- Coming up on "Austin InSight", are Austin and San Antonio merging into a megaregion?

We'll discuss with former San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros.

And an update on how Austin police are interacting with federal Immigration Enforcement, ICE.

"Austin InSight" starts now.

- [Announcer] Support for "Austin InSight" comes from Sally and James Gavin, and also from Daniel L. Skret.

(upbeat ambient music) - Hello and thanks for joining us.

I'm Laura Laughead.

Immigration Enforcement has sparked protests across the country and here in Austin in recent weeks.

As all eyes are on Minnesota, Austinites have concerns about how the police department is cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE.

(protesters yelling) (car horns blaring) (protesters yell in foreign language) Last Friday, a group of protestors gathered at the State Capitol.

It was one of several protests in Austin after an influx of federal immigration officers in Minneapolis has led to thousands of arrests and at least two deaths.

Protestors called for solidarity with Minneapolis residents and for the removal of ICE from Central Texas.

- As a new mom, knowing that there's so many families in this country who are scared, who are nervous, and who are having to hide, right, is really abominable.

We're really here to support all of those people who are scared at this time and have their own families.

- We want her to know that when things were happening in our community, we showed up.

- Protests aside, experts say it's not entirely clear what local law enforcement agencies are required to do in Texas.

Our Decibel Community Reporting Team has been looking into this.

And multimedia journalist Jackie Ibarra joins us now.

Jackie, the law can be confusing, right?

- Yes, attorneys and city officials we've talked to about this agree that greater clarity is needed.

We have a summary of some of the laws that impact how police and sheriff's departments in Texas can or should engage with federal ICE enforcement officers.

Local law enforcement has been tangled up with Immigration Enforcement.

And here in Austin, that entanglement has been confusing.

- There was a lot of confusion.

- Some confusion.

- This is complicated stuff.

- So let's break down what's going on with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and local law enforcement.

First, let's talk about the Austin Police Department.

Confusion about ICE and APD started when APD responded to a disturbance call, ran a background check on the woman involved, and then contacted ICE when an administrative warrant popped up, which resulted in the deportation of her and her child.

That decision raised questions about how APD handles administrative warrants.

- Administrative warrants are not real warrants.

They're not signed by a judge.

They don't give anybody, other than immigration authorities, the power to arrest and detain someone.

- [Jackie] That's Jose Chito Vela, Mayor Pro Tem, District 4 City Council member, and former immigration lawyer.

- We have been a little behind the curve in responding to these documents and getting both legal guidance and getting policies to allow our patrol officers to, to inform them as to what they're supposed to do when they see these documents.

And we're trying to balance both our obligations under state law, SB4 in particular.

- Here's where it gets tricky.

Senate Bill 4, among other things, does not allow cities or other entities to make policies that restrict their officers from cooperating with ICE.

- State Law prevents us from telling APD, "You cannot communicate with ICE."

That would be illegal under state law.

My goal would be to be very careful about when a patrol officer can communicate with ICE on these administrative warrants.

- So what is APD supposed to do when coming across these warrants?

According to a memo written by Davis, the general orders they create can't stop officers from calling ICE when coming across administrative warrants.

According to KUT, the proposed new orders would leave it up to the discretion of an officer if they want to call ICE when seeing an administrative warrant.

However, officers will need permission from their shift commanders on whether they can wait while ICE responds.

As of recording, APD's new orders aren't out yet.

ICE cooperation also extends outside city limits through sheriffs and Senate Bill 8.

Senate Bill 8 is a state law that went into effect this year.

It requires sheriffs that operate a jail in counties with a population of over 100,000 to request and to enter an Immigration Law Enforcement Agreement with ICE.

And in Texas, that's most counties.

Through these agreements, known as 287(g) agreements, ICE can train and deputize certain officers to enforce federal immigration laws.

- It allows a local law enforcement agency to choose certain officers who are trained and then deputized to enforce immigration laws.

- That's Huyen Pham, a law professor at Texas A&M University.

