Texas

Oct. 11, 2026 11:18 AM PT

NEW YORK — UCLA jumped to No. 12 in the latest Associated Press top 25 poll following its upset of Oregon and USC retained its No. 19 ranking following its win at hostile Penn State.

The poll saw many changes following a Saturday filled with upsets.

Georgia moved up to No. 1 after its win at Alabama, Texas dropped six spots to No. 7 after its loss to rival Oklahoma and Oregon was unranked for the first time in four years after losing for the second time in the past month.

The Bulldogs, who had been No. 2 for five straight polls while rolling off five straight lopsided wins, went on the road and beat Alabama 20-17 with the help of what appeared to be a missed pass interference call in the end zone late in the game.

Georgia received 66 first-place votes from the panel of 70 media members after its first victory in Tuscaloosa since 2014 and ascended to the top of the poll for the first time since Sept. 8, 2024.

Notre Dame, which tuned up for this week’s top-10 matchup at BYU with a 58-7 rout of Stanford, moved up one spot to No. 2. The Fighting Irish got one first-place vote and have their highest ranking since they were No. 2 in the final poll of the 2024 season.

No. 3 Miami, which received two first-place votes, is followed by Ohio State and Indiana. The Hoosiers, who received the remaining first-place vote, got a two-spot promotion after their narrow win at Nebraska.

Alabama remained No. 6, and Texas, BYU, Mississippi and Texas Tech completed the top 10.

Oregon came into the season with its highest preseason ranking ever at No. 2. The Ducks’ turnover-fueled 17-15 home loss to UCLA dropped them to 3-2 and knocked them out of the poll for the first time since they went from No. 11 to unranked following a 49-3 loss to Georgia in the 2022 opener.

No. 12 UCLA and No. 15 Kentucky got the biggest promotions. The Bruins moved up nine spots with their win over Oregon, and the Wildcats went from unranked to No. 15 with their 35-34 overtime win over LSU, which dropped from No. 10 to No. 22.

In and out

In: Kentucky, which dropped out last week after beating South Carolina, is back in the poll with its highest ranking since early October 2022.

In: No. 21 Wake Forest is 5-1 and ranked for the first time since late October 2022.

In: No. 25 Northwestern, at 4-1, earned its first ranking under fourth-year coach David Braun.

Out: Oregon hasn’t lost two of its first five games since the 2016 team opened 2-5 and finished 4-8.

Out: Florida has gone from No. 8 to No. 16 to out of the rankings in two weeks following its 38-19 home loss to South Carolina.

Out: Pittsburgh managed just one touchdown on eight second-half possessions in a 21-17 home loss to North Carolina.

Poll points

— This is the second time in three years there have been three or more No. 1 teams in the first six polls. Georgia, Texas and Alabama took turns holding the top spot in the first six polls in 2024. The only other time in the Top 25 era that three teams had been No. 1 at this point of a season was 1990.

— Notre Dame and Miami, dubbed “Catholic vs. Convicts” rivals since their classic game in 1988, haven’t been together in the top three since Nov. 9, 1993.

— Texas’ six-spot fall from No. 1 to No. 7 matched its drop following a season-opening loss to Ohio State last year.

Conference call

SEC (9 ranked teams): No. 1 Georgia, No. 6 Alabama, No. 7 Texas, No. 9 Mississippi, No. 13 Missouri, No. 14 Tennessee, No. 15 Kentucky, No. 16 Mississippi State, No. 22 LSU.

Big Ten (6): No. 4 Ohio State, No. 5 Indiana, No. 12 UCLA, No. 17 Iowa, No. 19 USC, No. 25 Northwestern.

Big 12 (5): No. 8 BYU, No. 10 Texas Tech, No. 11 Utah, No. 18 Oklahoma State, No. 20 Houston.

ACC (3): No. 3 Miami, No. 21 Wake Forest, No. 24 SMU.

Pac-12 (1): No. 23 Boise State.

Independent (1): No. 3 Notre Dame.

Olson writes for the Associated Press.

Kacey Musgraves is taking another trip to “Uncertain, TX” — this time with a little bit of Tejano flair courtesy of a legendary South Texas band.

On Tuesday, Musgraves released a Spanish version of her critically acclaimed track featuring Tejano group Intocable — a song she originally recorded with country star Willie Nelson, which debuted at No. 50 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs after the May 1 release of her seventh studio album, “Middle of Nowhere.”

“Having a song with the legends of Intocable is such a thrill for me,” said Musgraves in a press release on Tuesday. “As a Texan, I am proud of the cultural melting pot that makes our state so great and this collaboration is such a fun example of that.”

According to Intocable lead singer and accordionist Ricardo “Ricky” Muñoz, who spoke with The Times via Zoom, Musgraves had first thought of including the great conjunto accordionist Flaco Jiménez, who passed away in August 2025, to join in on the original track with Nelson, a fact that the country gal herself confirmed on the Zane Lowe interview series on Apple Music in May.

“Flaco Jiménez’s son told me that Kacey wanted to do an all-Texas thing where Willie Nelson was in the song and Kacey also invited Flaco to play accordion,” said Muñoz, who heard the original demo. “I believe at the time, Flaco was not good, health-wise, so he wasn’t able to do it.”

Muñoz, who has always been a fan of the “Rainbow” singer, said the song was “orbiting” around him. Three weeks ago, he received a call from Musgraves’ team to help with the Spanish version.

“I was very conservative on the accordion part. I just played little parts here and there,” said Muñoz. “Then they call me back and they go like, ‘No, give me some more of that.’”

This isn’t Musgraves’ first collaboration with a música mexicana artist. In August 2025, the 38-year-old singer-songwriter joined forces with Carin León for the cross-cultural ballad “Lost in Translation.”

Muñoz considered the collaboration a “perfect fit.”

“We’re representing the Tejano community,  and I’m proud of that,” said Muñoz, who comes from a long line of Texas-born Mexicans. “ Once we meet in person and we get to play together, it’s even gonna be a better connection to the song.”

On Thursday, the two acts will perform together for the first time for Musgraves’ Middle of Nowhere tour at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas.

The iconic Tejano band formed in the border town of Zapata, Texas, in 1993, and rose to fame thanks to Tejano pop hits like “Fuerte No Soy,” “Soñador Eterno” and “Estás Que Te Pelas.”

In July, the “¿Y Todo Para Qué?” group received its own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. At the ceremony, hitmaker and songwriter Edgar Barrera, who grew up in the same borderland area, said that Intocable “showed the world what música mexicana could be.”

But the Grammy-winning band isn’t resting on its laurels. Of the Walk of Fame star, Muñoz said, “that’s just part of the journey. It’s awesome, but I haven’t really paid any more thought than the day I was there.”

Instead, the “Enséñame A Olvidarte” act is looking ahead. The group is preparing for the release of its 16th studio album next year, “Nostalgia Radical,” a project inspired by Muñoz’s mental health journey , which he said has allowed him to show up as his most authentic self.

“I was exploring myself, being vulnerable and asking questions,” said Muñoz. “ To me, going to therapy every Tuesday is like taking out the trash.”

This November, the band — which is currently zigzagging between Mexico and the U.S. for its Cultura Tour — is also up for a Latin Grammy for regional song for their country-fused pro-immigrant anthem “Estamos Todos.”

“We’re all asking all these questions, and we’re not getting the right answers or any answers. We’re just being danced around with the answers,” said Muñoz. “But in the meantime, we’re all together in this.”

The band’s pro-immigrant stance is another thing it has in common with Musgraves, who in May invited invited three teen mariachi brothers previously detained by ICE to open for her sold-out, three-night residency at Gruene Hall in New Braunfels, Texas, the oldest dance hall in the state..

The country singer also asked fans to donate to the Young Center for Immigrant Rights, which helps children whose parents have faced deportations, during the opening night of her tour in Chicago back in August.

“We need more people to talk about this and not stay quiet. Kacey is coming from another community and stepping up, I mean, that’s big, man. That’s huge.  I commend her for that,” said Muñoz.

WASHINGTON — Republicans are entering the final month of the midterm campaign increasingly anxious that the $1 billion at their disposal may not be enough to fend off sweeping losses as the party reckons with President Trump’s unpopularity, persistent cost concerns and the fallout from the war in Iran.

The cash advantage, spread out across a half-dozen groups, is driven largely by the Trump-aligned MAGA Inc., which had nearly $416 million in cash on hand at the end of August and began stepping up its spending on critical races in September.

