HAYS COUNTY 鈥� In late March, a group of Venezuelan relatives and friends, celebrating a pair of birthdays, rented a six-bedroom house in the southern tip of Austin with a pool and stunning views from every window of Texas鈥� Hill Country.

They decorated a table for a cake and blew up balloons. As the night faded, the kids went to bed and the adults kept hanging out.

Suddenly, at about 5 a.m. the next morning, the group heard explosions from flashbangs, followed by shouts from law enforcement yelling commands to get out of the house, according to interviews with two attendees.

鈥淲e all started shouting that there were babies 鈥� 鈥楤abies, there鈥檚 babies,鈥欌�� recounted a 30-year-old Venezuelan man, who said he was at the house to celebrate the birthdays of his son, who turned 5, and his best friend, who turned 28.

鈥淭hey were like bombs, like boom,鈥� he said of the disorientating devices.

A cadre of Texas and federal authorities arrived as part of an operation that resulted in the apprehension of 47 people including nine minors 鈥� at least one as young as 3 鈥� though it is not clear whether all were at the party. The authorities later claimed they had busted a gathering of members and associates of Tren de Aragua, a violent gang that began in a Venezuelan prison before extending to other parts of Latin America.

Two were arrested on state charges related to drugs. In the only press release to date, authorities said the sting was the result of a yearlong, multi-agency investigation that revealed the gang ties. They said they would release more details 鈥渁s they become available.鈥�

But two months later, authorities have yet to provide any evidence that the more than three dozen people they arrested that night have connections to the gang.

In an interview with The Texas Tribune, the Venezuelan father 鈥� who was apprehended with his 24-year-old wife and their kids, ages 5 and 3 鈥� denied being associated with the gang and said an agent accused him of being a gang member because of two star-shaped tattoos on his shoulders. He asked that his name not be published because of fear of retribution from the U.S. and Venezuelan governments, as he has a pending asylum case and faces a deportation order.

The Hays County operation resembles arrests across the country since President Donald Trump invoked an 18th Century wartime law to expel Venezuelan nationals: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detains someone, accuses them of being a Tren de Aragua member, and moves to deport them with little opportunity to mount a legal defense themselves or evidence to support the accusation.

In less than five months, the Trump administration has whisked immigrants to a notorious prison in El Salvador without court hearings, publicly attacked judges who have ruled against it, continued arresting alleged gang members and contended that Trump, as the commander in chief, has the ultimate authority to accomplish a mandate 鈥� mass deportations 鈥� he received from voters.

In some cases, the government has pointed to tattoos, social media posts and streetwear, like Michael Jordan basketball jerseys, to back its allegations of gang affiliation.

The actions have worried experts who see a troubling pattern of the government violating due process.

鈥淭his is about something much bigger,鈥� said Muzaffar Chishti, director of the Migration Policy Institute office at New York University School of Law. 鈥淚f it happens to a person who is accused of being a (gang member) today, tomorrow it could happen to you and me. And if the alleged member of this gang does not have the right to contest [charges against them], how can you know I鈥檒l have it? The next person will have it?鈥�

A black box

The government agencies involved in the Hays County raid have not shared any evidence backing up their claims that they busted a gang party, as is the case in many other immigration operations across the country. A copy of the search warrant has little information about what authorities knew before the raid, and a district court judge sealed an accompanying document that includes details about the officer鈥檚 request for the warrant.

ICE has refused to release the names of who was detained and where they are currently. The Tribune identified 35 of the people apprehended in the raid by reviewing documents provided by DPS in response to public information requests. All 35 were arrested on suspicion of illegally entering the country, a federal violation, and the government intends to deport them, DPS reports show.

DPS is asking the attorney general for permission to withhold other records 鈥� including footage from body-worn cameras or any documentation of injuries recorded during the operation 鈥� because their release could hinder an ongoing criminal investigation, a DPS lawyer argued in mid-May.

DPS spokesperson Sheridan Nolen said two people were arrested on state charges: Antonio Jesus Vizcaino Gonzalez and Jeankey Jhonayker Castro-Bravo, both accused of drug possession. Court records say state troopers confiscated nearly 4 grams of powder that tested positive for either methamphetamine or ecstasy, 7.6 grams of cocaine and three methamphetamine or ecstasy pills.

Two months after their arrest, both have detainers from federal immigration authorities, according to a Hays County prosecutor.

A lawyer for one of the men did not return requests for comment.

