"Undocumented: Texas' Immigration Impact in a New Trump Era"

STORYTELLING CATEGORY — SHOWCASE SILVER winner

KXAN
KXAN Investigators
05/12/2025

 
 

Under President Donald Trump’s renewed administration, Texas has emerged as a key frontline in the push for aggressive immigration enforcement and widespread deportations. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has issued executive orders directing state agencies to cooperate with federal authorities in identifying, arresting, detaining and deporting undocumented immigrants. Republican lawmakers are also exploring additional measures to bolster those efforts – largely, they say, to combat crime. This includes encouraging local law enforcement agencies to sign Section 287(g) agreements, which authorize them to carry out federal immigration duties.

The impact on immigrant communities has been profound, with widespread fear and uncertainty taking hold. Economically, industries heavily dependent on immigrant labor – particularly construction – are voicing serious concerns about potential labor shortages. Texas residents – regardless of immigration status – also feel the ripple effects in their schools, healthcare systems, courts and public safety services. To better understand these challenges, KXAN investigators spent the first 100 days of Trump’s second term crowdsourcing for information and gathering insights from the public. Detainment centers were popping up in communities across the state, but learning details from official sources – and even those potentially affected – was difficult.

So we used a social media campaign and secure web form – written in both English and Spanish – explaining our goal for the project and intent to honor confidentiality. People could leave anonymous tips there or click through to an encrypted contact platform for additional security. We discreetly cross-referenced tips about specific locations or incidents with other sources to ensure anything we might report was accurate and reflective of reality. We knew our efforts could present challenges, particularly concerning privacy and safety. People providing tips might fear repercussions, especially since distrust in law enforcement was apparent in several of the tips. We worked to navigate those concerns carefully, protecting the identities of senders and anyone they mentioned.

These first-hand accounts would provide valuable context and depth to our coverage, along with a more complete picture of the situation. And some tips did lead to impactful stories and interviews we might not have been able to obtain otherwise.

The result was “Undocumented,” a comprehensive project compiled by more than 30 KXAN staff members and featuring more than a dozen interactive reports online (five also available in Spanish), compelling video stories and a podcast episode diving into the real-life consequences of these policies and proposals. We also produced a one-hour investigative special, livestreamed conversations about our discoveries and a digital landing page highlighting each story with clickable buttons and flipping picture tiles to navigate the project’s multiple pages. The initiative received widespread acclaim from stakeholders and policymakers, and earned a Regional Emmy for Journalistic Enterprise in 2025.

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Submitted by Josh Hinkle.

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