Good morning,

Yesterday, we asked readers about the death penalty. You'll find the responses below.

This is the Texas Minute for Tuesday, October 1, 2024.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Congressman Confirms Half-million Entered the Country Illegally with Criminal Records

• More than half a million illegal aliens with criminal histories have entered the United States, according to data released by a Texas congressman. Will Biagini has the details.
       
• U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-23) published data he had requested from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on the social media platform X. He was told 662,566 noncitizens on ICE's docket have criminal histories. That includes 13,099 murder convicts, 15,811 sexual assault convicts, and 13,423 weapon offense convicts.
       
• Gonzales said the numbers should serve as a “wake-up call” for the federal government and cities across the United States that keep sanctuary policies in place.
       
• “We’ve known for far too long that the Biden-Harris border crisis poses a direct threat to Americans. The truth is clear—illegal immigrants with a criminal record are coming into our country.” – Tony Gonzales

Dade Phelan Needs Democrats to Stay Speaker

• The race for Speaker of the House has become more interesting. Republican David Cook of Mansfield recently released a list of 48 of his GOP colleagues who he says are “committed to his candidacy” over current Speaker Dade Phelan. Brandon Waltens examines what this could mean for Phelan's strategy to keep the speakership.
              
• Cook supporters make up a majority of the 86-member House Republican Caucus.
        
• The field of Republican challengers to Phelan narrowed from five members down to Cook after a private meeting last month of reform-minded legislators. 
         
• To be elected speaker, a candidate must receive at least 76 votes of the 150-member chamber on the first day of the session. If the “reformers” stick together or even grow in number through the end of the year, Dade Phelan will need Democrat votes to become speaker again.
             
• The outsized influence of Democrats on the speaker race and the legislative agenda of the House has been a motivating factor in the movement to oust Phelan. Cook has promised to end the practice of awarding chairmanships to Democrats and to work more quickly to pass Republican priorities.
       
• Meanwhile, Democrat State Rep. Ana-Maria Ramos of Richardson has declared her candidacy for the speakership. 

UT and A&M Endowment Funds Leveraged to Promote Leftist Political Agendas

• Five asset managers for the University of Texas and Texas A&M University’s investment management company used their positions to advance leftist ideology through shareholder resolutions. Valerie Muñoz reports on a new study that found 159 shareholder votes supporting “woke” policies. 
       
• According to a report from the American Accountability Foundation, these asset managers—Aperio Group, Cantillon, Generation Investment Management, GQG Partners, and JP Morgan Asset Management—cast shareholder votes in favor of leftwing corporate governance resolutions in the name of the state's investment fund. The five entities oversee approximately $4 billion in endowment funds for UT and Texas A&M.
       
• The topics of the resolutions ranged from radical racial and gender theories to anti-Second Amendment stances to attacks on the oil and gas industry.
       
• “Governmental bodies, including their proxies, should not pursue objectives that harm the Texas economy and go against our values.” – State Rep. Brian Harrison (R-Midlothian)

Dallas’ City Budget to Help Aid LGBT, Race-based Events

• The Dallas City Council unanimously passed a $5.3 billion budget, which Emily Medeiros reports will help facilitate LGBT parades and race-based events.
        
• A review by The Dallas Express found line items in the city's Office of Arts and Culture to boost “cultural equity.”
       
• This sort of spending isn't new in Dallas. Earlier this year, city tax dollars were used to host an all-ages LGBT event, which featured drag queens, “trans services,” and sexually explicit merchandise for sale at booths in front of minors.
       
• Kaden Lopez of the Texas Family Project said the City of Dallas should use the money to address issues pertinent to all residents rather than advance leftist ideologies.

Colin Allred Pushes LGBT Agenda on the US Military

• U.S. Rep. Colin Allred wants funds designated for national defense to be spent on transgender surgeries and LGBT activities. Addie Hovland has the story.
      
• Allred recently signed a letter to the House and Senate committees overseeing the armed forces. He and other Democrat lawmakers wanted restrictions on such spending removed from the National Defense Authorization Act. 
       
• Specifically, Allred wanted defense dollars spent on gender-mutilating surgeries and for "drag shows" on military bases and installations. 

