Thread by @TexasTribune

1/ It is the 29th day of the government shutdown over a border wall.

Ahead of Donald Trump’s afternoon speech, review some of our coverage of the national immigration battle and debate. Follow this thread.

2/ Border Patrol agents on the front lines are beginning to feel the strains of the shutdown while they work without pay.

"They’re working 16-hour shifts, then they go home and have to stress about the bills."

bit.ly/2ASwYLS

3/ ICE dumped hundreds of migrants with nowhere to go at a bus station on the eve of Christmas without warning shelters. More might be released in the coming days. bit.ly/2RV7kQr

https://twitter.com/tornandra/status/1086459715335348224?s=20

4/ Honduran migrants feel unsafe at home, oppressed in Mexico and unwelcome in the United States. But they carry on towards the border, despite Donald Trump’s threats. bit.ly/2T2X4TL

5/ This is the cruel irony that Central American migrants face every day.

They flee the frying pan of violence in their home countries only to land in the fire that is Mexico.

Robbery, shakedowns and price-gouging leave them desperate and broke.

bit.ly/2FOXUQh

6/ Last year, we interviewed more than a dozen Central American migrants who crossed the river and turned themselves in to Border Patrol agents.

Only two said they had heard immigrants could request asylum at the bridges.

bit.ly/2sBzSAs

7/ This is Maria and her 7-year-old son.

They fled gangs in Guatemala to seek asylum in the U.S.

But in the U.S. they wound up in family detention together. “Instead of him being killed quickly there,” Maria said, “they were killing him slowly here.” bit.ly/2zR3iyc

8/ After ICE detained this migrant in Texas, her C-section scar ripped open and she was denied surgery for 4 months.

This is Luz — and this is her story.

trib.it/1C6

9/ Many undocumented immigrants say a better life – not birthright citizenship – is the main reason they come to Texas.

bit.ly/2Hn3iwd

10/ Here's what happened the last time the government seized land in the name of border security: Officials low-balled Texans who couldn’t afford lawyers, took property without identifying owners, and paid people for property they didn’t actually own. bit.ly/2T4xbmf

11/ A border wall might cut off La Lomita chapel from Mission, Texas.

Meet the "cowboy priest" who is trying to stop that from happening.

bit.ly/2S1hz5I

12/ Donald Trump cites human smugglers — or “coyotes” — as a reason for the border wall.

But a year ago, a former people smuggler and a drug trafficker told us a wall wouldn’t stop them.

If anything, a wall would get them more money.

bit.ly/2ATgEui

13/ Donald Trump suggested letting Texas build a border wall.

But the last time the federal government dropped a bunch of border fence money in Texas and walked away, one man got very rich.

bit.ly/2sAibRy

14/ Texas landowners who have lived in the shadow of the border fence for years were never compensated for any damage to their property values. bit.ly/2Hn3Ulv

15/15 We send our readers a weekly email with a roundup of the latest Texas Tribune stories about race and immigration. Sign up to get it here. bit.ly/2T1LtEn