Good morning!

This is the Texas Minute for Wednesday, February 21, 2024.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Trump Endorses Against Texas House "RINOs"

• As early voting continues ahead of Texas' March 5 primary , former President Donald Trump has issued a series of endorsements of candidates running for the Texas Legislature. Brandon Waltens has the details.
       
• Calling the incumbents "RINOs" (Republicans in Name Only), Trump cited their votes to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton and opposition to school choice.
       
• The endorsed candidates include Mike Olcott (challenging Glenn Rogers in HD60), Helen Kerwin (challenging DeWayne Burns in HD58), Alan Schoolcraft (challenging John Kuempel in HD44), and Liz Case (challenging Stan Lambert in HD61).

Federal Government Plans to Release Thousands of Illegal Aliens

• After record numbers of illegal aliens have flooded into the United States, Emily Medeiros reports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are working on plans to release thousands of illegal aliens from detention centers into the country. 

     
• Reportedly, ICE is planning to release more than 16,000 illegal aliens into the country after Senate Republicans and a handful of Democrats rejected a border measure supported by the Biden administration.
      
• Todd Bensmen of the Center for Immigration Studies said ICE's proposed action appears to be a "kind of payback" that could put Americans in danger.

Texas Voters Support Strict Border Security Measures

• According to a new poll, Republican voters in Texas overwhelmingly agree that the sheer number of illegal aliens crossing the southern border is a crisis. Democrats aren't so sure. Will Biagini has the story.

       
• A poll from the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin found that “three-quarters of Republicans (74%) consider the number of migrants attempting to cross the border ‘a crisis’ and another 11% consider it 'a very serious problem.'”
        
• On the other hand, the poll finds that only 20 percent of Democrat voters believe that illegal immigration into Texas constitutes a crisis, while another 37 percent believe it is a serious problem but not a crisis.
       
• Setting party aside, 66 percent of voters support deploying the military to the border, while 65 percent support building a border wall.

POLL: Harris County District Attorney Underwater

• A poll of Harris County Democrat primary races finds incumbent district attorney Kim Ogg trailing her opponent and former employee Sean Teare by 38 points. Charles Blain reports on the data released by the University of Houston's Hobby School of Public Affairs.
      
• Ogg, who took office in 2017, polled at 21 percent to Teare’s 59 percent among likely voters.
        
• Republican Dan Simons is running unopposed in the Republican Primary.

Denton Mom Escalates Challenge to ‘Transgender’ Books in Elementary School

• A Denton woman is escalating her fight to keep inappropriate books out of the local elementary school libraries, gaining traction with grassroots activists and a prominent Republican lawyer. Erin Anderson explains that the community is taking notice. 
        
• Debi Scaggs raised her children in the Denton Independent School District, and now her grandchildren attend school there.
        
• Last year, Scaggs challenged several elementary school library books that promoted “transgender” ideology to young children. She contends the books are educationally unsuitable.
       
• Now, the grassroots group Citizens Defending Freedom is partnering with Denton County attorney Mitch Little in escalating the issue with the school district. 
      
• Scaggs and CDF are encouraging families in Denton ISD concerned about the materials available in elementary school libraries to attend next week's meeting of the school trustees.

Quote-Unquote

"Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder."

– George Washington​

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