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A University of Texas at Austin professor has sued Texas A&M University claiming a new faculty fellowship program designed to increase diversity at the flagship university in College Station discriminates against white and Asian male candidates.

Richard Lowery, a finance professor at UT-Austin who is white, filed the federal class-action lawsuit on Saturday against the Texas A&M University System and its board of regents; Annie McGowan, Texas A&M’s vice president and associate provost for diversity; and N.K. Anand, Texas A&M’s vice president for faculty affairs.

Lowery is represented by America First Legal — a group created by Stephen Miller, a policy adviser for former President Donald Trump, and Jonathan Mitchell, a former solicitor general for Texas and the legal architect of the state’s six-week abortion ban.

In the lawsuit, Lowery claims that a new fellowship program announced this summer within Texas A&M’s faculty hiring program called the Accountability, Climate, Equity and Scholarship Faculty Fellows Program, or ACES, violates Title VI and Title IX of the federal Civil Rights Act as well as the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause.

While the ACES program focuses on hiring recently graduated doctoral students who want to enter academia, the new ACES Plus Program focuses on “mid-career and senior tenure-track hires from underrepresented minority groups, that contribute to moving the structural composition of our faculty towards parity with that of the State of Texas.” It sets aside $2 million over the next two fiscal years to help match a fellow’s base salary and benefits, up to a maximum of $100,000.

According to Texas A&M’s announcement of the new fellowship program on July 8, the university identified underrepresented groups as African Americans, Hispanic and Latino Americans, Native Americans, Alaskan Natives and Native Hawaiians.

“Texas A&M’s proclaimed goal of establishing a faculty whose racial composition attains ‘parity with that of the state of Texas’ seeks to achieve racial balancing, which is flatly illegal under Title VI and the binding precedent of the Supreme Court,” the lawsuit argues.

The lawsuit also accuses Texas A&M of setting aside faculty positions specifically for “underrepresented” racial groups. It points to an August email sent by an unnamed business professor to the head of the recruiting committee for the department of finance, Shane A. Johnson.

“I heard from someone that one of our lines is reserved for an ‘underrepresented minority.’ Is that correct?” the email read, according to a copy included as an exhibit in the lawsuit. Johnson replied later that day, “The underrepresented line would potentially be a third position, so yes reserved, but not one of our ‘regular’ positions.”

The lawsuit says, “Professor Lowery sues on behalf of a class of all white and Asian men who stand ‘able and ready’ to apply for faculty appointments at Texas A&M.”

In a statement, Texas A&M system spokesperson Laylan Copelin called the legal filing an “unusual job application when Mr. Lowery says in the lawsuit he is ‘able and ready’ to apply for a faculty appointment at Texas A&M. But our lawyers will review the lawsuit, confer with Texas A&M and take appropriate action as warranted.”

During the fall 2021 semester, 2,658 out of a total of 4,869 faculty were white, while 180 faculty members were Black and 335 faculty members were Hispanic, according to Texas A&M’s data.

According to Texas A&M’s diversity plan, the ACES Faculty Fellows Program promotes the research, teaching and scholarship of early career scholars who embrace the belief that diversity is an indispensable component of academic excellence,” the website reads. “From this experience at Texas A&M, fellows should develop an understanding of the value of diversity and inclusion and the power that it holds for students, faculty, and staff to enrich their lives.”

On its webpage for the larger ACES program, Texas A&M encourages “women, minorities, and members of other underrepresented groups” to apply and says they will be actively sought.

Lowery has been at UT-Austin since 2009. He was one of the professors involved in the genesis of a new think tank at UT-Austin, which was previously referred to as the Liberty Institute. The new center, now called the Civitas Institute, focuses on programs that “facilitate inquiry into the foundational principles of a free and enduring society: individual rights and civic virtue, constitutionalism and the rule of law, and free enterprise and markets,” according to UT-Austin’s website.

The plaintiff’s lawyers are seeking declaratory and injunctive relief from the court on behalf of Lowery. They also want a court monitor appointed to oversee the university’s diversity office and faculty hiring.

Disclosure: Texas A&M University, the Texas A&M University System and the University of Texas at Austin have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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Over the weekend, a massive caravan of thousands of illegal migrants, mostly from Nicaragua, crossed the border into West Texas in a stunning surge that shocked immigration agents, neighboring towns, and state officials.

By Monday, over 5,000 illegal immigrants had arrived at the Border Patrol’s central processing center in El Paso, Texas, officials told the New York Times. They estimated that about 2,000 people came to the U.S. each day, with the largest influx reaching 800 to 1,000 migrants on Sunday night.

State Senator César J. Blanco, who represents the region, argued that the situation is untenable, with El Paso, a community with limited capacity, being forced to accommodate scores of migrants regularly.

“We’re feeling it. It’s straining resources,” he told the publication, noting that El Paso has functioned as an Ellis Island but for illegal immigration. “Whether we want it or not, it is.”

El Paso’s predicament, which included 53,000 apprehensions in October alone, is the worst among U.S.-Mexico border towns, although all are bearing the brunt of the raging border crisis. So far in 2022, there have been 2,378,944 migrant encounters along the southern border, according to immigration data.