But that money may have come too late, forcing the president’s group to pay much higher rates because of the shrinking availability of air time. Four Republican Senate campaign officials said groups that reserved advertising time last spring paid much lower rates than MAGA Inc. and its affiliated groups.

Instead, by waiting until September, Trump-connected organizations are sometimes paying more than five times what they would have spent if they acted earlier.

A representative of MAGA Inc. familiar with the group’s strategy said its spending has allowed Republicans to keep races more competitive than they would have been otherwise. In some cases, the group has been the only one on the air criticizing Democratic candidates.

The MAGA Inc. representative and the Republican Senate campaign officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal strategy.

The challenge is acute in places like Texas, where Trump will travel on Wednesday for the second time in a week to stump for Republican Ken Paxton’s Senate campaign. The state hasn’t elected a Democratic senator since 1988, yet MAGA Inc. has spent more than $22 million in the past month, according to the ad tracking firm AdImpact.

Another group, Texas PAC, which is aligned with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, has spent more than $83 million on advertising in the past month, an extraordinary amount to protect what’s normally a safe Republican seat.

One of those advertisements, which featured Paxton’s estranged wife saying she’s supporting the full Republican ticket, aired across the United States last weekend during a football game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Houston Texans.

Candidates are charged a lower advertising rate than outside groups, so the late infusion of super PAC cash has come at a steep price.

MAGA Inc., which is running ads primarily on streaming services, has been charged roughly $894 per airing, according to AdImpact, while Texas PAC has been charged roughly $809 for a mix of broadcast and streaming. That compares with about $290 for Democratic nominee James Talarico’s campaign, also on broadcast and streaming.

Those averages mask some of the more glaring disparities. For example, during a football game last month, Texas PAC was charged $450,000 to air a single spot in the Austin market. Talarico’s campaign paid $50,000 for a spot during the same game in the same market, according to AdImpact.

Elections are a referendum on the power of money

The 2026 campaign is shaping up as a referendum on the power of money in American politics. Democrats freely acknowledge their disadvantage, relying instead on anti-Trump sentiment among voters and targeted messaging on issues like corruption. Some Republicans, meanwhile, are open about the challenge of trying to spend their way out of a tough campaign at this late stage.

Neil Newhouse, a longtime Republican pollster, echoed concerns that his party was deploying its cash too late.

“After the votes are counted, I think we’re going to find the most effective advertising in terms of communicating message and moving voters and poll numbers, the most effective time was advertising that happened well before Labor Day, not after it,” he said. “A million dollars of advertising in October is a drop in the bucket.”

Thune’s group began pulling back in North Carolina last week, a sign of the party’s challenge in the Senate race there. The state’s outgoing Sen. Thom Tillis has been increasingly vocal about his party’s vulnerabilities and recently said that, even with a strong cash advantage, “in the last month, you pretty much have to place your bets.”

“If we have endless resources, then we should spend endlessly in every state,” he said. “Absent endless resources, you’ve got to make data-driven decisions about where you can win.”

The midterms mark the first national election since the Supreme Court in June erased limits on how much political parties can spend in coordination with candidates for Congress and president, injecting even more money into a political system already awash in cash.

Money alone doesn’t translate into victory

There’s plenty of evidence that money alone doesn’t translate into victory.

Democrat Kamala Harris entered the final stretch of the 2024 campaign with significantly more money than Trump but went on to lose every critical swing state and the White House. Elon Musk’s $25 million didn’t lift his preferred candidate to a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat last year. And Tom Steyer didn’t advance to the general election in the California governor’s race despite pumping $216 million of his own money into the campaign.

The $1 billion that Republicans have amassed compares with roughly $579 million held by a comparable collection of major Democratic groups.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said his party is facing an “obscene” amount of spending that could swamp them in the midterms.

“We’re never going to have as much money as them,” he said in an interview. “I sum up the election in this sentence: Can a massive Republican advantage in money beat a massive Democratic advantage in better candidates and political climate? I bet it can’t.”

In addition to Texas, Democrats have mounted competitive Senate campaigns in states like Ohio, Maine, Iowa and Michigan. A similar dynamic has emerged in governors’ races from Florida and Georgia to Wisconsin, Ohio and Nevada.

Former President Barack Obama is stepping up his involvement in the midterms and will headline a fundraiser for Senate candidates on Wednesday.

In the House, Democrats are growing so confident they can retake the majority that they’re expanding their targets deeper into traditionally Republican districts in Arkansas and Tennessee. But a lack of money could limit their gains.

“We absolutely need to spend enough to get our message out,” said Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington, who chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “And district by district, we are.”

Trump turns to his bond with supporters

From his earliest days as an unlikely political figure, Trump has consistently overcome expectations. Facing daunting prospects heading into the final weeks of his last midterm, he’s betting he can again outwit political gravity, relying in large part on the deep bond he’s built with supporters.

He has stepped up his campaign rallies in recent weeks, traveling to deep red territory to galvanize the party faithful. At events like the one this past weekend in Vandalia, Ohio, the crowd was enthusiastic and cheered at the lines that have become Trump staples over the years, particularly when he dips into profanity. The high school gymnasium that held the event was packed, though crowds began emptying out about halfway through the 90-minute rally.

In the closing minutes of a speech Monday in Grand Island, Nebraska, the president revived his plea that supporters who have stood so fervently by him pretend as if he is on the ballot one more time.

“In a true way, I am running,” he said. “We have to keep it going.”

Sloan and Beaumont write for the Associated Press. Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa. AP writers Seung Min Kim in Vandalia, Ohio, and Mary Clare Jalonick in Washington contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON — A federal court in Texas on Friday issued a ruling temporarily blocking the Trump administration from building a border wall and other infrastructure across the state’s Big Bend region.

The news marks a major win for landowners, businesses and environmentalists in the region who have united to oppose the planned infrastructure projects, which are part of a $46-billion effort by the Trump administration to line the southern border with a mix of 30-foot steel walls, vehicle barriers, roads and surveillance technology.

Judge Kathleen Cardone said in her ruling that the plaintiffs were “likely to succeed on the merits of at least one of the claims in suit, that there is a likelihood that they will suffer serious, irreparable harm without an injunction, and that the balance of the equities and the public interest weigh in their favor.”

Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Opponents of the border wall project have argued that the Big Bend region is so remote and the landscape so rugged that it serves as its own deterrent to illegal immigration, and that the administration violated the law when it issued a swath of waivers allowing it to bypass numerous regulations in order to speed up border wall infrastructure projects.

Laiken Jordahl, with the Center of Biological Diversity that brought the suit, called Cardone’s ruling a “total victory.”

“The bulldozers are going to be sent packing until she rules on the merits,” Jordahl said. “This is such a historic day for Big Bend and for Texas and the Constitution.”

The court’s decision comes just weeks after the administration erected the first border wall panels in the Big Bend sector in the middle of September.

Santana writes for the Associated Press.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have been ordered not to engage in high-speed car chases and to make vehicle stops only if they have completed specific training, under new internal guidance issued after several drivers were shot in encounters with ICE.

A memo sent to officers in ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division and obtained by the Associated Press warned they are not any under circumstances authorized to chase vehicles that fail to pull over. Instead, officers should take down the vehicles’ information for further investigation, according to the memo signed by ICE’s executive associate director, Marcos D. Charles, and dated Wednesday.

The new guidance comes after ICE-initiated vehicle stops have repeatedly escalated when drivers have refused to cooperate or tried to flee. ICE agents have opened fire during more than a dozen such encounters since last year, killing at least four people and wounding several others.

President Trump’s administration has faced internal tension over how to handle traffic stops, which are seen as particularly high-risk encounters.

After fatal shootings of drivers in Maine and Texas in July, ICE officers were directed to temporarily pause most vehicle stops. But the next day, Trump went on social media to direct the agency to continue traffic stops, calling them “one of ICE’s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools.”

ICE has faced intense pressure from the White House to deport more people who are in the country illegally, and its arrests have reached record numbers. At the same time, the agency’s rapid hiring spree last year resulted in some poorly vetted and trained officers hitting the streets.

In a statement, ICE downplayed the significance of the memo, which said the new guidance was intended to replace and amend previous directives issued earlier this year, last year and in 2018.

“Occasionally, ICE leadership issues guidance reminders to law enforcement officers,” the statement said. “Vehicle stops and arrests of illegal aliens continue.”

The new memo outlines steps intended to improve the safety of vehicle stops for ICE officers, drivers they are targeting, their passengers and the public.

