urgency” to bring Latino representation in question after the El Paso shooting in 2019 that killed 23 people, NBC News reported. Castro told NBC News he will continue to push for more Latino representation in media and film to the U.S as congressman after his term as chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus ends this weekend, hoping to tackle the invisibility of the community he represents.

Rep. Marcia Fudge of Ohio and former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota are in the running for the Cabinet position. (House Television via AP)WASHINGTON – One leading candidate for agriculture secretary hails from Cleveland, has the backing of progressives and has worked for years to boost food stamp programs. Tom Vilsack, who served as Obama’s agriculture secretary for eight years, is also being considered. Biden has said he wants a diverse Cabinet, and some Black leaders have said he needs to do more to achieve that. “You won't find a better person thant Heidi Heitkamp,” Manchin said in a statement, adding that she would make a “tremendous” agriculture secretary.

U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro speaks at a press conference in Austin in 2019. Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas TribuneU.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro came up short Thursday in his bid to become chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The most dominant determining factor in House Democratic chairmanship races is seniority, and Castro's bid would have meant he would leap frog over a number of colleagues on the committee. Initially, Castro was an afterthought in a race between Meeks and the most senior Democrat on the committee, U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman of California. Castro's bid called for generational change in the committee's approach to foreign affairs, and he pushed to incorporate issues like climate change and immigration into the country's foreign policy. On Tuesday, the contenders went before the influential House Democratic steering committee to make presentations for their vision of the committee.

Burgess' aim is to be the top Republican — known as ranking member — on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, while Castro is seeking the chairmanship of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The House Energy and Commerce Committee leadership is one of the most coveted roles on Capitol Hill. His top rival in the race is Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a popular Washington state member who once served in House leadership. Last month, he secured a fifth term in Congress, and he is an emerging leader within the Texas Democratic delegation. Republicans sharply cut into the House Democratic majority this year.

President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, sometimes dubbed “the Trump of the Tropics” for his populist, off-the-cuff style, has kept silent on Trump’s loss. And Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador refused to congratulate Biden at this point, saying he would wait until the legal challenges over the vote were resolved. On Saturday, López Obrador was one of the few world leaders still willing to heap praise on Trump. But a Biden administration that only quietly presses Mexico to limit migrant crossings could leave López Obrador in a more uncomfortable position. “Donald Trump will be president for two more months, but Joe Biden will be president for four more years!

Most of the parents were deported to their Central American homelands, and their children were placed with sponsors in the U.S., often relatives. But it was later discovered an additional 1,556 children were taken from their parents going back to summer 2017, including the 545 kids who are still separated. The administration’s foot-dragging has made it even tougher to find the parents because of how much time has passed, he said. The judge called for an update on Dec. 2 and set another hearing for Dec. 4 to discuss the progress. Just nine parents separated from their children were allowed back in January.

Indeed, Pompeo himself had reminded State Department staffers of those restrictions only last month. Pompeo delivered standard recitations of GOP claims about the successes of Trumps America First foreign policy against Russia, China and Iran. In fact, Pompeos convention speech was relatively mild in comparison with previous comments he has made taking Democrats to task for failed policies. They are more safe, and their freedoms more secure, because President Trump has put his America First vision into action. The president moved the U.S. Embassy to this very city of God, Jerusalem, the rightful capital of the Jewish homeland, Pompeo said.

____WHAT IS THE HATCH ACT? Theres so much chatter about the Hatch Act that retired Sen. Orrin Hatch tweeted Wednesday, Friends, I am not in charge of the Hatch Act please stop calling.Former Sen. Carl Hatch, D-N.M., wrote the legislation in 1939 to limit partisan activity by federal employees to ensure the government functions fairly and effectively. ___SHOULD THE AMERICAN PEOPLE CARE ABOUT THE HATCH ACT? If youre trying to silence me through the Hatch Act, its not going to work, she said in May 2019. What you see now is President Trump behaving more and more like an authoritarian leader, not a democratically elected leader.

Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro and U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, in Brownsville in 2018. "If we'd had a better federal response and state response, perhaps we would have already been around the quarter on this," Julin Castro said. Joaquin Castro said the number of beds, hospitals, and infections could have also been significantly reduced. "We're not saying that there would have been no consequences," Joaquin Castro said. All of the money that has been used is been money that's come from the federal government," Joaquin Castro said.

WASHINGTON Dilley, TX August 23, 2019: The entrance for the privately-run U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) South Texas Family Residential Facility outside Dilley. Bob Daemmrich for The Texas TribuneThree Texas members of Congress were potentially exposed to COVID-19 while touring a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in south Texas on Monday, but all have tested negative for the virus. "U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) notified Members of Congress, who recently visited the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, that an ICE employee tested positive for COVID-19," said Paige D. Hughes, an ICE spokesperson, said in a statement. ICE made the notification out of an abundance of caution, since the employee who tested positive assisted on the tour," she added. To date, 2 employees at STFRC have tested positive for COVID-19."

The South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall, Texas. Across the nation, detention centers have become hotspots for the coronavirus, putting immigrant families and ICE officers at risk of contracting the virus. In early May, the immigration detention center was linked to more than 90% of Frio Countys confirmed COVID-19 cases. One of the detention centers has a rapid COVID-19 testing machine, but its constantly passed around between centers, Castro said. Garcia said shes not convinced recommended health protocols are being followed within the detention centers, though ICE employees told her they were.

U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, wrote a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Jovita Carranza, administrator of the Small Business Administration, calling on the department to designate billions of dollars to local nonprofits in the next round of federal support to small businesses. Known as Community Development Financial Institutions, these groups support small business owners who did not have strong enough relationships with banks in order to land funding in the first pass of forgivable federal loans in the Paycheck Protection Program that legislators intended to keep employees on company payrolls. "It is essential that upcoming legislation automatically authorize certified CDFIs as lenders for PPP and include a set aside of at least $65 billion to be channeled through these CDFIs," Castro wrote. "These institutions play a leading role in serving farmers, as well as veteran, family, women, and minority-owned small businesses in rural, urban and suburban communities. “Latino businesses commonly bank with smaller financial institutions versus larger banks who are prioritizing businesses that already bank with them.”