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Quote-Unquote

"For all its enormous range of space, climate, and physical appearance, and for all the internal squabbles, contentions, and strivings, Texas has a tight cohesiveness perhaps stronger than any other section of America. Rich, poor, Panhandle, Gulf, city, country, Texas is the obsession, the proper study, and the passionate possession of all Texans." 

– John Steinbeck​

Y'All Answered

Democrats have been seeking to abolish the death penalty, while some Republicans in the Texas Legislature have pushed for a moratorium to study the implementation of the punishment.

Yesterday, we asked readers what they thought Texas should do...

Here's a sampling of readers' comments after participating in the survey...

• “When heinous crimes involving death are NOT committed, then perhaps the death penalty won’t be needed.” – Barbara Nash
      
• “Keep the death penalty, but reduce the time between sentencing and carrying out the punishment.” – Michael Conway
      
• “Keeping the death penalty allows for the possibility of removing a criminal from society permanently…instead of housing, feeding, and supporting a criminal (at taxpayer expense!) for years upon years in jail.” – Dana Krasinski
      
• “Police, Prosecutors and Judges CANNOT BE TRUSTED.” – Jack Stinnett
      
• “The death penalty should be strengthened to include crimes against children, crimes committed by illegal aliens with repeat histories of violence, and the crime of Treason.” – Mary Roan
       
• “The punishment needs to equal the crime; otherwise, what’s the point of laws? We want to deter others from lawless activity, and fear of death is a pretty good deterrent.” – Susan Valliant
      
• “Keep the Death Penalty intact, but we need to change from the ‘good-bye juice’ that is hard to obtain, either back to hanging, firing squad, electrocution, or the newer tech method of Nitrogen hypoxia.” – Thomas Bazan
      
• “If the state bans abortion, then it must ban the death penalty. It just doesn't work that it's okay to allow SOME legal killing. End the death penalty.” – Michelle Lantz
     
• “The right of any free society to protect its citizens is as basic to survival as having the means to do so! Guns? Yes! Death penalty? Absolutely!” – Sara Heizer
       
• “I used to be a supporter of the death penalty, and I definitely agree some people deserve to die for some of the horrible things they do, but after all the law-fare that we’ve seen aimed at the January 6 citizens and President Trump, it’s not a power I want to give government. Further, given the incompetence, lack of questioning, reasoning, and corruption in our scientific and medical community, I no longer trust forensic testing.” – Susan Kochevar
       
• “Keeping it is crucial to having a civil society.” – Frida Motamedi
       
• “The death penalty has its place, but I believe all cases should be reviewed and reversed if there is any question about guilt.” – David Perry
       
• “The death penalty is about the only deterrent we have to threaten a hardened criminal. Some people say two wrongs don’t make a right, but these criminals certainly weren’t concerned about someone else’s life! I don’t want my tax dollars to feed and house a criminal for 30 years!” – Priscilla Love
       
• “Death is way too easy. They should have to live out their miserable lives locked up like the animals they are. I can’t reconcile being against abortion and pro-death penalty.” – Karen Breazeale
          
• “If there is no punishment for committing a crime, crime will be committed. While the death penalty is reserved for the most heinous crimes, it also acts as a deterrent. One needs only to look at the rise in crime that has resulted due to cash-less bail. If there is no punishment for stealing $900 worth of items, more theft will occur.” – Steve Sullivan
         
• “If one studies the history, the unequal application, or the perceived ‘benefits’ of the death penalty, one is dismayed that justifications beyond revenge are difficult to find; seemingly, there is no rational basis for it.” – Jim Pikl
        
• “The problem with the current law is that taxpayers foot the bill to support criminals for 20-30 years before justice. Once someone is given the death penalty, they should be moved into a separate system where appeals and such should be limited to 5 years. CSI & law enforcement technology has vastly improved to the point where guilt or innocence is close to 100%.” – Steve Gandy
        
• “The moral decline of modern society is due to the lack of respect for authority and the absence of deterrence... a society without repercussion for lawlessness and evil is doomed.” – John Morrison
        
• “I believe we not only need to keep the death penalty, but it should be used more often as we should not have to use our tax dollars to support those convicted of heinous crimes, especially with the huge influx of criminals coming across our border illegally.” – Bernadine Pearce
       
• “There are some crimes that are just too heinous to even consider anything but the death penalty. We all have free will—what we as individuals do with free will is a judgment in everyday life. Choose good, not evil.” – Elizabeth Day

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