The memo told ICE’s field office directors that they must ensure vehicles used for traffic stops have lights and sirens that let the public know they are law enforcement vehicles when activated. Underthe guidance, all officers on the scenes of vehicle stops must wear and activate their body cameras.

In addition, only officers who have completed one of five specific agency training courses can conduct vehicle stops. Officers who have not completed the courses can participate in vehicle stops only “in a support capacity” as passengers and cannot be the drivers of any of the vehicles involved.

The guidance says ICE officers can continue to use a controversial technique known as pinning, which is defined as “using a vehicle or physical barrier to trap or stop a car,” but only if they have received special training. Similarly, only trained officers can use spike strips that deflate tires to prevent drivers from fleeing.

The memo came the day that courtroom testimony highlighted ways in which two ICE officers involved in a vehicle stop, pursuit and shooting that wounded a delivery driver in Austin last month would not have complied with the new guidance.

During a bond hearing for Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, testimony showed that the officer who shot him wasn’t wearing a body-worn camera. The ICE officer who did have a camera was driving in a separate car and turned it off during the pursuit.

Prosecutors presented surveillance video that showed an ICE agent chasing Garces Perez at high speeds through residential streets after he fled an initial traffic stop.

Garces Perez faces federal assault charges after investigators say he struck an ICE officer with his driver’s side mirror. That officer then shot into Perez’s vehicle, lodging a bullet in his back, officials say.

Attorneys for Garces Perez have called the charges against him “retaliation” and have argued that the camera footage was inconclusive because it didn’t fully capture the moment when he allegedly tried to flee.

Foley writes for the Associated Press. AP reporter Anna Wilder contributed to this report from Austin, Texas.

If there’s one positive to come out of the controversial play and video from Saturday’s USC vs. Oregon football game during which Oregon quarterback Dante Moore suffered a concussion after a late hit by USC’s Desman Stephens, it’s that high school football coaches are using it as a teachable moment on how not to react after a player is injured.

Stephens received a one-game suspension from USC after he was seen celebrating when hitting Moore in the head as he gave himself up on a slide to end a running play.

Whittier coach Lorenzo Hernandez said he reminded his players, “You’re always in someone’s lens.”

“You have to be compassionate about someone being injured,” he said.

St. John Bosco coach Jason Negro said there were plenty of lessons to point out to his players.

Negro said in a text, “As mentors, educators, and coaches we are constantly using moments like this to educate our players on how not to be. Football is a small fraternity and regardless of rivalries or spirited competitions we have to respect the health and safety of our opponents. Celebrating in a moment like that is disheartening and would never be tolerated here at Bosco.

“It wasn’t just the Dante Moore situation. It was also the situation from the Texas vs Tennessee game, too, with the unnecessary antics that draw penalties.

“We have to do better in making our kids realize there is a proper way to conduct yourself in an athletic contest. Personal character is revealed in these moments so choose wisely when you plan your actions after you make a good play.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson plans to visit California on Wednesday to stump and fundraise for Republican candidates in a state that could determine control of the U.S. House of Representatives during President Trump’s final two years in office.

Johnson (R-La.) plans to visit the Central Valley and the Inland Empire, a sign of the importance of California congressional contests in the November midterm election.

David Wasserman, a congressional forecaster for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, said that Johnson is attempting to mitigate the aftermath of Proposition 50, the redrawing of California’s congressional districts that voters approved in November in response to Trump’s efforts to tilt districts in his favor elsewhere in the nation, notably Texas.

“If it weren’t for Republican efforts to redraw Texas, Proposition 50 wouldn’t have seen the light of day,” said Wasserman, who predicts Democrats will win control of the House, and said that Republicans would have a better chance at holding more seats if they hadn’t prompted the redistricting fight.

Redrawing congressional districts typically happens once a decade after the U.S. Census, and in California, voters in 2010 decided to hand the power of crafting the state’s districts to an independent commission. After Trump pushed Texas to redraw its congressional boundaries to increase GOP representation in Congress last year, California Democrats responded by persuading voters to reshape its districts to favor Democrats, who already dominate the state’s 52-member congressional delegation.

“California Republicans are on the verge of extinction because of the White House action,” Wasserman said.

In Chowchilla, Johnson is scheduled to hold a fundraiser and a rally in support of former Stockton Mayor Kevin Lincoln, who is trying to topple Rep. Adam Gray (D-Merced) in one of the most competitive congressional races in the nation. He is expected to be joined by Republican National Committee chairman Joe Gruters, California Republican Party Chair Corrin Rankin and Congress members from Texas and Michigan.

He is also holding a get-out-the-vote event in support of Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford), a longtime Democratic target given the voter makeup of his Central Valley district. Johnson is also holding an evening fundraiser in Riverside for Jim Desmond, a member of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors who is running in the district being vacated by longtime Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista).

Issa decided to retire after his congressional district was redrawn because of Proposition 50. He has endorsed Desmond to represent the new district, which spans San Diego and Riverside counties.

The California trip is part of Johnson’s plans to campaign in 22 states in an effort to help Republicans retain control of the House before the Nov. 3 election.

Despite California’s sapphire tilt — registered Democratic voters outnumber Republicans nearly two-to-one — the state’s residents are often the largest donors to politicians on both sides of the aisle. Democrats headed here in coming days include gubernatorial candidates Amy Acton of Ohio, Deb Haaland of New Mexico and Gina Hinojosa of Texas.

Trump sent followers a fundraising appeal Tuesday focused on Democrats’ ability to win control of Congress, which would upend his agenda during his final two years in office.

“I’ve never asked for sympathy. I’ve never asked this country to feel sorry for me. I’ve never asked for anything,” he said in the email. “That changes today. With less than 45 days until midterm elections, the left is ready to put the final nail in my coffin.”

Christian Martinez, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, pointed to the pivotal role California will play in determining control of Congress.

“California’s House races will decide whether working families keep fighters like David Valadao, James Gallagher, Kevin Lincoln, and Jim Desmond or get more of the same from Democrats who raised costs, left the border wide open, and made communities less safe,” Martinez said. “Californians are done paying more, waiting longer, and living with less safety so corrupt Sacramento and Washington Democrats can protect their socialist agenda.”

Anna Elsasser, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, shot back that the policies and beliefs of Desmond, Lincoln and Valadao have deeply harmed California families, including high gas prices and the cost of living.

“That’s why Mike Johnson is swooping in to try and save their fledgling campaigns. Voters won’t forget who sold them out to hand massive tax breaks to billionaires and wealthy corporations by gutting health care and food assistance, championing chaotic tariffs, and refusing to rein in a costly war that has sent gas prices soaring,” she said. “Californians are ready for change, not another two years of Mike Johnson and DC Republicans’ status quo.”

Wilber Rafael Garces Perez has disputed the government’s account of what led to his shooting during a Doordash delivery in Austin, Texas.

A Venezuelan asylum seeker who was shot in the back by a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in Texas is facing a federal assault charge, after prosecutors accused him of striking the officer with his car’s side-view mirror.

Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, appeared in federal court in Austin on Tuesday, where he was charged with assaulting, resisting and impeding a federal officer. He could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

The charge stems from a September 20 encounter that began while Garces Perez was making a DoorDash food delivery near a shopping centre in Austin, the Texas state capital.

A federal complaint filed on Monday says immigration officers noticed that Garces Perez’s car had its emergency lights flashing, and they ran a database check. They found it was registered to Garces Perez, who was subject to a final order of removal from the US.

When the officers approached, Garces Perez handed over his driver’s license through a partially opened window but did not get out of the car, the complaint says. He asked the officers to wait until his wife could arrive to retrieve the vehicle.

Court documents describe the exchange up to that point as “pleasant and not aggressive”.

About a minute later, however, court documents say Garces Perez “abruptly” closed his window and drove off, striking one of the officers in the torso with his driver’s side mirror.

That officer chased Garces Perez in his own vehicle and caught up with him a short time later. In the complaint, the officer alleges that Garces Perez then tried to drive into him, prompting him to open fire.

There is no publicly available footage showing the events described in the complaint, including the shooting.

Videos, however, have circulated online showing the shooting’s aftermath, with Garces Perez injured in his car.

The complaint relies on unreleased body-camera footage from one of the two ICE officers who stopped Garces Perez.

The second officer was not wearing a body camera, according to the affidavit. That officer says he was struck by Garces Perez’s side mirror and later shot him.

Garces Perez, however, gave federal investigators a different account of the moments immediately before he was shot.