Under this agreement are three different models for sheriffs to choose from that range in different levels of cooperation.

There's the Taskforce Model, which Pham says is the most cooperative model.

It allows sheriffs to question people about immigration status and serve and execute warrants during routine police work.

- While they're investigating crimes, talking to people, it is the most extensive model.

It gives those deputized officers the most authority.

- [Jackie] The other two models limit an officer's immigration powers to inside the jail.

For example, the Jail Force Enforcement Model lets officers question people's citizenship status who are already detained.

Then Pham says there's the least cooperative model, the Warrant Service Officer Program.

- It gives the local deputized officers the limited authority to serve and execute administrative warrants on immigrants that are already detained in that jail.

- The number of sheriffs deputized to do immigration enforcement can depend on which model was signed and what a department can afford.

So, who's signed?

As of recording, Travis County as well as Hays County hasn't signed an agreement yet.

They have until the end of the year to sign something.

If not, they can face legal consequences.

Other nearby counties have already signed a type of agreement.

Williamson County has signed a Warrant Service Officer Model.

Bastrop and Caldwell County signed both a Warrant Officer Model and a Taskforce Model.

As of recording, over 200 counties in Texas have signed agreements since 2025, and about a dozen more counties have pending agreements.

So, what can you do?

It's important to know your rights and know what state laws are in effect.

But it's also important to know that immigration law is complex and people, even law enforcement, can get it wrong.

- I think we have to be aware of our rights, but also very rational and pragmatic in these moments.

- [Jackie] That's Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, an immigration lawyer in Austin.

- And so my advice as an attorney is that we all need to stay calm and do our best in these moments to deescalate.

And sometimes, justice has to come later.

- She says it's also important to come up with an emergency plan of action if something should happen.

- I think that everybody who is an immigrant needs to have a relationship with an immigration lawyer.

Consult with an immigration lawyer, not a paralegal, not a forms preparer, not a notario, not your cousin or your neighbor, but actually have a relationship with an attorney where you can talk about your safety plan and you could prepare.

- [Jackie] That plan could look like having emergency contacts ready, establishing designated caregivers for children or setting up your finances.

- Decisions that we don't want are made in emergency situations.

And it's much better to think through what we're gonna do and what our strategy's gonna be before an emergency occurs, like an arrest or a detention.

(peaceful ambient music) - And, Laura, as we continue to follow this, and to the point of being clearer, we are expecting new general orders soon from Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis.

This is guidance for police officers about engaging with ICE on matters like administrative warrants.

We'll have more of that online on Decibelatx.org and on our Instagram page.

- Jackie, we will definitely stay tuned for that.

Thank you so much for this update.

(upbeat ambient music) - Last November, Austin voters sent a clear message to city leaders about spending tax dollars.

And that message was a resounding no to a tax increase.

Now, a new spending proposal is being considered, a bond issue, borrowing money to fund costly infrastructure projects like roads, bridges, and parks.

We have more on this now from our new local government reporter, Sam Stark, who joins us here in studio.

First, Sam, welcome to the "Austin Insight" team.

We are so happy to have you.

- Thank you, Laura.

It's great to be here and part of the Austin PBS news team.

- Well, Sam, the tax rate last November.

You know, that election, we all remember Prop Q. But it's different though from a bond issue, but they both require voter approval, right?

- That's right, Laura.

And Austin's mayor and City Council have acknowledged they need to regain voters' trust when it comes to spending.

That's why they are giving careful consideration to a possible bond issue.

- [News Reporter] More bike paths, sidewalks, smoother roads, and strong bridges for years to come.

These are just a few of the projects being considered for a possible 2026 bond election this November.

City officials have already identified nearly $4 billion in capital improvement needs across Austin.

- Our challenge then is to kind of whittle down that amount to what the city can afford.

- [News Reporter] Luke Metzger is the Executive Director of Environment Texas.

And a couple dozen others were appointed to the city's Bond Election Advisory Task Force in 2024, charged with identifying critical projects while ensuring the city is being financially responsible.

