In Houston, a lack of transparency and poor communication between immigration and criminal courts has created a civil rights nightmare and a clog in the system.

Read the rest of this article at The Texas Observer.

Findings by the Texas Smart-On-Crime Coalition suggest that Texas Republican Party primary voters are in favor of reforming some of the state's law enforcement policies. 

Read the rest of this article at Texas Public Radio.

The Houston school district is under fire after a student without legal status ended up in immigration detention following his arrest by a school police officer for an altercation with a female student.

Read the rest of this article at NBC News.

More than 300 Stephen F. Austin High School students walked out during their lunch break Wednesday to protest the arrest of a Honduran teen who landed in immigrant detention after a fight at school.

Read the rest of this article at the Houston Chronicle.

As the Austin Police Association (APA) continues negotiating a new union contract with the city of Austin, police reform advocates are asking that the city fund an independent nonprofit to review complaints against the police department.

Read the rest of this article at Nonprofit Quarterly.

When the city's police union meet-and-confer agreement expired in December, with it expired language that both provided for the Citizen Review Panel and barred the city from experimenting with any parallel mechanism of community oversight.

Read the rest of this article at the Austin Chronicle.

Representatives of Austin’s police union said Monday that they’re eager to begin negotiations with the new city manager on a contract that can hopefully win approval from City Council.

Read the rest of this article at the Austin Monitor.

In this edition of Austin Monitor Radio, editor Elizabeth Pagano sits down with Chas Moore of the Austin Justice Coalition and Kathy Mitchell from the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition to talk about City Council’s unanimous rejection of the Austin Police Department contract.

Listen to this interview on the Austin Monitor.

Despite the dissolution of a contract governing its existence, Austin’s Office of the Police Monitor will remain intact for now. The office fields citizen complaints against officers and has access to internal affairs investigations.

Read the rest of this article at KUT.

Barring some last-minute Christmas miracle, the city's meet-and-confer agreement with the Austin Police Association is dead. Over the weekend, union membership voted overwhelmingly (1,305 to 110) to reject City Council's overtures for a renegotiation.

Read the rest of this article at the Austin Chronicle.