He told investigators that, after a brief chase, a law enforcement SUV struck his car, causing it to spin around, according to the affidavit. He said the officer then opened fire, shooting him in the back.

Garces Perez has been held in a detention facility in south Texas since the shooting.

His lawyer, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, said on Sunday the bullet was still lodged in his body and that he has a fractured clavicle. In a social media post, Lincoln-Goldfinch explained that his supporters were worried he could develop sepsis or suffer permanent damage if he didn’t undergo surgery soon.

The Department of Homeland Security has argued, however, that Garces Perez is receiving adequate medical care.

Garces Perez’s legal team is also seeking to stop his removal from the US.

The Venezuelan national entered the US in 2024 through CBP One, an online programme expanded under former President Joe Biden to allow asylum seekers to make appointments with immigration authorities at the US-Mexico border.

Trump ended the programme on his first day back in office, accusing the app of contributing to an immigration crisis in the US. His administration has since relaunched CBP One as CBP Home, a self-deportation portal.

Lincoln-Goldfinch has said Garces Perez was legally seeking asylum in the US and had a valid work permit. She has asserted that he was ordered to be deported after missing an immigration court hearing because the notice had been sent to an old address.

Garces Perez is due back before a federal immigration judge on Wednesday for a separate hearing on whether he can remain in the country.

The case comes amid a surge in immigration enforcement during Trump’s second term, with ICE reporting more than 50,000 arrests in both July and August.

According to documents obtained by The Times via the California Public Records Act, Inglewood High School confirmed to the Southern Section that its football coach, Mil’Von James, played three ineligible players during a game in Austin, Texas, last month.

The reason, according to the letter sent to the Southern Section office, was, “The coach stated that he was not aware CIF eligibility rules applied to a game in Texas.”

That raises the question how many more times Inglewood has used ineligible players for out-of-state football games under James, the head coach since 2019. Last season on Sept. 25, 2025, the team played in Midland, Texas, three days before sit-out transfer players became eligible. Inglewood won 43-42. One of the players on the team who had not been cleared to play was Masyn Harvey, a quarterback transfer and holder on PATs.

Harvey, now playing for a prep school team, declined to return a request for comment if he had played.

If Harvey did play, Inglewood should have forfeited its win last season to Midland. Because Inglewood lost to Westlake of Austin on Aug. 28, a forfeit was moot for this season. Inglewood informed the Southern Section that it imposed a two-game suspension as punishment to James, who returned to coach last week in a win over Downey. The school said it would extend the sit-out period by another week to those players who participated while not cleared.

As for corrective action, the school stated, “Going forward, all ineligible players, across all sports, will be in street clothes on the sideline and must check in with the game administrator prior to the start of each game. We will send all coaches, across all sports, a weekly email listing ineligible players and the reasons for their ineligibility.

“At the start of each season, we will re-train all coaches on eligibility criteria and the clearance process and require them to sign an acknowledgment confirming they understand.”

James has a history of using ineligible players. He was dismissed at Hawkins High in 2016. The Los Angeles Unified School District did not share why James was fired, calling it a confidential personnel matter. LAUSD dismissed James soon after the discovery of ineligible players, resulting in Hawkins forfeiting all of its games to finish 0-13. Since then, the City Section established a rule that teams must exchange rosters before games to verify that players are eligible.

The Southern Section declined comment, but according to a letter response from an assistant commissioner, “Based on your self-report, preventative measures and the corrective actions taken, we will consider this matter closed.”

Colin Simmons tied the program record with five sacks as top-ranked Texas held off No. 14 Tennessee 20-17 Saturday with President Donald Trump on hand in the Longhorns’ first visit to Neyland Stadium.

Raleek Brown ran for 67 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and his four-yarder with 5:41 left gave the Longhorns the winning margin in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams. Giannis Spetic had a pair of field goals.

It was a defensive day with Texas (4-0) dominating with 10 sacks. Simmons’ big day will be remembered for his vulgar celebration after one sack. He was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct with the referee saying Simmons was “simulating” using the restroom.

“We took him out, we addressed it and put him back in,” Sarkisian said of Simmons. “At that point, I’m not going to give the guy a death penalty over an unsportsmanlike conduct. We got to fix it though. That can’t continue.”

Quarterback Brandon Faizon of Tennessee (3-1) made it interesting late, capping an 80-yard drive with a 30-yard touchdown pass to Mike Matthews with 1:22 left. Linebacker Arion Carter recovered the onside kick, and Jelani McDonald batted away Brandon’s pass to Travis Smith Jr. on the final play in the end zone.

Texas’ Arch Manning threw for 201 yards while being sacked six times. He also was intercepted once with the Longhorns needing the smothering defensive performance to help on a day with too many penalties, including two illegal forward passes by Manning.

at No. 2 Georgia 41, Oklahoma 13: Chris Cole scored on a 85-yard fumble return as the Bulldogs (4-0) took advantage of three first-half turnovers by John Mateer and overwhelmed the struggling Sooners in the SEC opener for both schools.

Mateer lost two fumbles, each recovered by Cole, and and had a pass instercepted as Oklahoma, which finished with four turnovers, fell behind 28-0. K.J. Bolden picked off a pass from Mateer in the second quarter.

Gunner Stockton was almost perfect in the first half for Georgia. Stockton completed his first nine passes, including a 35-yard touchdown throw to Talyn Taylor.

No. 3 Notre Dame 49, at Purdue 10: CJ Carr threw three touchdown passes and ran for another score and linebacker Drayk Bowen scored his first career touchdown on a 15-yard fumble return for the Fighting Irish.

Carr was 14-of-22 passing for 237 yards with his first interception of the season.Aneyas Williams carried 14 times for 80 yards with one TD as Notre Dame (4-0) produced a season-high 177 yards rushing. Notre Dame has won 14 straight and will start October with a perfect record for the first time since 2021.

at No. 7 Ohio State 42, Illinois 19: Jeremiah Smith tied an Ohio State record with four touchdown catches and also had career highs with 12 receptions and 217 yards in the rout of the Illini.

According to Sportradar, it is the 23rd time since 2000 an FBS player has had double-digit catches for at least 200 yards and four scores in a game. The last to do it was Western Michigan’s Sky Moore against Northern Illinois in 2021.

It is the fifth time an Ohio State receiver has had four touchdowns. The last time it happened before Saturday was Noah Brown at Oklahoma in 2016.

at No. 11 Texas Tech 49, Sam Houston 14: Red Raiders linebacker Austin Romaine returned two interceptions for touchdowns on consecutive passes thrown by different Sam Houston quarterbacks in the first half of what became a rout.

Texas Tech led only 7-0 before fellow linebacker Brock Gowlas leaped to deflect a pass thrown by Brett Holloway. Romaine, who had also jumped, then grabbed the ball out of the air and ran 15 yards for a touchdown with 14:54 left in the first half. On the first play after the ensuing kickoff, Bearcats starting quarterback Landyn Locke was back in the game, and his pass on first down was picked off by Romaine. That 31-yard return made it 21-0.

Wake Forest 30 at No. 16 Louisville 27: Connor Calvert kicked three field goals, including a 32-yarder with 6:20 remaining, to lift the Decons (3-1, 1-1 ACC) to the upset.

Gio Lopez threw for 225 yards and a touchdown. on 12 of 19 passing for the Demon Deacons (3-1, 1-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) against Louisville (2-2, 1-1). Carlos Hernandez caught nine of those for 194 yards, just three yards off the career best he set last season against Delaware. Ty Clark III carried the ball 21 times for 91 yards and two touchdowns.

No. 17 Iowa 20, at No. 18 Michigan 19: Hank Brown threw a game-ending, 16-yard touchdown pass to Reece Vander Zee to lift the Hawkeyes to the win in the Big Ten opener for both teams.

Iowa (4-0) went 91 yards on the final drive — boosted by an unnecessary roughness penalty against Michigan on a third down at midfield. Brown’s 29-yard pass to Addison Ostrenga set up the final play with two seconds on the clock.

Bryce Underwood threw a 49-yard touchdown pass to JJ Buchanan early in the fourth quarter — their second scoring connection of the game — but the Wolverines (3-1) could not make enough plays on both sides of the ball to hold on for the win.

Etc.

Wayshawn Parker broke a 54-yard run on the game’s opening play from scrimmage for the first of his three touchdowns and No. 15 Utah (4-0) held off host Iowa State (2-2) in the second half for a 31-17 win on Saturday in a Big 12 opener for both teams. … Conner Weigman threw four touchdown passes and ran for two scores, leading No. 25 Houston (3-1) to a 42-28 win over visiting Georgia Southern.

