The Brownsville
A literary festival in the Rio Grande Valley is crossing borders to share the love of reading. In 2026, the deeply rooted South Texas Book Festival, an annual award-winning community event hosted by the McAllen Public Library, is honoring its bilingual and borderland literature p...
C ameron County commissioners approved the budget and tax rate for the upcoming fiscal year during their regular meeting on Sept. 1. They also heard a Border Patrol request to test a rescue beacon at a county park, an update on state funding for road projects and the progress of ...
HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — The city of McAllen had a head start on Hispanic Heritage Month with a celebration on Tuesday with leaders from Saltillo, Mexico. Leaders from both cities came together at the McAllen Performing Arts Center to honor 200 years of history and part...
Immigration and Customs Enforcement may soon implement the use of electric shock gloves as they plan to spend The post UTRGV faculty, students react to ICE plans to give officers electric gloves appeared first on The Rider Newspaper ....
HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — More than 1,000 pounds of alleged methamphetamine were found hidden within a shipment of leeks at the Pharr International Bridge, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. On Aug. 22, CBP officers seized the alleged meth from a tractor-tr...
BROWNSVILLE, Texas (ValleyCentral) — A federal judge in Brownsville is expected to issue a written order Wednesday on whether Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Christian Castro will remain in custody in Texas or be extradited to Minnesota to face criminal assault charges....
HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers found more than 1,000 pounds of methamphetamine hidden within a shipment of laundry detergent at the Roma International Bridge. The seizure happened Aug. 11 when an officer referred a 2012 tractor-trai...
HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — In this week's episode of Inside Valley Politics, host Brian Svendsen breaks down changes to U.S. Navy policies and border wall construction and sits down with U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico for a discussion. The United States Navy announc...
HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized approximately 47 pounds of cocaine at the Pharr International Bridge last week. On Aug. 7, CBP officers stationed at the Pharr bridge came across a tractor-trailer traveling from Reynosa, Mexico...
M ONTE ALTO — Rio Grande Valley farmers are seeking solutions to the loss of labor they are facing after their farms have been repeatedly targeted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. That was the topic of discussion during a roundtable at Rio Farms Inc. with U.S. ...
HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) -- The city of Roma is linking ongoing construction of the border wall to the source of a foul odor in its water distribution system. City officials were made aware of the odor on Monday after residents reported an "unusual" odor, prompting an inv...
The eBridge Fund, sponsored by the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation (BCIC), is helping bridge that gap by providing a more accessible financing option for small businesses throughout Cameron County....
HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — On this week’s edition of ValleyCentral Weekend Report, Anchor Alexia Serrata breaks down all the news of the week. Starting with the biggest stories of the week, in case you missed them. Big changes are coming to the U.S. immigration policy nex...
HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — The Rio Hondo lift bridge has reopened after being closed for a few hours on Friday for maintenance. According to the Texas Department of Transportation, the bridge was scheduled to be closed until 3 p.m., but work was completed early. The bridg...
By DIANTÉ MARIGNY editor@portisabelsouthpadre.com Recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in Cameron County have sparked emotional reactions across the Laguna Madre area after videos circulated on social media showing agents detaining individuals, includi...
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin visited the Rio Grande Valley border on Tuesday and met with border law enforcement agents and viewed new border wall and border buoys put in the Rio Grande....
A little church just past a strip of border wall in the Rio Grande Valley once served as a resting point for slaves seeking freedom in Mexico. Recently, with the help of a life-long historical researcher, Hidalgo County leaders ensured its place in history. Last month, on July 7,...
HARLINGEN, Texas (AP) — The Trump administration is packing immigration courtrooms and giving less lead-time on hearings in an effort to clear a decades-long backlog. The result is a historic rise in the number of people missing court dates and being immediately ordered deported ...
HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Cameron County has been granted a Presidential Permit authorizing the county to own, operate and maintain the Brownsville and Matamoros Bridge. The county received an official notification that the permit had been granted on Thursday, according ...
PHARR, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Builders from across the Rio Grande Valley and Texas gathered in Pharr on Wednesday, saying recent immigration enforcement has created labor shortages that are delaying construction projects and increasing the cost of building new homes. The South T...
“B orderline,” an explosive thriller filmed largely in Brownsville and centered around immigration, dark conspiracies and media manipulation, debuted on July 17 in select theaters in five states — none of them Texas — and is now available on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV. The f...
HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Congressman Vicente Gonzalez on Tuesday released a statement regarding recent raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Rio Grande Valley, vowing to work with local leaders to find solutions that will keep people safe. The statement co...
Entrepreneurs looking to start a business or strengthen an existing one are invited to participate in the eBridge Business Academy, a free seven-session program designed to provide the tools and knowledge needed to build a successful business....
HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Homeland Security Investigations McAllen is conducting an enforcement operation in the upper Valley, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson confirmed Friday afternoon. The operation is part of an ongoing criminal investigation. ...
The Traffic Division of the City of Brownsville's Department of Engineering and Public Works is notifying residents and motorists of an upcoming road closure as part of a Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) bridge replacement project....
HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Bertha was downgraded to a tropical depression on Thursday evening as it continued to push inland. The showers that swept across the Valley earlier have shifted south of the border, and southeasterly winds will keep flowing through the region. T...
PORT ISABEL, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Some Port Isabel residents say fear surrounding federal immigration enforcement is changing daily life in their community, with some families avoiding work, delaying errands and relying on neighbors for help. Brenda Jimenez Dumas, who owns a l...
HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Residents can get a variety of free health and veterinary services during Operation Border Health events happening across the Valley this week. The events are happening in all four Valley counties from Tuesday, July 21, through Thursday, July 23...
McALLEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — A man who threatened a federal agent with “lights out” avoided prison Monday. In June 2025, when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided a taqueria in San Benito, bystanders recorded the confrontation — and posted the video on Facebook. An...
The Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation (BCIC) will host the AFP Texas Coastal Bend Chapter's Lunch & Learn on Thursday, Aug. 6, at the eBridge Center, offering nonprofit professionals an opportunity to strengthen their fundraising strategies....
McALLEN — U.S. Senate candidates Ken Paxton and James Talarico took their shows on the road in the Rio Grande Valley, vying for votes during their McAllen campaign stops this week. One candidate delivered a speech at his rally, standing in front of a lineup of National Border Pat...
HARLINGEN, Texas (Border Report) -- The number of migrants encountered by Border Patrol agents on the Southwest border dropped slightly in June from May, and the Rio Grande Valley Sector continued to report the most encounters. U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Thursday relea...
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Center for Border Economic Studies (CBEST) has published its Summer 2026 edition of its Border Business Briefs. The briefs are an examination of the cross-border economy in the Rio Grande Valley and northern Mexico, offering insights into...
Lawmakers and leaders from the Rio Grande Valley marked the 100th birthday Friday of the McAllen-Hidalgo International Bridge with a celebratory luncheon that included the mayor of Reynosa and consulates from several countries. And they shared stories of how this fabled crossing ...
Editor’s note: This story first appeared in the McAllen Daily Press on Saturday, July 17, 1926, and is being republished, in its entirety and as originally published, on MyRGV.com to accompany the centennial celebration of the international bridge in McAllen on Friday, July 10, 2...
By BERENICE GARCIA | TEXAS TRIBUNE MISSION — A historic chapel that served as the basis for the city’s name will no longer lie behind a border wall as community leaders and church officials initially feared. The future of La Lomita Chapel, which sits near the Rio Grande, came int...
A South Texas congressman visited two sites where new border wall is slated to be built in the Rio Grande Valley on Wednesday and had good news for opponents at one, and not so good news at the other....
DONNA, Texas (ValleyCentral) — South Texas builders say increased immigration enforcement across the Rio Grande Valley is creating delays at construction sites, driving up building costs and worsening an ongoing labor shortage. Industry leaders with the South Texas Builders Assoc...
HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Drivers are being advised to avoid both north and southbound lanes of FM 1015 near the Progreso International Bridge due to a diesel spill, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. The north and southbound lanes of FM 1015 south of Mi...
U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, says he's working with Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee for exceptions to be put in the 2027 Homeland Security budget bill to exempt certain landmarks in the Rio Grande Valley from border wall construction....
Sister Letty Ugboaja is seen in this undated photo. (Courtesy photo) As questions remain unanswered about how a nun on her way to Mass in McAllen ended up detained by immigration officials, Bishop Daniel E. Flores said Monday that the Department of Homeland Security’s enforcement...
HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — The Catholic Diocese of Brownsville has released a statement after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained a nun while she was walking to Mass on Sunday, with Bishop Daniel E. Flores calling the actions "wildly disturbing." On Sunday, ...
An Israeli-based company wants to pair up with a U.S. company to build a $1 billion desalination plant on South Padre Island, on the South Texas border, to ease the growing water woes in the Rio Grande Valley that has been caused, in part, from a lack of water owed to the region ...
The Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation (BCIC) has opened applications for the final cohort of Programming for Startup Texas funded through its U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) grant....
The City of Brownsville, the U.S. General Services Administration, Customs and Border Protection, and local partners broke ground on the downtown port project, which will replace aging facilities and expand key areas used by federal inspection agencies....
This file photo shows the Harlingen Interchange in the foreground as traffic flows. (Maricela Rodriguez/Valley Morning Star) UPDATE (12:16 p.m. Thursday): TxDOT officials said the closure has concluded and the flyover is reopened. ORIGINAL STORY: Motorists heading to McAllen from...
McALLEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Hoes were a hot topic at the federal courthouse in Brownsville last week. Francisco Javier Palafox Jr., a man in his 40s from Brownsville, told Border Patrol he planned to visit “his friends and hoes.” When they searched his car, however, agents f...
Federal courts throughout the United States are overwhelmed. Immigration enforcement has undergone a sea change since President Donald Trump took office for the second time in January 2025, and the effects are being felt across all facets of the federal court system. MyRGV.com lo...
The Donald Trump administration announced last month that it will resume processing immigration applications from doctors who want to live and practice in the U.S. That’s welcome news, especially in border regions like the Rio Grande Valley. We hope other healthcare professionals...
SAN JUAN — U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla of California was in the Rio Grande Valley Thursday to meet with local representatives from advocacy groups and community members who have been directly affected by President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration policies since taking office last...
HARLINGEN — The city’s record construction boom is slowing its pace amid a federal immigration crackdown slashing the labor force while driving up building prices in a region that’s turning into a destination. Last year, the city’s construction values climbed to a record $201.8 m...
HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — A New Jersey-based corporation with manufacturing locations in the U.S. and Mexico is planning to expand to Brownsville. Kearfott Corporation's motion systems facility in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, has been operating for decades. The Mexico facility...
HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Starting Wednesday, a bridge replacement located on Minnesota Avenue in Brownsville will cause road closures until July 31, the Texas Department of Transportation announced. According to TXDOT, the road closures will affect traffic on Minnesota ...
