In El Paso on Sunday, the Trump Administration opened the doors to Camp East Montana, the largest ICE detention facility in the country’s history. It reportedly cost $1.2 billion under a U.S. Defense Department contract. The new facility is at Fort Bliss, one of five sites where Texas held detainees of Japanese descent, as well […]
Author Archives: Leslie Rangel
Leslie Rangel, a first generation daughter of Mexican and Guatemalan immigrants, is deputy managing editor for The Barbed Wire. Her award-winning journalism is focused on issues of health, mental wellness, race, gender and social justice.
Leslie was previously morning anchor for the Good Day Austin morning news show. She has also worked at KXAN in Austin, was founding evening anchor at KWKT in Waco, reported for KFOR in Oklahoma City and KFDM in Beaumont, Texas.
Posted inNews
Nearly a Million Texas Students Have an Undocumented Parent. Who Will Protect Them When ICE Comes?
Eighteen-year-old Jonatan Pech sat in the passenger seat of his family’s sedan as their headlights pierced the morning darkness. His older brother, Cristian, gripped the steering wheel. The music shuffled between Houston rap to salsa and then R&B, lullabies for his sister Esme who slept in the backseat while his mom, Teresa, looked out the […]
Posted inNews
‘He’s Making Up Some Sh*t:’ Texas House Issues Arrest Warrants in Quorum-Bust as Democrats Counterattack
UPDATE: The Republican-led Texas House voted 85-6 to track down and arrest more than 50 Democratic lawmakers who left the state to break quorum and were not at the Capitol when the chamber gaveled in at 3 p.m. Monday, The Texas Tribune reported. To be clear, the move is largely bluster, since the civil warrants […]
Posted inNews
‘It’s a Waking Nightmare’: Camp Mystic Alum Recalls Flood That Hit the Same Cabins in 1987
Forty-eight-year-old Katherine Howe let memories of the summer of ‘87 rush back to her on Friday. As the world woke up to the news of missing girls who’d been swept away from their summer camp cabins in violent flood waters on July 4, Howe was transported back to when she was 10 years old and […]
Posted inNews
Immigration Crackdowns Are Sweeping Texas and the Nation. Here’s What to Know.
While federal authorities crack down on immigration across the country, Texas has emerged as an epicenter, as federal officials snatch up immigrants and protesters organize in response. Across the state in the past month, ICE has detained a mother of five outside of a San Antonio immigration court. Outside an Austin middle school, another mother […]
Posted inNews
Texas Decides the Death Penalty for Abortion is a Bit TOO Extreme
Texas lawmakers finalized a bill to walk back parts of the state’s abortion ban this week, because, surprise, surprise, it turns out that abortion care is healthcare. The bill, sent to the governor on Tuesday, is intended to give Texans a slightly lesser chance of dying during pregnancy or childbirth by clarifying some medical emergencies […]
Posted inCulture
The Met Gala’s Theme is all About Black Style and Dandyism. See How Texans Dressed for the Red Carpet
What does the Met Gala 2025 have to do with Texas? And why should we care about Texans at the Met Gala and designer fashion that costs more than your entire car payment, while we’re struggling with trying to keep pregnant Texans alive, our health departments and public schools funded and prevent our beaches from […]
Posted inHealth
‘Clarity’ on Texas’ Abortion Ban is Coming… Whatever That Means
UPDATE: May 21, 2025 The so-called “life of the mother” act to “clarify” medical emergencies that constitute exemptions under the laws, SB 31, easily passed the Texas House and will soon be on it’s way to the Governor’s desk. Once the Governor has signed the law, it will take effect September 1, 2025. PREVIOUS STORY: […]
Posted inCulture
The Beyoncé Cowboy Carter Act Two Tour is Putting Texas Where it Belongs: Everywhere
Thanks to Beyoncé, now the rest of the world knows what it really means to be Texan and country. We know some outsiders looking into our state think that we’re all a bunch of racist, transphobic, ignorant people, but Beyoncé (intentionally or not) is using Cowboy Carter to show what most of us know to […]
Posted inOpinion
I Went to an Abortion Conference. It Made Me Want to Be a Mother
This week I’m celebrating seven years married to my husband and we still have no children. We’re happily married and very much enjoy not having parenting responsibilities, but it’s a part of life that we both want. We thought for sure by now, in our mid 30s, we’d at least have a toddler, but as […]