Lee Beebe Jr. rushed for 203 yards, including a 70-yard burst that set up Josh Hoover’s game-sealing one-yard touchdown run with 1:56 to play, and No. 5 Indiana (4-0) held on for a 29-23 over surprising Northwestern (2-1) in the Big Ten opener for both schools on Friday night. …

Mason Heintschel passed for 403 yards and six touchdowns, and host Pittsburgh (4-0) remained perfect by rolling past Bucknell 59-0 on Saturday. … Jeffrey Overton Jr. ran for a 76-yard, go-ahead touchdown late in the fourth quarter as Virginia Tech (4-0) rallied for a 21-14 victory at Boston College (2-2) in an ACC opener for both teams that was played in a nor’easter. …

WASHINGTON — Republicans are growing increasingly grim about their chances in November, with aligned groups pumping money into reliably GOP states and candidates scrambling to distance themselves from unpopular White House policies.

From Texas to Ohio and Alaska to Iowa, campaigns are grappling with a fed-up electorate that is sour on the president and angry over soaring fuel prices driven by an unpopular war. While Republicans are flush with unprecedented cash that could move the needle in some races, overall the mood is glum heading into the election’s final stretch as campaigns try to counter palpable Democratic enthusiasm to maintain their narrow lead in the House and Senate this November.

“Everybody is tired. You see the poll numbers. Everybody is cranky about gas prices,” said Jeanette Hoffman, a Republican strategist from New Jersey. “The party in power is playing defense. This is a referendum on the incumbents.”

Trump is trying to protect Republicans with cash

After mounting pressure from endangered candidates in battleground states, groups affiliated with President Trump finally began unleashing their stockpile of campaign cash earlier this month, joining with Republican committees that have amassed a record fortune that dramatically eclipses their Democratic counterparts.

“Republicans have air superiority. House Democrats are scrambling to catch up with the very limited resources they have,” said Mike Marinella, a spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee.

But the spending underscores the extent to which Republicans are playing defense.

Three Trump-aligned groups — MAGA Inc., No Going Back PAC and Safety and Affordability PAC — have spent more than $163 million on advertising and air time since Sept. 1. Nearly 40% of that money — more than $63 million — has been spent in states and districts where Trump won by 10 percentage points or more in the 2024 election, according to an Associated Press analysis of data from AdImpact, which tracks media spending and ad buys.

That includes 12 House districts and three states with major Senate races.

In Texas, Republicans have spent nearly $107 million on ads and reservations since the beginning of the month trying to bolster scandal-plagued attorney general Ken Paxton in his Texas Senate race against Democratic state Rep. James Talarico. The spending, which is for ads through Election Day, is nearly four times as much as Democrats in a state Trump won by nearly 14 points.

Further north in Ohio, Republican spending to defend Sen. Jon Husted has exceeded $152 million, compared with $90 million on behalf of Democratic nominee Sherrod Brown, according to AdImpact.

Terry Casey, an Ohio Republican strategist, said both Republicans and Democrats are “kind of sitting on pins and needles because of the national and economic circumstances.” The outcome, he said, would depend on whether Democrats can turn out voters.

Democrats are competing in Republican stronholds

States that Trump won by wide margins — like Texas, Iowa, Ohio and Alaska — have become some of the most competitive battlegrounds in the midterms.

The White House is even investing time in states that haven’t been considered competitive for years. Vice President JD Vance recently traveled to Kansas to campaign for Sen. Roger Marshall, who is facing a challenge from Democratic nominee Adam Hamilton.

The founder of the nation’s largest United Methodist church, Hamilton received a rousing welcome from scores of people who crammed into a Topeka coffee shop to see him Tuesday.

“In all my 50, 60 years in politics, I’ve never seen a candidate that quite has the momentum going,” said Jim Ploger, an 82-year-old longtime Democratic activist from Topeka who believes Hamilton gives the party “the best chance we’ve ever had” to win a Senate seat.

Vance has also been to Iowa, Ohio, Maine and North Carolina to bolster Republican candidates, while Trump is also hitting the road. The week after the party’s unusual midterm convention in Dallas, he traveled to North Carolina to hold a rally with Michael Whatley, his former national party chairman. Republicans are increasingly concerned that he could fall short in his Senate race against Democratic former Gov. Roy Cooper.

There are more concerns about Georgia, where Rep. Mike Collins is trying to unseat Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff. Although Ossoff began the cycle as Republicans’ top target, Collins has endured weeks of negative headlines about a House ethics investigation and his son-in-law’s white nationalist views.

“I don’t think anyone’s expecting Collins to win,” said Tim Waters, chairman of the Peach County Republican Party. “Do I like that? No, I don’t like that. But it’s just the facts.”

In Texas, officials are hoping a huge influx of last-minute cash will help save Paxton. Sen. John Cornyn, who lost his primary to Paxton after Trump turned on him earlier this year, isn’t so confident.

“I think it’s going to be very rough, lots of headwinds,” he said. “Even in places like Texas, which are pretty red, we’ve got flawed candidates who I think are going to have a hard time.”

Republican National Committee spokesperson Natalie Baldassarre said the party is focused on turnout and is well aware of the historic trend in which the party in control typically loses seats in the midterm.

“We have money to spend and we’re not taking anything for granted this cycle,” she said. “This is very high stakes, and it’s unfortunate that other people feel glum and down. But we’re doing everything we can to protect and expand our majorities so we’re full steam ahead.”

Party officials are more bullish on races in Maine and New Hampshire, where Democrat Kamala Harris won in 2024, and remain optimistic about Michigan, where Trump won by less than two points and where former Rep. Mike Rogers faces progressive Democrat Abdul El-Sayed.

Some Republicans call for an end to the war

Some Republicans are taking steps to distance themselves from Trump even as he urges his supporters to vote like he is on the ballot.

Rep. Tom Tiffany and Rep. John James, the party’s nominees for governor in Wisconsin and Michigan, both joined calls for an end to the war in Iran.

“War is terrible, and no one likes war,” James told reporters.

Mike Rogers, the Republican Senate nominee in Michigan, released an ad in which he also called for ending the war. Standing in a grocery store, he bemoaned high prices and said the government should suspend gas taxes and stop diesel exports.

“The war with Iran needs to end and end quickly,” Rogers said. ”Michigan families can’t afford to wait.”

In Iowa, where Republicans are trying to hold onto the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Joni Ernst, Rep. Ashley Hinson, who is locked in a tight race against Democrat Josh Turek, voiced the same frustrations.

“Iowans are being squeezed and shouldn’t have to foot the bill at the pump or the checkout line for the war in Iran” she wrote on social media. “These actions to lower costs are needed ASAP, and the war needs to be brought to a successful and immediate end.”

Hinson, however, did not join two fellow Iowa Republicans in battleground districts — U.S. Reps. Zach Nunn and Mariannette Miller-Meeks — in voting with Democrats on a resolution intended to halt Trump’s ability to continue military action without lawmakers’ approval.

Perhaps the most dramatic break with Trump came from Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, a Republican defending her seat in a competitive, majority Hispanic South Florida district. Last week, she released an ad filmed in front of the White House as she criticized the president for going “too far” on immigration policy.

Others have continued to scrub references to Trump from their websites. The latest was Republican Byron Donalds, who is running for governor in Florida, who recently revamped his site so that it no longer includes a number of prominent references to Trump and his endorsement, the Miami Herald first reported.

‘It’s a very competitive environment out there’

White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said Trump “is the unequivocal leader, best messenger, and unmatched motivator for the Republican Party” and that “the choice has never been more clear: doubling down on President Trump’s winning, commonsense agenda or the Democrats’ extreme liberal policies and obstruction.”

Some Republicans are acknowledging that voters aren’t satisfied.

“We shouldn’t say, ‘Hey everything’s perfect,’ because it’s not,” said Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio. “But look what we’ve done in 18 months, and we need two more years to finish the job.”

Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana, who has traveled across the country campaigning for his colleagues, said Democrats appeared to have enthusiasm on their side in the midterms, and he said his party needed to level with the country.

“You can’t look the American people in the eye and say, ‘Don’t believe your lying checkbooks,’” he said. “The cost of living increase is real.”

He also said that voters are “confused about the war” and “they don’t understand how we’re going to get out.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., was measured in his assessment on Tuesday.

“Well, I’m hopeful, obviously, but also realistic,” he said. “It’s a very competitive environment out there.”

