Good morning,

The pervasive establishment media narrative paints all Hispanics, all Latinos, with the monochromatic, ideological brush of statism. I hope you’ll watch my conversation with a man who is disrupting that narrative.

Here is the Texas Minute for Thursday, August 18, 2022.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Rancher Leaving Texas Over Border Crisis

• With the crisis getting worse, some Texans have resorted to fleeing the state and seeking safety elsewhere. Mike Hayes, who owns the Double M Ranch, recently told “Fox and Friends” about the traumatic experience of illegal immigrants trying to break into his home. Emily Wilkerson has the details.
     

• “Last summer, I was in the hay fields and my wife and my daughter were in the house, and a guy tried to break in the door with them. And if it wasn’t for my son, 13 years old, running up there and getting on him, he would have probably made his way in there. And then there was an attack of an elderly lady up towards Eagle Pass. It didn’t take much for them to decide this wasn’t where we wanted to live anymore,” Hayes told Fox News.
      

• While Hayes has stayed behind to operate his hunting ranch, he moved his family to Louisiana in search of a safer environment.
    

• The rancher said he does not believe things will get any better or safer at the border as long as Joe Biden is in office.

More Counties Ask Abbott To Declare Border Invasion

• East Texas’ Tyler County joins 11 other counties in declaring an invasion at the southern border and calling for state action. Sydnie Henry has the details.
     
• Tyler County’s declaration “requests Governor Abbott take the necessary steps as allowed under Article I, Section 10 of the United States Constitution and Article IV, Section 7 of the Texas Constitution to secure the Texas border and stop the invasion at the border, including the actions by paramilitary narco-terrorist cartels that pose a huge risk to our communities.”
      
• In the absence of action from the Biden administration—and as horrific stories of damage to property, livelihoods, and people continue to unfold—the Republican Party of Texas declared that Securing the Border is a GOP priority, and polling shows that 85 percent of Republican voters support declaring an invasion.
       
• In addition to Tyler, the other Texas counties calling for an invasion declaration include: Kinney, Val Verde, Goliad, Terrell, Zavala, Parker, Wise, Edwards, Atascosa, Presidio, and Rockwall.

A Conversation With Chris Salcedo

• Chris sat down with me in the 1836 Studios for a Conversation. I hope you enjoy getting to know the man behind the microphone.

ISD Board Plans To Censure Pro-Transparency Trustees

• The contentious saga in Round Rock Independent School District continues as the agenda for today’s school board meeting includes plans to censure trustees Danielle Weston and Mary Bone. As Katy Drollinger reminds us in her report, Weston and Bone are the two trustees (of seven) who have been fighting for more transparency in the district.
     
• The censure resolution is based on Weston’s and Bone’s early departure from the board’s June meeting. That’s when they walked out of the meeting in protest of what they considered the board’s hypocrisy—allowing COVID-positive trustee Amy Weir to attend the meeting after keeping the district’s 51,000 students out of school for months during the COVID-19 pandemic.
     
• Previously, Weston and Bone walked out of an August 2021 school board meeting after accusing the district of violating the Texas Open Meetings Act by intentionally limiting seating under the guise of following COVID-19 safety guidelines.

Your Federal & State Lawmakers

The districts displayed here should reflect those recently redrawn by the Legislature. Though the new lines do not take representational effect until 2023, they will appear on the 2022 ballot. Please note that your incumbent legislator and/or district numbers may have changed.