The Tribune ran the 35 names found in the DPS records through databases of federal, AG真人百家乐 and Hays County court cases. None of the 35 had previous criminal cases in those jurisdictions, according to that review.

The Venezuelan man arrested with his family said he showed the authorities his legal work permit, Social Security number and papers related to his pending asylum case.

He said the officers told him they meant nothing.

鈥淓ver since I鈥檝e been here, I haven鈥檛 had any problems with the law, no criminal record,鈥� the man said, disputing officials鈥� statements that everyone arrested was connected to Tren de Aragua and adding that he has been working two jobs. 鈥淲hen they showed up, they treated us like delinquents.鈥�

ICE, the Department of Homeland Security, and the FBI did not respond to requests for comment.

Gang tattoos

After being handcuffed as the sun rose in Hays County, agents separated the Venezuelan man from his wife and kids, took him to a processing center and scanned his fingerprints, he said.

鈥淚 asked why we were there if we had been at a family birthday party,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey basically treated me like a criminal because I have tattoos.鈥�

He said two of his tattoos honor his kids. His forearm is inked with April 3, his eldest son鈥檚 birthday, and his back with an homage to his youngest. He also has stars tattooed on his shoulders.

鈥淭hey told me to my face: 鈥榊ou know what those stars mean? Those stars are styled by gangsters in your country,鈥欌�� he recounted. 鈥淚 said, no. I got these stars when 鈥� no kidding 鈥� I was starting to leave adolescence, started working. I got them because I liked them and I wanted to get them.鈥�

He noticed the officers had more visible tattoos than he did.

While the Trump administration has increasingly emphasized tattoos as evidence of gang participation, criminologists say Tren de Aragua does not use tattoos for membership. And the extent of the gang鈥檚 presence in the U.S. is also unclear and difficult to measure.

Two criminologists who study Latin American gangs pointed to one-off arrests throughout the country in which local authorities have not provided evidence that alleged Tren de Aragua members in the U.S. take orders from the gang鈥檚 international leadership 鈥� or have any connection to that leadership at all.

鈥淭attoos are not at all a practice used by Venezuelan gangs to indicate association,鈥� said Rebecca Hanson, an assistant professor at the University of Florida鈥檚 Department of Sociology, Criminology and Law, and Center for Latin American Studies. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we can jump to the following questions about what do you do about a Tren de Aragua presence in the United States until their presence has been established, and I just think it鈥檚 highly unlikely there鈥檚 any kind of real Tren de Aragua presence in the U.S.鈥�

When investigating possible gang ties in any investigation, police and researchers also must consider that they may be dealing with imposters who use the name of infamous gangs to add credibility to their illegal activities, which has been documented in South America with Tren de Aragua wannabees, the criminologists said.

Mike LaSusa, of InSight Crime, a nonprofit that studies organized crime in Latin America and the Caribbean, echoed that sentiment.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 necessarily know why they have chosen to use tattoos as a way to identify alleged Tren de Aragua members,鈥� he said. 鈥淛ust because one or even several members of a gang have the same or a similar tattoo doesn鈥檛 necessarily mean that it鈥檚 a gang tattoo. A lot of people just have tattoos of stars.鈥�

Courts block Trump deportations

Doubts about the gang鈥檚 reach within the U.S. have done little to stop the Trump administration.

Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 against Tren de Aragua in March.The act grants a president wide discretion to imprison and swiftly remove people during times of war. It has been only used three previous times: during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II. During the second world war, President Franklin D. Roosevelt invoked it to imprison an estimated 120,000 people of Japanese heritage, including American citizens.

Already, the Trump administration has used the law to deport more than 230 men accused of being violent gang members to a maximum security prison in El Salvador. A series of news reports have found that few of those deported had a documented history of committing serious or violent crimes 鈥� which the administration knew. Yet, they have no recourse to defend themselves against the allegations because they can鈥檛 contact lawyers and both federal governments have claimed there is nothing they can do now.

Top Trump administration officials have suggested those individuals could spend the rest of their lives in that prison.

In the meantime in the U.S., legal challenges to the administration鈥檚 authority have popped up throughout the country resulting in a patchwork of rulings limited to certain judicial districts that have largely blocked such deportations; only one judge, in Pennsylvania, has ruled that the administration can fast-track deportations under the act.

The U.S. Supreme Court, for its part, ruled that the administration must offer detainees a proper opportunity to raise legal challenges. But the high court stopped short of prescribing what that procedure, known as due process, should look like.