- We have the capacity to take out about $680 million worth of bonds.

- [News Reporter] The task force is divided into working groups: Affordable Housing, Investment in Facilities, Parks and Open Spaces, Stormwater, Transportation, and Community Engagement, all with a green sensibility.

- I've been advocating that our package needs to at least be carbon-neutral or ideally negative.

- It's around being good financial stewards of the taxpayer dollar, environmental concerns, equity and access concerns, and whether or not a project has community support.

- [News Reporter] J.C.

Dwyer is also a member of the task force, serving in the Transportation Working Group.

While the bond package has not been finalized, city staff estimates roughly a third of their projects could be transportation related.

Dwyer says some of that work will focus on making it easier to use all forms of transportation, not just cars.

- So getting people access to things like bikeways and trails and better sidewalks and less on the rebuilding of streets, although that's also a priority.

Because we're trying to balance out the different ways that people are trying to get around town.

- [News Reporter] But the road to approval may not be completely smooth.

Just a few months ago, voters decidedly rejected proposition Q with more than 63% of voters saying no, signaling affordability concerns and doubts over City Hall's ability to steward public funds.

Since that defeat, Austin Mayor Kirk Watson put forward three accountability measures: recurring efficiency audits, tighter rules on City Council spending, and this decision tree, a framework to guide decisions on the potential 2026 bond.

- It wasn't very long ago that in part because of questions about council spending, the voters gave us a clear signal.

I think we had better ways to achieve the goals that you all and we all want to achieve.

- So, Sam, when do you think they will make a decision on this bond issue?

- City staff just recently released their recommendation for the projects on the bond.

And the task force will present its bond recommendations in May.

But it's ultimately up to the Austin City Council whether this bond proposal will go to voters.

- We'll stay tuned for that.

Sam, thank you so much for that report.

And Sam will be continuing to cover local government for us.

He joins "Austin Insight" through a unique partnership with the "Austin Current", the new local newsroom from our partner, "The Texas Tribune".

And before this, Sam was a news reporter at KXAN, Austin's NBC affiliate.

And once again, we are so glad to have you on the team now.

- Thank you, Laura.

I'm excited to be here and help viewers understand how city and county government decisions are impacting our communities.

(upbeat ambient music) - Now, a tale of two cities, Austin and San Antonio.

But are they on the way to becoming one giant metropolitan area, a so-called megaregion, like DFW?

That's the focus of a new book written by former San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros.

It's called "The Austin-San Antonio MegaRegion".

The book was inspired by a 2023 documentary from fellow PBS station, KLRN, that explored the region's rapid growth.

Take a look.

- San Antonio and Austin, two cities that used to seem so far apart.

The 75-mile difference along IH-35 was marked by open pastures and farms and a few small towns in between.

But now, while the distance has remained the same, those 75 miles, the world has changed considerably.

- We previously spoke with Henry Cisneros about the Central Texas megaregion.

And joining us now is Henry Cisneros.

Thank you so much for being here.

- Laura, thank you for having me.

- So to note, you also served as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in President Bill Clinton's cabinet.

But let's first talk about growth, something both cities have in common.

While it seems likely growth in Austin has cooled a bit lately, looking longer term, just how big is this area going to get?

- Well, first of all, it is a growth rate that exceeds almost any other place in the country.

Indeed, I've seen some estimates from companies that handle moving vans.

And Austin is the number one destination in the nation for people moving from other places: from California, from Michigan, from other places around the country.

But the answer to your question as to scale, the census tells us that today, from Williamson County north of Austin, Round Rock and Pflugerville and Leander and et cetera, Georgetown to south of San Antonio down around Floresville, there's 5.3 million people.

We don't think of ourselves as a region of 5.3 million, but the region is 5.3 million people.

The census further tells us that in 2050, which is just 24 years from now, if people can remember what they were doing in 2000, that's 26 years ago, so in 24 years, the census tells us the region will be 8.3 million people.

Now think of it.