Homeless shelters in El Paso are flooded, as is the processing center, which typically releases the migrants into the interior with instruction to return for a future court date, which many do not oblige.

Blake Barrow, the director of the Rescue Mission of El Paso, told the Times that his shelter was “bursting at the seams” and was mostly filled with migrants rather than U.S. citizens.

“The numbers are like nothing I’ve seen for the last 25 years,” he said. “Honestly, I don’t know how to address this problem. The situation is overwhelming us.”

Rosalio Sosa, who runs a network of shelters in the area, told the outlet that her facilities are struggling to keep up with the constant inflow of migrants. “The queue right now is endless,” he said.

An anonymous administration official implied the federal government is still attempting to tackle the “root” causes of illegal immigration in economically ravaged and politically tumultuous countries in Central America that are sparking the migrant upheaval. The Biden administration has not come up with a plan to fix the border catastrophe, he said.

The inundation of migrants at the border this week comes as Title 42, a public-health order first used by former president Donald Trump during the pandemic to expel illegal immigrants, is set to expire on December 21 in accordance with a federal judge’s ruling. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) anticipates that between 9,000 and 14,000 migrants will arrive on the Southern border daily without Title 42 in place. With Title 42, illegal crossings still range between 6,000 and 7,000 daily.

A federal judge last month blocked the rule, claiming the CDC’s use of it was “arbitrary and capricious” under the Administrative Procedures Act.

In December, it was reported that President Biden and senior Democratic aides were considering a strategy resembling a Trump-era “transit ban” that would bar asylum seekers who chose not to apply for asylum in another country they traveled through to reach the U.S.

A longtime veteran of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) spoke recently at a local event about how to be aware of and report abuse, neglect or human trafficking issues to the state.

Doniqua Lewis — who has served 14 years in the department — serves as an investigator with the Child Protective Investigations branch of DFPS. She spoke at the Princeton Lowry Crossing Chamber of Commerce monthly luncheon Wednesday, Sept. 14, held at the Princeton ISD Administration Building.

She also works with local churches and other community organizations to assist children who may be suffering from child abuse or neglect through her work with faith-based and community engagement efforts of DFPS.

“I have spent most of my time as an investigator for the agency and I love it,” Lewis said. “I have so much passion for it by aiding and mentoring families.”

The best piece of advice Lewis gives is asking questions, she said, adding that it is important to know what is going on in a child’s life. Frequently, the department will investigate cases reported by neighbors or other observers who understand the importance of remaining vigilant for problematic situations.

Parents can also invest in different monitoring software options that track the browser history of their children to ensure they are not visiting websites that are used to traffic individuals. There are also different GPS tags that parents can buy and place on backpacks or purses to monitor a child’s location, said Lewis.

“That cell phone is the biggest threat to our children at this time,” Lewis said. “It’s good to let children have a cell phone so you can communicate with them and know where they are, but put the safety measures in place.”

She encourages parents to read the text messages their children send to help identify any potential issues.

Additionally, the nature of human trafficking has changed, said Lewis. Many times, it is friends or other trusted individuals who are traffickers, not a pimp on the street.

For the full story, see the Sept. 22 issue of The Princeton Herald.

When does the influx of people at our southern border become an emergency? Apparently when it finally affects cities and states far from that border.

Mayor Eric Adams declared a state of emergency Friday due to the sharp increase in the number of migrants arriving in his city. “El Paso, the city manager, the mayor, they should stop sending buses to New York,” Adams implored.

Last week in these pages, City Councilman Joe Borelli saluted the mayor for declaring the emergency and noted that “17,400 migrants have entered New York City since this spring (more than half of whom were sent by the Democratic mayor of El Paso, Texas), and the estimated price tag has ballooned to more than $1 billion. Even in a city with the budget of Switzerland, these figures are daunting.”

They are. And they represent a tiny fraction of migrants presenting themselves at the border. According to US Customs and Border Protection, 203,597 people crossed our southwest land border in August alone. For comparison, that number was 62,707 in August 2019. Suddenly 17,400 over the course of several months doesn’t seem like New York’s fair share.

The emergency declaration is meant to unlock Federal Emergency Management Agency dollars. But that is a Band-Aid solution when the numbers are this astronomical.

Borelli referred to the state of emergency as “acknowledging reality.” That would be nice. But so far Mayor Adams doesn’t want to discuss root causes or push for political solutions to stem the migrant tide.

For too long it had been an emergency New Yorkers could ignore while pretending it was cruel to acknowledge an emergency was happening at all. Any suggestion that unchecked migration had to be somewhat controlled was met with slogans, signs and other empty gestures.

On Dec. 6, 2016, shortly after Donald Trump was elected president, the City Council passed one of its pointless resolutions “Affirming that despite president-elect Donald Trump’s senseless threats, NYC will remain a Sanctuary City for immigrant residents.” Twelve days later, thousands of New Yorkers came out for “The March for Immigrant New York” to celebrate “International Migrant Day.”

In January 2017, signs appeared throughout yuppie Brooklyn. In the windows of cafés and shops, a man with pleading eyes and a baby in his coat stared at us with the words “Refugees welcome here.”

