Officials said 18 cases of COVID-19 were also identified at the 5,000-bed tent Fort Bliss Army facility, where a Democratic congresswoman said many “chronic issues” persist.
Lomi Kriel
Lomi Kriel is a statewide investigative reporter for The Texas Tribune. Previously, she was a founding member of the Tribune’s investigative unit with ProPublica, joining the initiative in 2020 before leaving for the Tribune in November 2025. Before joining ProPublica, Kriel reported on immigration for the Houston Chronicle, often focused on the Texas border. Months before Trump’s first administration announced its family separation policy, Kriel uncovered it in 2017. Kriel is a two-time Pulitzer finalist, in 2018 as part of the Houston Chronicle’s Hurricane Harvey coverage, and in 2024 for the Tribune’s reporting with ProPublica and FRONTLINE PBS on the Uvalde school shooting. She is a George Polk Award winner, National Magazine Award winner, Edward R. Murrow winner, and Emmy nominee, among other accolades. Kriel, who was born and raised in South Africa, immigrated to the United States in 1998. She has worked as a Central American correspondent for Thomson Reuters and a criminal justice reporter for the San Antonio Express-News, among other publications. Kriel is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and Columbia University and speaks Afrikaans and Spanish.
Posted in
Immigration
Two cases of measles detected at Dilley immigrant family detention center
The cases come amid renewed nationwide scrutiny of the facility following the transfer there of Liam Conejo Ramos, a 5-year-old Ecuadorian boy who federal agents arrested along with his father in Minneapolis.
Posted in
Immigration
Lawmakers, protesters demand release of 5-year-old held at Texas immigration detention center
State troopers deployed pepper spray at protesters at the family detention center near Dilley where a 5-year-old Ecuadorian’s detention has drawn nationwide attention.
Posted in
Public Education
Celina football coach retires after district clears him of cover-up allegations amid son’s sex abuse scandal
Bill Elliott was placed on administrative leave in October after his son, a football coach at Celina’s middle school, was accused of secretly filming boys in the school’s locker room. A district report found he pressured the principal to hire his son.
Posted in
Public Education
Abuse allegations against a legendary football coach’s son fracture a North Texas town
The top-ranked Celina High School football team is barrelling toward another state championship this month. Its coach is barred from the field.
Posted in
Uvalde school shooting
After local agencies release Uvalde shooting records, calls continue for Texas DPS to follow suit
Local records released this week — after a yearslong lawsuit —affirm previous reporting about law enforcement’s flawed response to Texas’ deadliest school shooting.
Posted in
Investigations
Texas lawmakers largely ignored recommendations aimed at helping rural areas like Kerr County prepare for flooding
Texas lawmakers’ inaction on flood prevention often hits rural and economically disadvantaged communities the hardest, experts said.
Posted in
Investigations
Texas won’t force private companies to use E-Verify to check workers’ immigration status, despite leaders’ tough talk
Texas’ conservative Legislature has again and again refused to mandate that most private businesses use E-Verify. Experts say that Republican resistance is rooted in how the system could impact the state’s labor supply and economy.
Posted in
Investigations
An agency tasked with protecting immigrant children is becoming an enforcement arm, current and former staffers say
The Office of Refugee Resettlement’s welfare mission appears to be undergoing a stark transformation as President Donald Trump seeks to ramp up deportation numbers, current and former officials told The Texas Tribune and ProPublica.
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The Texas Tribune-ProPublica Investigative Unit
These soldiers risked their lives serving in Afghanistan. Now they plead with Trump to bring their sister to the U.S.
Trump’s executive orders have blocked entrance to the country for thousands of Afghans, including those who worked with the U.S. military and their relatives. Two brothers hope permission comes quickly for their sister and her husband, who they say are in danger.