As the lawsuits unfold, Trump administration officials have blasted judges 鈥� even those appointed to the bench by Trump 鈥� and floated the idea of suspending habeas corpus, a fundamental legal principle that鈥檚 meant to ensure that a person accused of wrongdoing knows what they stand accused of and can contest the allegation before a judge. It is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees the right to any person, not just citizens.

Released, evicted and expelled from school

The Venezuelan man and his family were released from detention in Frio County after 23 days following the Hays County raid. They came home, wearing ankle monitors, to find an eviction notice on their Pflugerville home and a stack of past due bills. Their eldest son, whose birthday was going to be celebrated by splashing in the pool, was kicked out of school because of too many unexcused absences while they were detained, his dad said.

While they are glad to be out of detention and working again, the family鈥檚 future is unclear, he said.

He still has his pending asylum application but the entire family has received removal orders.

But perhaps nothing is as unclear to them as to why authorities treated them the way they did.

鈥淚 myself lived it, how they treat you,鈥� he said.

This story has been updated with a statement from the Austin Police Department

The city of Austin's automatic license plate reader program will come to a close at the end of the month.

City Manager T.C. Broadnax announced Tuesday night that City Council will not vote this week on renewing the program. The decision came after several community members and city leaders spoke out against it during a council work session that included Austin Police Department leaders.

鈥淲hile I appreciate the Austin Police Department鈥檚 thorough presentation ... and have confidence that APD can continue to use this tool in a responsible way focused on keeping Austinites safe, I am also sensitive to community concerns and outstanding questions from members of the City Council,鈥� Broadnax said in an email to council members and Mayor Kirk Watson.

He said delaying the vote will give the city more time to address the concerns raised around data privacy.

In 2023, the City Council gave APD permission to pilot a program to use scanners to read license plates. The scanners allow police to run plates through a database to search for certain criminal activity, like stolen vehicles.

The city placed 40 cameras across the city 鈥� many of them downtown 鈥� and installed nearly 500 cameras on police vehicles to help catch criminals. The city鈥檚 contracted with Flock Safety and Axon to run the program.

Risks to vulnerable communities

But residents have expressed concerns about how the data is being maintained and the risks it creates for immigrant communities and those seeking health care prohibited by the state.

Critics said the captured information can be kept and shared with outside agencies, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the Texas Attorney General.

Council Member Mike Siegel said the city鈥檚 contract with Flock does not protect Austin鈥檚 vulnerable communities from mass surveillance, and that is really concerning as immigration and deportation efforts have escalated.

鈥淎ustin should not be participating in Trump鈥檚 mass surveillance programs,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e have evidence that ICE is actively collaborating with Flock, and ICE essentially has side door access to Flock鈥檚 cameras and data sets and that data is being used to enforce ICE actions.鈥�

A found that ICE has accessed these license plate reader databases to assist with deportations.

Siegel said the data could also be shared with other agencies that track people seeking abortions or gender-affirming care.

Policing tool

The Austin Police Department has maintained that the license plate reader program is helping crack down on crime, citing its ability to assist the department as it faces staffing issues.

鈥淭his police department is 300 officers short,鈥� Assistant Police Chief Sheldon Askew said. 鈥淲e do not have enough officers to do the job that we would prefer to do without the use of technology to supplement [our work].鈥�

Askew said the readers were helping to catch criminals and have led to arrests and justice for many victims across Austin. A found that 75 million scans resulted in 165 arrests, 133 prosecutions and one missing person found.

He also said the data is not being used for immigration-related searches or other unauthorized uses. The audit did find that information was not being shared for immigration purposes.

However, recent APD data Askew shared in an email to council members found that between 10%-20% of license plate searches in the database did not include a clear reason or case number, which is not in line with the city resolution allowing the program.

Askew said police department supervisors have been instructed to counsel officers to ensure their use of the technology aligns with the city鈥檚 goals and policy.

Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said during the work session Tuesday that she believed the city could be good stewards of the program.

鈥淚 take this very seriously,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut I do feel that there is a way to do this and to do it in a way that we can be successful and have a program here as a large city that addresses violent crime. We can do both.鈥�

But she ultimately agreed with Broadnax's decision to postpone the decision to continue the program.

"Listening to the concerns raised by our community members and elected officials has given us an important opportunity to pause and reassess the path forward," Davis said in a written statement. "The use of technology plays a critical role in how cases are solved and removing dangerous criminals from our streets. It is essential for us to responsibly look at ways to expand access to investigative technologies."