What did it mean? That refugees could also come and buy the $7 lattes that the brownstone set were buying? Like most people who put signs in windows, the Brooklynites didn’t actually mean it. Refugees were welcome here because it was a poke in the eye to Trump, who wanted to build a wall and make Mexico pay for it, not because refugees could actually be welcomed here.

It was all theoretical. People who had no contact whatsoever with the migrant problem at the border wanted everyone to know that they cared. So much. They’re full of caring. And you, person without such a sign in your window, you care far less. That the border towns had done a lot, for years, to help incoming migrants went unmentioned.

Then Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis implemented policies to deliver the migrants to the doors of the establishments with the welcome signs — and suddenly the welcome mat was yanked away.

DeSantis and Abbott didn’t move migrants to sanctuary cities to be cruel. They didn’t do it because they hate immigrants. It wasn’t to cause an emergency. The emergency was already happening.

They did it to force the conversations that Democrats would rather not have. What do we do with the people arriving en masse? Your sign in the window? Prove it.

New Yorkers have to understand that there are consequences to the policies they push. The singular man with the baby in his coat exists only in leftist imaginations. The reality is hundreds of thousands of men, every single month, crossing our border. The Biden administration has allowed our border to be wide open. New York should know what exactly that entails.

What do you think? Post a comment.

“This is unsustainable,” Adams said when announcing the emergency order. It is, for everyone involved. Now it’s time to face it.

Twitter: @Karol

Residents and clergy volunteer to help those seeking asylum in historic border town

The dawning sun shines down on the pavement leading to Sacred Heart Church in El Paso, Texas, slowly warming the desert chill.

The heat is a much needed respite for the hundreds of migrants from Central and South America seeking shelter and protection near the century-old church.

Wrapped in jackets and American Red Cross blankets seen in humanitarian crises the world over, the asylum seekers, many of whom have journeyed for months to reach the US, have been sleeping in the rough in near-freezing temperatures.

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Biden says US will expand Title 42 and accept 30,000 migrants monthly

They have been coming in record numbers since August, flooding the streets of El Paso, a frontier city bordering Juarez, Mexico. The US city has a higher-than-average poverty rate, which puts constraints on how much support is available.

“Our community is a resilient one,” said Peter Svarzbein, a former El Paso City council member.

“We're not the most prosperous city in the United States or in Texas but we're full of love and compassion.”

Nowhere in the city is that generosity more evident than outside of Sacred Heart Church, which lies a few hundred metres from the border in historic El Segundo Barrio, once known as the “other Ellis Island”.

It is an area of low-slung houses and colourful murals, where Mexican and American culture mix seamlessly. The vibrant area is anchored by the redbrick church that dominates its skyline.

English and Spanish can be heard in equal measure on the neighbourhood's streets.

Church volunteers gather daily to offer warm meals and comfort to the migrants, most of whom have crossed illegally into the US, hoping to seek asylum.

“[It’s been] very challenging,” explained Rafael Garcia, the priest at Sacred Heart.

“We sort of started from zero. We did not have a shelter, we had to start getting volunteers on a day-by-day basis to provide food and clothing.”

At its peak in mid-December, as many as 2,400 migrants were crossing into the city every day.

While the crossings have slowed in recent weeks, the city remains at the forefront of a growing problem for the administration of US President Joe Biden.

Last Sunday, Mr Biden briefly visited El Paso before heading to Mexico for the North American Leaders Summit.

Mr Biden toured Bridge of the Americas, the city’s busiest port of entry. He met US Customs and Border Protection agents who have been grappling with the record number of migrants attempting to enter the country.

The Border Patrol apprehended about 2.4 million people in the last fiscal year — which ended in September — the highest number ever recorded.

Before his four-hour trip to the border, the President announced that he would be expanding Title 42, a Trump-era policy that allows the US to turn away asylum seekers for health safety reasons.

Under the administration's new immigration policy, migrants from Nicaragua, Venezuela, Haiti and Cuba will be returned to Mexico if they enter the US illegally.

The administration is trying to discourage migrants from crossing illegally by providing a new, legal pathway for them to apply for a parole programme online from their home countries.

But immigration experts have roundly condemned the new policy.

“The administration is trying to kind of play both sides and appeal to nativists and restrictionists while also trying to present this kind of mirage that the United States is living up to its human rights obligations when it's not,” said Sunil Varghese, policy director at the International Refugee Assistance Project.

Many of the migrants are fleeing economic and political instability that have forced them to seek opportunities elsewhere.

Those already in El Paso do not have the option to apply legally through the new programme and are stuck in limbo.

“They're fleeing an oppressive government and they had to leave on probably short notice, like most people that are in forced migration,” Fr Garcia told The National.

“They're here now with a hope of asking for asylum, like you can in most parts of the world, and that option is blocked.”

Fr Garcia said he is committed to helping those outside his church but he worries “what's going to happen to them” now that they have no legal avenue to claim asylum.

During his stopover, the President did not visit Fr Garcia’s Parish.

If he had, he would have seen a community working hard to help those in need and trying to keep a sliver of the American dream alive for those still seeking it.