Human Rights
President Barack Obama signed two executive orders Monday, July 21, barring companies with federal contracts from discriminating against LGBT employees. The move drew praise from a wide variety of local and national leaders and put a large local federal contractor under fire.
Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, a member of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus, said he welcomes the president's action. But he also chastised Congress for failing to vote on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, of which he is an original co-sponsor.
WASHINGTON D.C. — House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi hosted a meeting with Congressman Filemon Vela (D-Brownsville), Congressman Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles), Congressman Ruben Hinojosa (D-Mercedes), Congressman Joaquin Castro (D-San Antonio), Congressman Beto O'Rourke (D-El Paso), Congressman Marc Veasey (D-Fort Worth), South Texas elected officials and faith-based organizations to discuss their opposition to lessening due process rights for unaccompanied children and the recent deployment of National Guard troops to South Texas.
DALLAS (CBS 11 NEWS) - Tens of thousands of unaccompanied children from Central America who crossed into Texas are overwhelming Border Patrol Agents.
Bill Holston heads the Human Rights Initiative in Dallas, which helps the children gain legal status in the U.S. "These are traumatized kids. They've made an arduous journey from Central America."
But immigration courts are backlogged, which means it often takes years before the children can go before a judge and find out whether they can stay or must leave.
FORT WORTH, Texas — Texas is running out of room to house the thousands of Central American children who illegally crossed the border.
And Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, says the solution is not to continue piling them into bus stations and other makeshift shelters — including unused schools in North Texas — as officials try to find the best way to return the children safely to their families in countries as far away as Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.
Texas is running out of room to house the thousands of Central American children who illegally crossed the border.
And U.S. Rep. Kay Granger said Saturday that the solution is not to continue piling them into bus stations and other makeshift shelters — including unused schools in North Texas — as officials try to find the best way to return the children safely to their families in countries as far away as Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=f30UqRTjbJw
The border is secure. It's more secure than ever. It's so, so secure.
Texas leaders say it's time to stop talking and take action on the growing humanitarian crisis at the border.
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn is the latest Texas official to weigh in with proposed legislation to grapple with the dilemma, in which a growing number of children continue illegally crossing the country's southwest border into this state.
Cornyn plans to file a bill along with U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, to speed up deportations of thousands of Central American children — and ensure their safety while they are here.
On July 10, 2014 Rep. Marc Veasey of Texas asked for and was granted permission to address the United States House of Representatives for one minute regarding the humanitarian crisis along the US border:
"Mr. Speaker, I rise today to encourage my colleagues to do the right thing: to work across the aisle and take swift action to address the humanitarian crisis that our Nation is currently facing.
Washington, D.C. -- Today, Congressman Marc Veasey (TX-33) released the following statement commemorating the celebration of Juneteenth:
"On June 19, 1865, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was delivered, Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the Civil War and slavery, in America, had ended.
From its Texas origin, the observance of Juneteenth as the African American Emancipation Day has spread across the United States and beyond as a symbol of freedom.