She said if the city decided to move forward with the program, she would be open to using a different vendor.

City leaders say the program could come back to council in five to six months. Staff will be looking at contract language, potential costs for the upcoming budget and how to help the police department fill gaps without this technology.

San Marcos is also grappling with the issue. After hours of testimony, the City Council voted early Wednesday to reject a proposal with Flock that would have expanded the city鈥檚 program.

Texas law enforcement agencies may soon be required to take a larger role in immigration enforcement.

Senate Bill 8, which made it to Gov. Greg Abbott's desk, would require county sheriffs who run a jail to have a written agreement partnering with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

A lot of law enforcement agencies already cooperate with ICE 鈥� at least informally. For example, say someone who is undocumented is arrested and taken to the AG真人百家乐 County jail. If ICE asks, the sheriff's office can detain the person for federal authorities.

SB 8 would require a formal agreement. The AG真人百家乐 County Sheriff's Office is weighing how that could look. An agency spokesperson said it's 鈥渃arefully considering鈥� models of partnership with ICE "based on the needs of the community and our agency." The spokesperson said the decision would be based on "available resources," but did not elaborate.

Sarah Cruz with ACLU Texas said state efforts to enforce immigration 鈥� including Operation Lone Star, the state鈥檚 multibillion-dollar crackdown on undocumented migration 鈥� have led to more racial profiling.

Cruz said she worries SB 8 could lead to more.

"I think our concern is that [SB 8] potentially leads to more racial profiling in Texas," she said. "I think over the last few years, we've seen Operation Lone Star be really harmful to our border communities, and this is now something that our interior communities are going to be facing as we have more collaboration with ICE."

The governor has previously signaled support for the measure.

The bill is one of a handful of state laws requiring local immigration enforcement stretching back nearly a decade. A 2017 law banning so-called sanctuary cities forced sheriffs to cooperate with detainer requests from ICE. The City of Austin and other cities unsuccessfully challenged that law and the sheriff's office began complying with requests.

A 2024 law would have required all law enforcement agencies in Texas to enforce immigration, but it's in a federal appeals court.

Austin has paid out nearly $30 million to settle lawsuits over police conduct during protests following George Floyd's murder five years ago.

Most of the settlements were related to injuries caused by police using shotguns to fire lead-pellet bags at demonstrators outside the department's headquarters in May 2020.

A wave of lawsuits followed over police use of the so-called "less-lethal" ammunition. As of last week, the city had settled 27 lawsuits, including a $4.5 million settlement to Sam Kirsch.

Kirsch told Austin City Council on May 22 that he's suffered for years as a result of being shot in the face. He's had permanent nerve damage and had to have an eye removed six weeks ago.

He said the city could have "serious questions" over the next few years, given the frequent protests of the Trump administration.

"I really worry about what's going to happen the next time there's widespread protests, and it could easily happen on your watch," he told council members. "Will you ensure the safety of the people of Austin from APD when they're peacefully protesting, or are more people going to have life-changing injuries and will [the city] continue to pay millions?"

Other high-dollar settlements include $2.95 million to Brad Ayala, whose skull was fractured after he was shot in the head by an officer. Eve Howell, who was also nearly killed after being shot in the head, settled her lawsuit for $8 million in 2022.

A number of police officers were also indicted by AG真人百家乐 County District Attorney Jos茅 Garza, but most of those indictments have been dropped.

Since the protests, the city has rolled out changes within the Austin Police Department. In 2020, the city tried to move funding from APD, but that money was restored because of a state law banning cities from cutting money to police. APD also started to retool its training for police cadets, an effort that's been stymied by at the police academy. The city has also begun to roll out the Austin Police Oversight Act, a proposition approved by voters in 2023.

But attorney and criminal justice advocate Rebecca Webber, who represented Kirsch, told KUT the city has dragged its feet on many reforms, including the APOA. The measure, which aims to give civilians more access to police complaint files, was on hold for years because of state laws protecting police employment documents.

"The city has failed to implement it," she said. "So, I am possibly more frustrated today than I was five years ago about the city's failure to take accountability for its police department."

While Kirsch was able to get restitution, Webber said, APD avoided accountability. The department could have been found criminally liable, but its internal investigation wasn鈥檛 released until after a statute of limitations to prosecute expired.