Colvin and Kessler write for the Associated Press. Colvin reported from New York. AP writers Mike Catalini in Morrisville, Pa., Bill Barrow in Atlanta, Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, John Hanna in Topeka, Kan., and Lisa Mascaro, Mary Clare Jalonick, Steven Sloan and Joey Cappelletti in Washington contributed to this report.

Sept. 22, 2026 6:30 PM PT

AUSTIN, Texas — A Venezuelan man shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Texas was back in a federal detention center Tuesday after being taken to a hospital for a second time with a bullet still lodged in his back, according to his attorney.

A federal judge also ordered Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, who was shot Sunday in Austin, to appear in court next week following a lawsuit that sought to stop his removal from the U.S.

Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, Perez’s attorney, said in a video posted to social media Tuesday that the 28-year-old man was “still in a lot of pain.”

Perez was being held at a federal detention facility in the remote South Texas town of Pearsall, according to Texas Democratic U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, who has joined others in his party in sharply criticizing the shooting that occurred amid a surge in ICE enforcement during President Trump’s second term. The violent encounter has also sparked protests in Austin, including a gathering outside the Texas Capitol on Monday night.

Perez was making a DoorDash delivery Sunday afternoon when ICE officers in an unmarked truck sideswiped his car twice, Lincoln-Goldfinch has said. He was shot and taken to a hospital, then released into ICE custody with a bullet still in his back. Perez went back to the hospital Monday evening after complaining of pain and was taken back into ICE custody around midnight, Lincoln-Goldfinch said.

Court filings from Perez’s lawyers indicated he was forced to sleep on a cement floor at an ICE temporary processing center, and then at 4 a.m. Monday, ICE transferred him to the Pearsall facility. A temporary restraining order from his attorneys said he was also subject to interrogation without legal representation present.

Lincoln-Goldfinch wrote on social media that he was taken back to the hospital around 5 p.m. Monday after he began experiencing a loss of sensation in his arm.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not immediately respond to email messages Tuesday. The agency has released little information and has not said what prompted the shooting. In a statement early Monday, the department said it was investigating the shooting of a Venezuelan man in the U.S. illegally who “had a final order of removal.”

On Tuesday, the department responded on social media to a video of Texas Democratic U.S. Rep. Greg Casar saying Austin will be safer once ICE leaves, calling it a “ludicrous statement.”

“No amount of smears and false narratives will slow down ICE from doing its job by removing dangerous illegal aliens from our communities,” the agency posted.

On Monday, Perez called into a news conference and told reporters he had received no pain medication and slept on the floor.

Castro posted on social media that he planned to visit Perez on Wednesday to “check on his condition and demand his release.”

In response to the lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia ordered Perez to appear in person at a hearing Sept. 30 in San Antonio.

Wilder writes for the Associated Press.

When Inglewood High traveled to Texas last month to play Westlake High from Austin, two football players who were listed on the Southern Section transfer portal as not cleared played in the game, according to video obtained by The Times.

Last week, in a game against Long Beach Poly played at SoFi Stadium, Inglewood coach Mil’Von James was not on the sideline, according to a report from the Daily Breeze.

The Southern Section cannot make personnel changes when a school violates rules, but it can prevent teams from playing in the playoffs if schools don’t self-report violations and decline to take action.

The Southern Section and Inglewood Unified School District have declined comment. The two players are still eligible to play this season if cleared. One was cleared last week with a valid change of address. The other has not been cleared. Both are missing from Inglewood’s roster on MaxPreps.

James came to Inglewood, which is 4-1 this season, after being fired at Hawkins in 2016 following the discovery of ineligible players, resulting in Hawkins forfeiting all its games and going 0-13. Since then, the City Section established a rule that teams must exchange rosters before games to verify that players are eligible, known as the “Hawkins rule.”

James took over at Inglewood in 2019 and has built a successful program.

It’s not known if James’ absence will be for one game or multiple games. The only other Southern Section action would be forcing Inglewood to forfeit games the players played in, but the school lost to Westlake, making a forfeit moot.

Sept. 21, 2026 12:45 PM PT

AUSTIN, Texas — A Venezuelan man shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer was in custody Monday at an ICE detention center in Texas after he was released from a hospital with a bullet still lodged in his back, according to a spokesperson for the man’s attorney.

Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, was making a DoorDash delivery in Austin, the state capital, on Sunday before he was shot during a traffic stop, said Fabiana Meléndez Ruiz, a spokesperson for immigration attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch.

Ruiz said Perez called his wife around 12:30 p.m. Sunday to tell her that he had been shot. She said Perez’s wife hasn’t spoken with him since then.

Perez was being detained at the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall, about 130 miles southwest of Austin, Ruiz told the Associated Press. She said Lincoln-Goldfinch spoke by phone with Perez, who told her that he was being interrogated while a bullet remained in his back. Perez also said he had no pain medication, according to Ruiz.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, has released little information and has not said what prompted the shooting. In a statement early Monday, the department said it was investigating the shooting of a Venezuelan man in the U.S. illegally who “had a final order of removal.”

Perez is an asylum seeker and entered the United States through a parole program, and he has no criminal history, Ruiz said.

“Regardless of his status, the use of force was unwarranted,” Ruiz said. “As far as we understand, he was here legally.”

The shooting occurred amid a surge in ICE enforcement across the U.S. during President Trump’s second term. During the summer, it reported more than 50,000 monthly arrests in July and August — a first for the agency.

Immigration officers have come under intense scrutiny amid a series of shootings during the crackdown. At least four people have been fatally shot by federal officers during immigration enforcement operations this year.

Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis told reporters Sunday that the shooting occurred after a traffic stop. She said local police were not involved. Local officials said the man was shot once in the torso and had been hospitalized in serious but stable condition.

Perez’s wife and attorney were unable to get information on his condition from the hospital Sunday until hospital attorneys told them about 6 p.m. that he had been discharged 90 minutes earlier, Ruiz said.

She said ICE had not confirmed any information to Lincoln-Goldfinch, who used legal databases and other means to discover where he was being detained.

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said Sunday he wants local police to have a role in investigating the shooting. Watson said it wouldn’t be appropriate for ICE to investigate on its own.

At the scene of the shooting, a dark blue Toyota Corolla was parked under an overpass with damage to its passenger-side door and what appeared to be bullet holes before it was towed away Sunday evening.

About 100 anti-ICE protesters gathered Sunday in the shooting’s aftermath.

Wilder and Bedayn write for the Associated Press. AP writer Russ Bynum in Savannah, Ga., contributed to this report.

California Atty. General Rob Bonta and Paramount Skydance Chief Executive David Ellison have reached an agreement to end the state’s antitrust fight, paving the way for Ellison to complete his $111-billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery, said a person familiar with the matter.

The two sides have agreed to resolve antitrust claims that Bonta and 11 other state attorneys general brought in late July, said the source, who was not authorized to comment publicly on the settlement.

As part of the deal, Paramount agreed to pay a penalty if the company fails to make good on a promise to distribute 30 films per year in theaters and to spend $1.5 billion on film production in Hollywood over the next five years, said the source who was not authorized to comment.

Representatives of Paramount and Bonta did not respond to a request for comment.

A federal judge must approve the agreement. Paramount would then be poised to quickly finalize its purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery — a blockbuster combination that will reshape Hollywood by collapsing two historic film studios with rights to Batman, Harry Potter, “Top Gun,” and Bugs Bunny and by combining the HBO Max and Paramount+ streaming services.

In addition to CBS, Paramount would own dozens of cable television channels, including CNN, TBS, HGTV, Food Network and Comedy Central.

The road to a resolution was fraught. Bonta abruptly canceled a negotiation session with Paramount in late August after potential deal terms leaked. Then, after talks restarted and the settlement began taking shape, several powerful Bonta allies, including New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James and Connecticut Atty. Gen. William Tong, signaled their displeasure with proposed deal terms.

They felt the deal points didn’t go far enough to mitigate the potential clout Paramount would wield over the film and television industries if it was allowed to swallow its larger industry rival, according to three people familiar with the matter but not authorized to comment.

Ellison’s goal had long been to complete the Warner takeover by the end of September — before midterm Congressional elections and prior to a key deadline for Paramount to increase its payout to Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders. Ellison received a boost from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Xavier Becerra, the Democratic nominee for California governor, who pressed Bonta to end the dispute rather than take the case to trial in Oakland in March.

Newsom said he took “seriously” Paramount’s threat to leave the state. He advocated for a settlement behind the scenes, according to two people close to the matter who were not authorized to comment.

