Elizabeth Trovall | Marketplace

Microgrids generate and supply their own power in tandem with the grid and work as a backup option in case extreme weather knocks out power.

With tens of thousands of trucks passing through Laredo each day, bridges and roads are critical to this center of North American trade.

A growing number of young people with parents who are high-skilled immigrant workers may be forced to leave the country. These “documented Dreamers” grow up in the U.S., but because of the visa backlog, aren’t allowed to stay.

Here’s a rundown of border and immigration news from Texas and beyond. Look out for a weekly recap featuring reporting from NPR and Texas’ public radio stations.

Women left the workforce in droves after day cares and schools closed or went remote during the pandemic, exacerbating strains on affordable, accessible child care. But, a Houston-area program has empowered refugee and immigrant women to step up and fill the child care gap as entrepreneurs.

There were at least 46 hunger strikes — by individuals and groups — at Texas ICE facilities between 2013 and 2017, according to ACLU data shared with Houston Public Media.

The family’s long-awaited arrival is bittersweet, since their father and husband was murdered by the Taliban in January 2021. The family’s plight highlights the life-threatening consequences of the lengthy Special Immigrant Visa process for Afghan and Iraqi interpreters aiding the U.S. military.

A special visa can protect victims of violent crimes, including kidnapping and extortion. But for the 97 migrants found locked inside a Houston home earlier this year, the involvement of federal authorities in the investigation has led to their detention and deportation.

The shelter, or “family transfer center,” offers food and other accommodations to families who have recently been processed and released by federal officials at the Texas-Mexico border.

The research underscores how a relatively short-lived Trump-era policy may have an enduring impact on the long-term well-being of children in immigrant families. In the Houston metro area, 43% of children have at least one immigrant parent.

The vaccination effort appears to be the first in Texas ICE facilities, as hundreds of immigrants are battling COVID-19 in detention facilities across the state.

Already devastated by COVID-19, the winter storm is another blow to Houston’s communities of color.