KUT reached out to the city and the Austin Police Department for comment, but did not receive a response by deadline.

A previous version of this story referred to Eve Howell as Justin Howell. She no longer goes by that name.

Democratic district attorneys and county attorneys from across the state filed lawsuits Friday challenging the constitutionality of new oversight rules imposed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, which they argue infringe upon prosecutorial independence and violate the state constitution.

The lawsuits were filed by a slew of Democratic DAs and county attorneys, including Delia Garza and Jos茅 Garza of AG真人百家乐 County, Sean Teare of Harris County, Joe Gonzales of Bexar County, John Creuzot of Dallas County and Christina Sanchez of El Paso County. They argue that Paxton's recently adopted regulations 鈥� requiring district and county attorneys in counties with over 400,000 people to submit detailed reports and grant the Attorney General's Office access to certain case files 鈥� exceed his legal authority.

Under the new rules, district attorneys must report indictments against police officers and poll workers, communications with federal authorities and office policies to the Attorney General鈥檚 Office. The reports also require a wide range of information 鈥� including how cases are resolved, how budgets are spent, internal emails and details about how prosecutors make decisions.

鈥淭hese reporting requirements do not make communities safer,鈥� said Gonzales, Bexar County鈥檚 district attorney. 鈥淭hey create barriers that divert limited resources away from what matters most, which is prosecuting violent offenders and protecting our community.鈥�

At the time, the policy was intended to 鈥渞ein in rogue district attorneys.鈥� According to the state鈥檚 , noncompliance could result in prosecutors being removed from office. In a statement on Friday, Paxton called the rule 鈥渁 simple, straightforward, common-sense measure鈥� and accused the DAs of attempting to sidestep accountability.

Paxton described the lawsuits as 鈥渕eritless and merely a sad, desperate attempt to conceal information from the public they were sworn to protect.鈥�

The prosecutors, on the other hand, say their counties are being unfairly singled out and seek to block enforcement of the new rule. It only applies to about a dozen of the state鈥檚 more than 250 counties, and most of them are Democratic-leaning.

鈥淧axton should be working with all district and county attorneys in pursuit of justice, not picking fights with the Democrats in large cities,鈥� said Creuzot, Dallas County鈥檚 DA.

Harris County DA Sean Teare didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

At a in Austin, AG真人百家乐 County Attorney Delia Garza said the rules 鈥渋nvade the separation of powers" of the Texas government.

During the same briefing, El Paso County Attorney Christina Sanchez added that Paxton鈥檚 policy has placed an 鈥渆xtreme burden鈥� on counties across the state by adding 鈥漵ignificant operational costs鈥� for additional administrative tasks brought on by the rule.

鈥淲e stand ready to fight this particular rule,鈥� Sanchez said. 鈥淲e stand ready to respond.鈥�

A Houston-area midwife accused of performing illegal abortions has laid out the case for her innocence for the first time, alleging in an appeal filed Monday that the Texas Attorney General鈥檚 Office was so desperate to prosecute an abortion case that it 鈥渃onducted a shoddy investigation and leapt to wild conclusions.鈥�

鈥淭he Attorney General boasts that he has caught a 鈥楬ouston-Area Abortionist鈥� and has shut down 鈥楥linics Providing Illegal Abortions,鈥欌�� the appeal begins. 鈥淏ut there鈥檚 a snag: it isn鈥檛 true.鈥�

Maria Rojas, a 48-year-old native of Peru who ran a string of health clinics for primarily low-income and Spanish-speaking clientele, is asking the First Court of Appeals to overturn a temporary injunction that prevents her from practicing medicine or operating her clinics.

Rojas was , first on charges of practicing medicine without a license and then on additional charges of performing an illegal abortion. She is the first person arrested under Texas鈥� near-total abortion ban, which comes with up to life in prison and $100,000 in fines.

She has not yet been formally indicted on these criminal charges. But in the meantime, the Office of the Attorney General brought a civil suit asking a judge to shut down her clinics and bar her from practicing. A Waller County judge .

鈥淭his is a critical win in our fight to uphold Texas law, protect the unborn, and protect all Texans from dangerous clinics practicing medicine without a license,鈥� Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement at the time. 鈥淩ojas and her network of illegal clinics operated with blatant disregard for the law, putting people鈥檚 lives at risk.鈥�

Her lawyers now argue the injunction was improper because it didn鈥檛 explain why it was necessary or what it prohibited, and it didn鈥檛 set a trial date. They assert that there is no evidence that Rojas practiced medicine without a license, as opposed to providing services consistent with a midwife, and question why the chief investigator was not present at the hearing to be questioned.