State Attorney General Rob Bonta in 2025. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

Ellison was highly motivated to strike a deal because his company’s expenses will soon accelerate. Beginning Oct. 1, Paramount is on the hook to pay Warner investors a “ticking fee” of 25 cents per quarter, per share until the deal closed. That obligation is expected to add $7 million a day to the cost of the $31 a share that Paramount agreed to pay Warner shareholders when it won the bidding war back in February.

Paramount’s takeover will be heavily leveraged. The company’s bankers have lined up nearly $80 billion in debt to finance the merger. Ellison’s father, billionaire Larry Ellison, late last year agreed to backstop the $47-billion in equity needed to complete the acquisition. Royal families from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi have agreed to chip in $24 billion for an equity stake by assuming some of Ellison’s financial commitments.

Late last week, the Federal Communications Commission approved Paramount’s request to allow the foreign investors to own nearly 50% of the merged company. The Ellison family, however, will retain its voting control.

Paramount has promised Wall Street that it would make more than $6 billion in cost cuts. A recent Los Angeles County economic report predicted the merger could lead to an estimated 4,500 workers in the Los Angeles region losing their jobs as Ellison works to combine the two companies.

The truce comes after Paramount received clearances from regulators around the world, including the European Commission, Canada and the U.S. Justice Department.

But despite those approvals, Paramount spent weeks over the summer wrangling with Bonta and applying political pressure. Ellison threatened to move his studio from its historic Melrose Avenue address to Texas or Tennessee.

Larry Ellison separately announced plans to switch the headquarters of his software behemoth Oracle to Nashville from Austin, Texas (after Oracle relocated from Silicon Valley six years ago).

Paramount also enlisted major Hollywood unions, the Directors Guild of America and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, and prominent cinema chains to drop their opposition to the deal.

Bonta’s suit had leaned heavily into potential harms to theatrical distribution and lawyers for the states had been banking on theater executives’ testimony at trial.

The parties also were facing a key court hearing Thursday. Paramount was poised to ask U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín in Oakland to make the states and the Writers Guild of America post a $1.88-billion bond that would cover some of Paramount’s delay-related deal costs should the company eventually prevail.

The states and the WGA, which also sued to block the merger, have balked at the request, which was designed by Paramount to create fissures within the coalition of states by raising doubts about the strength of their case.

Paramount’s high-profile lobbying campaign reached a crescendo in late August after Paramount called out activist-actor Mark Ruffalo, accusing him of resorting to “antisemitic tropes” to argue against the merger.

Prominent Jewish groups rushed to Paramount’s aid. Ruffalo, who frequently works with HBO, denied the allegation, saying he had a 1st Amendment right to speak against the deal as well as Oracle’s business ties to Israel. Numerous Jewish artists came to Ruffalo’s defense, saying his free speech rights were being squelched.

Bonta abruptly canceled a settlement conference, accusing Paramount of leaking confidential information.

“If you want to have an adult, legitimate, serious settlement discussion — no problem,” Bonta said during an Aug. 25 appearance in Los Angeles. “But if you want to play games, we’ve got better things to do.”

The states’ 37-page lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for Northern California, claimed the Paramount-Warner combination would violate the U.S. Clayton Act, a century-old antitrust law to prevent mergers that weaken competition and raise costs for consumers.

The states, which also included Nevada, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, New Jersey and New Mexico, had argued the tie-up of two legacy movie studios would give Paramount-Warner too much marketshare in two categories — wide-release movies and potential blockbusters.

Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison has pressed to get his blockbuster deal done before his company must make higher payouts to Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders and before the mid-term elections, which could change the makeup in Congress.

(Mark Schiefelbein / Associated Press)

The states also said Paramount-Warner would control nearly 30% of the cable television channel space with more than 50 networks.

Paramount has been facing a June 4 deadline to complete the deal — or owe Warner Bros. Discovery a $7-billion breakup fee. Paramount has already paid $2.8-billion to cover a termination fee paid to Netflix after the streamer withdrew from the auction in February.

In the second week of the college football season, in a clash of titans, the University of Texas scored 21 unanswered points to surge past Ohio State in the fourth quarter and win, 24-23.

The comeback, Gov. Greg Abbott decreed, was the greatest home victory in more than 130 years of Longhorn football.

A screen grab of one celebratory moment showed a group of students ecstatic beyond belief. They were clad in the university’s signature burnt orange. Two wore cowboy hats. One flashed “Hook ‘em Horns,” the university’s proud hand signal.

To see the picture earlier this month was to witness pure, untempered joy.

But Bo French, the Republican candidate for Texas Railroad Commission, saw something different.

Most of the students were darkly complected and apparently of South Asian heritage. French posted the photo and wrote on X, “I heard UT graduation this year looked like this. I didn’t believe it. The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined.”

He followed with a second post, doubling down on the racist “Great Replacement” theory.

“Like body-cams exposed criminals, social media is exposing how many Americans have been displaced by foreigners,” French spewed. “It’s everywhere and far worse than any of us could imagine.”

In many places, French’s unapologetic, unvarnished bigotry would be disqualifying. But given Texas’ strong Republican leaning he stands a better-than-even chance of being elected in November to the state Railroad Commission, which, despite its name, oversees Texas’ vast oil and gas industry.

The hateful gibe was perfectly in character. “In some ways in Texas this is old news,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, who teaches political science at the University of Houston.

Last year, as chairman of the Tarrant County GOP, French posted an online poll asking, “Who is a bigger threat to America?” The choice on offer: Muslims or Jews.

Speaking in March at a political conference, he urged President Trump to round up and deport every Muslim in the country, calling the Islamic faith subversive and a clear and present danger to America.

“The Republican Party is used to Bo French making these kinds of outrageous statements,” Rottinghaus said.

Still, the response to French’s latest acrid emission was telling, not least for what it says about reflexive partisanship and today’s political reward structure.

As you’d expect, his Democratic opponent, state Rep. Jon Rosenthal, was scathing. “I spent 25 years as an oil and gas engineer,” he wrote on social media. “Bo French spent Sunday morning sorting our student section by skin color … A man who can’t tell a Longhorn from a foreigner has no business regulating anything in TX.”

The state’s outgoing U.S. senator, Republican John Cornyn, was also quick to denounce French. “This is the Republican nominee for statewide office,” Cornyn said in a post. “Are other Republican elected officials going to condemn the intolerance and racism, or look the other way while it becomes normalized.”

For Abbott and for Ken Paxton, who beat Cornyn in an eye-gouging, rabbit-punching Republican Senate primary, the answer was, for all intents, the latter.

“That is not my message,” Abbott said in a written statement, summoning the moral clarity and political courage of a puff pastry. “We all support our college football teams. The way we win the state is the same way we win football games. We unite under the brand of Texas.”

Then, just to have it both ways, Abbott suggested “that doesn’t mean that Texas cannot also lead in having the toughest immigration laws of any state in America and freezing H1B visas at our universities.” (The overwhelming majority of those holding H1B visas are Asian nationals from India and China.)

Paxton responded by attacking his Democratic opponent, state Rep. James Talarico, for saluting Cornyn for taking a stand against French’s prejudice. “I condemn racism in all its forms,” Paxton wrote on X, adding, “Only one person in this race has a history of dividing Texans by race, and it’s James Talarico.”

A simple, straightforward condemnation shouldn’t have been hard. Lacey Hull, a Republican state representative from Houston, was among those in the GOP who showed how.

“Please delete this,” she urged French on X. “This post breaks my heart. I see college kids cheering on their football team. I see Texans.”

But Abbott, bidding for an unprecedented fourth term, is facing a tougher than expected race against Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa.

Paxton, whose unsavory resume includes impeachment, indictment, petty theft and charges of adultery, has managed the rare feat of turning his race against Talarico into a nail-biter. (It’s been more than three decades since a Democrat won statewide office in Texas.)

Both need a robust GOP turnout to win in November and neither wants to risk alienating too many within the party’s xenophobic, anti-immigrant wing.

“They’re concerned about turnout,” said Mark Jones, a political scientist at Rice University. “Texas is a red state, but one thing that Republicans are concerned about is that the base may not turn out in as large a number as they need.”

Given French’s loathsome history, Abbott and others in the party establishment worked hard to keep him from winning the Republican nomination, Rice noted. But not Paxton. He headlined the kickoff to French’s campaign and has good reason to be glad he won and is now part of the GOP ticket.

His presence means that Paxton is only the second most odious figure seeking statewide office in Texas in November.