That difference in 24 years of adding 3 million people is a city the size of Chicago put right into Central Texas.

Just to give you a sense of the scale of what's coming.

- And so it's without question, Austin and San Antonio are going to grow not just a little but by a lot.

But at the same time, these are two cities that are very different with distinct economic and cultural foundations.

Why do you think that as we both go through this process, that we collaborate, what problems could that help us potentially avoid or solve?

- Well, I think that the importance of collaboration is related to the fact of that if we don't, we're gonna end up with a real mess in terms of, for example, traffic congestion.

IH-35 today... You know, I can remember when it was about a 75-minute drive to Austin, maybe 90 minutes at the most.

Today, you don't know whether to allocate two hours or more because it just depends on at what point IH-35 becomes a parking lot for you.

Is it at Kyle?

Is it at San Marcos?

Where does it happen?

That's just one example of why we need to collaborate.

All these other things that I mentioned as well.

We need affordable housing.

That means we need to produce it in the right places.

We need adequate water.

Or the one possible limitation would be inadequacy of our water supplies for the region.

So basically, the reason we need to work together is because the alternative is to end up with a really ungovernable mess.

So if we want to be a functioning megaregion, like the Metroplex is, one of the better in the country for regional planning, then we have to work together.

- So then, and you brought up I-35, it is legendary for, to use your word, the mess that it is.

It's the stuff of nightmares for drivers.

You could argue, you could never expand I-35 enough to accommodate all the traffic.

So is the answer then to that the rail?

- Well, the answer is several things.

First, I think it is the continuing double-decking and improvement of 35.

That's part of it.

Then it is using SH-130 to the east much better than we are today.

That's going to happen because people are gonna discover it.

But also, the growth that will occur for these 3 million people I'm talking about is largely gonna be toward the East.

Taylor and Bastrop and Lockhart and Seguin will become major industrial locations and residential centers along SH-130.

There's connections between 35 and SH-130 that need to be built at New Braunfels, at San Marcos.

And then there's also rail.

And rail is potentially very important.

There's new technologies that are faster and allow practical interconnections as, for example, between our universities or our medical centers or our airports.

We're gonna be a megaregion, but we will not be a well-functioning megaregion if the only connection between us is IH-35, no matter how many lanes we add to it.

- And to delve deeper into a point, you also brought up a critical issue here is, besides I-35 and roads and transportation, it's water and the conflict between development and preserving our natural water resources like underground aquifers.

Now let's take a look at a comment in the documentary from Dr.

Robert Mace, who heads the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University.

- So the state really doesn't plan for that.

You know, the state plans for a repeat of the drought of record.

And the drought of record, again, is looking in the past.

With climate change, there's a high risk that we're gonna see droughts worse than the drought of record.

And so, that puts many, if not all, of our communities at risk of losing their entire water supplies during a new drought.

- Are we doing enough to ensure that there will be enough water in Central Texas to keep up with all this growth?

- We almost certainly are not doing enough.

San Antonio took some important steps forward in acquiring what's called the Vista Ridge Project that runs about 150 miles eastward toward Burleson County.

And we imported about 25% additional water, 25% more than our present water supply.

And it's been working supremely well.

Austin will have to do the same.

- And Central Texas, for the last few years according to experts, has been in a very serious drought.

It's not a matter of Texas one day running out of water totally, it's, you know, a matter of when.

- Well, and the drought situation may get more serious.

Because there's some scientific analyses that show the drought line, which runs really about through our region right now, moving eastward.

So everything west of that line becomes more severe in terms of drought: less water per year, fewer inches of rainfall per year.

If that happens, we have to really, really work hard, really work hard, almost an existential question for our growth plans, to get more water.

- And while Austin has its tech sector and San Antonio has its status as a cybersecurity industry hub, it seems like data centers, they're going up everywhere around here.

Those place a lot of strain on our electricity and water usage needs.

How concerned are you about that?

- Well, one has to be concerned to make sure we have enough water but also power.