Rojas is represented by the Center for Reproductive Rights, a New York-based nonprofit law firm that has led high-profile lawsuits against state abortion bans, including in Texas.

In the appeal, Rojas鈥� attorneys raise questions about whether the woman investigators claim underwent an illegal abortion was actually treated for a miscarriage. The appeal asserts that Rojas told the woman her pregnancy would not be successful and gave her a low dose of misoprostol 鈥� a treatment regimen appropriate for managing a miscarriage, not inducing an abortion. The lawyers questioned why investigators didn鈥檛 fact-check this woman鈥檚 story with the data stored on the clinic鈥檚 ultrasound machine, which they seized as part of the investigation.

Rojas鈥� lawyers also questioned whether Paxton has the authority to seek a temporary injunction or bring a lawsuit on behalf of the state in an abortion-related case. Texas鈥� abortion ban has criminal and civil penalties, but does not explicitly allow the attorney general to pursue injunctive relief or file suit on behalf of the state, the appeal says.

The Office of the Attorney General did not respond to a request for comment. The state has filed a motion to transfer the appeal to Texas' 15th Court of Appeals, a new court specifically for lawsuits by or against the state. That motion is unopposed but still pending.

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.

Five months into a pilot program to improve safety on Sixth Street, Austin police officials said there have been fewer fights, arrests and incidents where they used force.

Late last year, Austin began reopening Sixth Street to vehicles on weekend nights, erecting barriers to keep people on newly expanded and protected sidewalks.

Water-filled, orange-and-white plastic barricades have been installed, replacing metal fences that were damaged by people leaning on them or vehicles driving over the footings.

Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said the metal fencing was never meant to be long-term and called the new barriers another phase in the program.

"When you look at [that old fencing] and when you look at the crowds getting larger now that the summer is coming up and the weather is getting warmer, [we knew] it was time to change the barriers," she said.

The new barricades are stronger and more cost-effective, city officials said.

Sixth Street is lined with bars, restaurants and clubs, making it a popular nightlife destination. The road had been closed to vehicle traffic on weekend nights for decades. That allowed crowds to gather in the street, which public safety officials said created an unsafe environment.

Restricting people to sidewalks keeps them safe and discourages fights and shootings from breaking out, Davis said. She added that it took a lot of resources from the short-staffed police department to close the street to traffic.

Preliminary data from the Austin Police Department show the use of force by officers against someone on Sixth Street decreased by 50% from January to February of this year, when the data was last collected. Anecdotally, APD officers said they've also noticed a decrease in fights.

Davis said safety improvements on Sixth Street is about policing differently and officers being more visible while they are patrolling on foot and in vehicles.

"We have to be more engaged with the people" on Sixth Street, she said. "And I think being seen, being more visible, being more engaged with what's occurring there, that is where we want to be, where everyone is safer."

As summer approaches, Austin is preparing for an influx of visitors. The city said it is committed to keeping the street open, but that might not always be possible as crowds grow.

鈥淐rowd size changes based on the weather, they change based on a number of factors," Davis said. "But how do we move with that? And so we always have to be prepared that when we see [crowds getting too large] that safety always comes first. And anytime it's about safety we will close the street.鈥�

APD is also working with bar and club owners to help maintain crowds and keep people moving safely up and down the sidewalks.  

It's unclear when the city will decide on a permanent change to Sixth Street or how it will pay for it, but Davis said it could be a while. The city is staring at a $33 million budget deficit for next fiscal year, making funding programs and projects difficult.

"The reality is this a citywide-led focus," she said. "We have to look at different things, and it's going to be a cost shared throughout the city."

Lee esta historia en espa帽ol

This story has been updated with a statement from ICE.

A mother and her three children were deported from the Austin area Tuesday, the family's lawyer said.

Daniel Hatoum, an attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project, said Denisse Parra Vargas is from Mexico and is undocumented. Her attorneys and advocates working with the family said she entered the U.S. in 2016, fleeing an abusive former partner. She has three kids 鈥� aged 8, 5 and 4 鈥� two of whom are U.S. citizens.

Hatoum learned about the case from advocates at . The nonprofit organization got involved after Parra Vargas was stopped in North Austin on Thursday for driving with expired tags.

She and her partner were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Hatoum said Parra Vargas was released later that day with an ankle monitor; her partner remained in ICE custody.

Parra Vargas was told to report to a processing center in Pflugerville on Tuesday. Her attorney and advocates with Grassroots Leadership said she thought she was going for a routine check-in.

"They seem to have convinced her that her going was for the benefit of her partner as well," Hatoum said. "鈥奡o she went with her three children, and ICE decided to arrest them all."

After about 24 hours of searching for the family, advocates with Grassroots Leadership said they located them Wednesday in Mexico.

鈥淭his is incredibly traumatizing for the children, and our community deserves answers,鈥� Annette Price, executive director of Grassroots Leadership, said in a press release. 鈥淭his family deserves dignity, due process, and to remain in Austin where they belong.鈥�

The Department of Homeland Security released a statement Thursday saying Parra Vargas chose to bring her children with her to Mexico.

鈥淭he narrative that DHS is deporting American children is false," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in the statement. "Rather than separate their families, ICE asked the mothers if they wanted to be removed with their children or if they wanted ICE to place the children with someone safe the parent designates."

The family's attorneys said, however, that ICE did not allow Parra Vargas to communicate with relatives nearby who were willing to keep the children in the U.S.

Correction: A previous version of this story said the eldest child was 9. The children are 8, 5 and 4.

Two judges are ordering UT Austin to not delete communications between the University of Texas Police Department and the Dean of Students Office surrounding arrests last year during protests of the Israeli war in Gaza.

On Thursday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Dustin Howell ordered the university to keep 鈥� or not delete 鈥� communications surrounding the arrest of Ammer Qaddumi, a pro-Palestinian demonstrator who was arrested last year. The order came after Qaddumi's attorneys balked at UT Austin's move to delete information related to Qaddumi's April 2024 arrest and suspension from the university.

In another case involving a January 2024 arrest of Jarrid Cornell, a AG真人百家乐 County judge ordered the university to "cease and desist all deletion" of internal communications. That order came on Thursday after Cornell's attorney alleged UT staff used chat apps to hide information leading up to his client's arrest at a pro-Israeli event.

The two cases have hearings scheduled later in May. KUT reached out to the university for comment on the orders, but a university spokesperson declined to comment.

The rulings come on the heels of another lawsuit filed by students who were arrested during pro-Palestinian demonstrations last April. Students sued Gov. Greg Abbott, the Texas Department of Public Safety, UTPD and the UT Board of Regents on Wednesday. The federal suit filed on behalf of four students argues UT unlawfully targeted them in "violent" arrests 鈥� and that the university violated students' First Amendment rights to protest peacefully.

Officials at UT Austin used chat apps to hide internal communications in violation of state law, according to a motion filed in a AG真人百家乐 County court.

Jarrid Cornell was arrested after during a pro-Israel event on campus in January 2024. In the motion filed last week, his lawyer, George Lobb, accused UT officials of actively hiding communications about the case by using apps that can hide or delete messages.

Lobb asked the court to order UT to turn over texts leading up to, during and after the event from staff's personal devices.

He argued "high-level administrators" at UT have been "instructing employees to change settings in commercial messaging apps on their personal devices so that the messages ... delete automatically."

KUT asked UT whether the university had a policy on the use of apps like Signal, which has an auto-delete feature for messages, or iMessage, which has an "invisible ink" function that makes texts illegible in court or open-records requests.

A university spokesperson declined to speak about the allegations.

Lobb said UTPD bodycam video of the arrest shows officials texting, "and they're not talking about dinner," he said. He requested those texts, and he got "bupkis."

"I don't have a single one of those text messages," Lobb said. "Nothing."

Lobb said he believes texts were squirreled away or deleted outright because they "were publicly embarrassing" to UT.

Under the Texas Public Information Act, is public information and shouldn't be deleted. UT had argued the texts are privileged and aren't relevant to the case. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton agreed and asked the court to throw out Lobb's request.

Lobb is now asking the court to force UT officials to provide the texts or prove in court that the university doesn't use platforms like Signal, the app that recently landed the Trump administration .

Lobb said UT is trying to "hide the ball" and that the university started using the apps in response to requests from the media about pro-Palestinian demonstrations on UT campus. More than 100 people were arrested at protests last spring with the help of state police after pressure from lawmakers.

"What they're doing is wrong," Lobb said. "They don't get to claim privilege. In this situation, there is no privilege for them."