The Microsoft Data Center in West San Antonio uses more power than the Toyota plant that produces 240,000 Tundras and Sequoias every year, uses more power.

And that's one data center.

We're talking about six, 10 throughout this region.

So power is gonna be very, very critical.

This can be one of the most attractive places for growth in the world.

I use those words advisedly, in the world, with all the pluses that we have.

But we could also make some mistakes that'll leave us with a real unattractive, congested, contentious region for the long haul.

- And at the end of the day, Austin and San Antonio, we're neighbors.

But we do have some friendly competition.

Out of respect, I'm not gonna bring up the great and very vicious taco debate.

But what are some specific places you think we can work together for mutual benefit like other than what we've discussed?

I'm thinking healthcare, airports.

Maybe even sports teams come to mind.

- Absolutely.

Airports, we're going to be like other regions of the country that have multiple airports.

The time for competing against each other is over.

We need to be thinking of ourselves the way San Francisco has an airport on one side, SFO, and Oakland on the other side of the bay.

Air connectedness is the difference in the world between cities that are successful pinnacles of economic development and connectedness and those that are in the second tier.

We are going to have multiple airports and have to collaborate.

Sports teams, there's gonna be an NFL team in our region sometime.

And it probably ought to be somewhere between the two cities to make the most of the market, just like the New England Patriots play outside of Boston for all of New England.

So there's many, many things that are coming.

Arts, investment in great retail, entertainment facilities, all of those things that are justified in a region that in a few short years is gonna have 8.3 million people.

- Well, without a doubt, there are a lot of exciting things for our region on the horizon, but things we must be prepared for.

Selfishly, I would love to see an NFL team come to our region.

The Texans, my home team, they've been killing me lately.

So I would love to see a decent team other than the Cowboys here in Texas.

Well, with the growing megaregion comes mega challenges without a doubt.

Thank you so much for speaking with us.

Former San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros, author of "The Austin-San Antonio Megaregion" from Texas A&M Press.

- Thank you, Laura.

(upbeat ambient music) - Before we go today, it's been nearly four years since the start of the war in Ukraine.

Hundreds of thousands have been wounded or killed, including journalists.

One of those journalists has a connection to Austin.

Brent Renaud, an American documentary filmmaker, was the first foreign journalist killed in the war after Russian forces opened fire on his vehicle.

His brother, Craig Renaud, a fellow documentary filmmaker, lives here in Austin.

During South by Southwest, Craig premiered a documentary turning the camera around on his own brother's story.

It's called "Armed Only with a Camera: "The Life and Death of Brent Renaud".

Take a look.

(computer beep and whooshing) - [Narrator] We're joined by the Renaud Brothers, Arkansas filmmakers.

- Brent, let's go.

- Okay.

- [Craig] Let's get outta here.

When Brent told me that he wanted to be a documentary filmmaker, I followed my older brother to the most dangerous places in the world.

- [Brent] They're locking in on us.

(bomb explodes) - We've just got some breaking news.

Brent Renaud, an American photojournalist, has been killed.

- Brent lost his life documenting the horrors, the battlefield in Ukraine.

- This film has now been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film.

We previously spoke with Craig about the documentary back in March.

- When people see this, what do you hope they take away?

- The impact of war and the importance of journalism right now.

You know, I feel like journalism is under attack from many different angles.

You have to be able to go into places and report the truth without being a target.

So I hope people see this film and see the graphic nature of what happened to my brother and realize how important journalism is.

And truth telling and documentary filmmaking has a big role in that.

- Craig Renaud also directed "Southern Storytellers" that aired here on PBS.

You can watch our full interview on the Austin PBS YouTube channel.

We wish him the best of luck at the Oscars on March 15th.

That's our show.

Thanks so much for watching.

Catch up on full episodes of "Austin Insight" for free in the PBS app.

We'll see you next time.

(upbeat ambient music) - [Announcer] - Support for "Austin InSight" comes from Sally and James Gavin and also from Daniel L. Skret.

(playful ambient music)