COMSTOCK, Texas — The Trump administration has started building a border wall through a west Texas section of the Big Bend region, marking the first major construction in an area of the U.S.-Mexico border where the administration’s plans have met heavy, bipartisan opposition.

The start of construction marks a milestone in the administration’s $46-billion efforts to line the border with walls, barriers, roads and technology as it seeks to make good on a campaign promise by President Trump to finish the wall. And it comes as Customs and Border Protection says it has doubled the pace at which it is building the wall across the border.

Customs and Border Protection said in a statement to the Associated Press that “border wall panel installation is underway” in a 47-mile stretch of Hudspeth County in west Texas known as Big Bend 1. There are five project areas that make up the roughly 500-mile Big Bend region stretching from an area of Hudspeth County south of El Paso to Lake Amistad.

CBP said the first panels were erected Wednesday. On a map on the agency’s website where it posts updates of wall construction along the southern border, a photo showed a crane lifting one of the 30-foot-tall steel wall panels into place as construction workers looked on.

The new activity was separate from a border infrastructure project in the nearby Big Bend National Park, where the administration has suspended construction in an attempt to reach out to opponents.

In the broader Big Bend region of Texas, CBP has run up against concerted opposition from landowners, environmental groups, business owners and ranchers who say the remote region isn’t a high-traffic area for illegal immigration. Political leaders from both parties, including U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), have joined the opposition.

Activists said Friday they would continue opposing the border infrastructure projects in the rest of the Big Bend region, even as the panels were being installed.

Clara Benson, one of the founders of the No Big Bend Wall Coalition, which has been fighting against CBP’s plans, said in an interview Friday that the organization had been receiving reports of trucks moving supplies into the remote area along the Rio Grande and that contractors had been clearing yards to stage supplies.

Speaking from Washington, D.C., where she and others in the coalition were meeting with lawmakers, she said that the organization and others would continue to fight the wall-building plans across the region.

“We will continue to fight for this land no matter what the outcome is. We will continue fighting to the end,” said Benson. “You talk to people in west Texas and they say even if they put it up, we’ll fight for them to take it down. So this fight is not over.”

The news comes as the administration is speeding forward with a plan to line the entire border with a combination of 30-foot-tall steel bollard walls, barriers designed to stop vehicles from crossing the border, new patrol roads, and various technologies to deter and detect migrants or smugglers from crossing the border.

Customs and Border Protection said it is building an average of 12 miles of barriers per week along the 2,000-mile border with Mexico and recently reached a milestone of 200 miles of new barriers built since the second Trump administration took office. The 12-miles-a-week average is double the pace that the agency’s head, Rodney Scott, cited earlier this year.

The agency has faced opposition from environmental groups, a small town that worries the wall will cause flooding in its area, Native Americans who say the construction is disturbing sacred sites and landowners who say the construction will infringe on their land.

In Texas, much of the opposition has centered on the agency’s plans for Big Bend National Park, in the state’s southwest on the Rio Grande that is a draw for tourists from around the world. But up- and downriver outside the park, much of the land is owned by private landowners, many of whom have organized against the government’s efforts.

Earlier this week, landowners, ranchers and business owners in the Big Bend region along with a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the region’s landscape and heritage sued to stop the administration’s plans.

Activists and landowners have also shown up at county meetings to push their elected officials not to cooperate with contractors hired by CBP to build the wall, and many landowners have refused to allow government officials or contractors onto their land to survey it.

Santana writes for the Associated Press.

Chris Brown is speaking out after lawmakers honored him during his concert in Arlington, Texas, then apologized for the honor.

On Sept. 12, U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) and Democratic Texas Rep. Venton Jones appeared at AT&T Stadium for Brown and Usher’s R&B Tour, where they honored both singers for their contributions to music. The politicians presented them with a Congressional Record recognition and state proclamation.

“Right now, we are experiencing Black joy to the highest level,” Crockett said on stage. “And I wanted to make sure we document that in the Congressional Record.”

Usher was not on stage when either honor was presented.

The incident sparked public backlash because of Brown’s history of domestic violence. In June 2009, the “Forever” singer pleaded guilty to one count of felony assault for physically attacking Rihanna.

On Monday, the 37-year-old singer and dancer took to social media to apologize to Crockett for the criticism she received following the recognition, uploading a photo of the two to his Instagram story with text that read: “I apologize for any backlash you have to deal with for awarding for me. I’m not political but I move off of frequency and energy and I’m so grateful. Once again, thank you.”

But by Tuesday, Jones released a statement apologizing to his constituents for his role in presenting Brown with a state resolution.

“Over the past few days, I have listened closely to the conversations, concerns, and heartfelt feedback shared across our community following my presentation honoring Chris Brown with a state resolution,” Jones said.

Jones, who first assumed his role in 2023, said that the presentation was an attempt to reach voters ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm election.

“First and foremost, I want to acknowledge the women, the Black women, whom my actions have hurt. In moments like these, I think it’s important to be specific and just as loud with an apology as our original actions were,” Jones added in his statement. “I apologize.”

After Jones’ statement, Brown called out the representative.

“I didn’t ask to be honored because I knew some s— like this would happen and [Venton Jones] immediately started tap dancing and apologizing because he didn’t wanna lose voters and support,” Brown wrote on Sept. 15 on his Instagram. “I have a great idea.. how about [y’all] leave me the f— alone and let me focus on the fans that spent their money to actually see and support me.”

Outside of the most widely recognized incident involving Rihanna — which occurred hours before the couple was set to appear at the 2009 Grammy Awards — there have been multiple domestic violence allegations against Brown, including by his ex-girlfriend Karrueche Tran. She was granted a restraining order against the singer in 2017.

Brown has been accused in several other cases of violence against women from 2018 to 2022, either dismissed, settled out of court, or the investigation dropped.

This summer, the singer pleaded guilty to beating up a man in a London nightclub with a glass bottle in 2023. There is an active $50-million suit against Brown and members of his entourage by four male concertgoers who allege they faced a “brutal, violent assault” backstage following a Fort Worth, Texas, show in 2024.

Sept. 17, 2026 10:47 AM PT

MINNEAPOLIS — A federal immigration officer charged with shooting and wounding a Venezuelan man in January and lying about the circumstances to investigators made a brief initial appearance Thursday before a Minnesota judge after state authorities arrested him ahead of a separate hearing in federal court.

During Thursday’s hearing, Judge Paul Scoggin granted Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Christian Castro bond. Castro wore an orange jumpsuit and appeared behind a glass enclosure.

His attorney, Daniel Gerdts, declined to comment.

Castro was being held without bond after the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension arrested him Wednesday in downtown Minneapolis on state charges of assault and false reporting of a crime stemming from the shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis. Scoggin set bail at $400,000 with no conditions and $200,000 with conditions.

Castro also faces federal charges stemming from the shooting, which occurred during a federal immigration crackdown in the Minneapolis area. Prosecutors say Castro falsely told investigators he had been attacked with a broom and a shovel.

Arrest months after Minnesota charged him

Castro’s arrest by Minnesota authorities and appearance in state court followed a dispute between Minnesota prosecutors and Texas’ governor over Minnesota’s attempts to extradite Castro from his home state to face the state charges. One of the conditions Scoggin set for the lower bail amount for Castro was that he not fight extradition should he be released.

The lead prosecutor for the county handling the state case told reporters after the hearing that “Castro invented a story to justify shooting through a front door into a house with multiple people in it.”

“His appearance in a Hennepin County courtroom today is a critical step in our efforts to hold him accountable for that shooting,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said during a news conference.

Federal case also accuses Castro of lying

The next court hearing for Castro is scheduled for Friday. That hearing will be in federal court in St. Paul and involves the federal case in which he is charged with making false statements to investigators regarding the shooting. Castro’s defense attorneys in the federal case have said he plans to plead not guilty.

It’s the first Justice Department prosecution of a federal officer for actions taken during this year’s massive Operation Metro Surge, which brought thousands of agents to the Twin Cities and led to sweeping protests, arrests and the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by federal officers.

In both the federal and state cases against Castro, prosecutors say he shot Sosa-Celis in the leg while firing through the front door of a Minneapolis home. They say Castro later falsely reported he had been attacked with a broom handle and a snow shovel.

Trump administration says only federal authorities have jurisdiction

Minnesota authorities have battled with President Trump’s administration over who should handle any charges against Castro. The Department of Homeland Security has called Minnesota’s prosecution of Castro “unlawful and nothing more than a political stunt,” saying only federal authorities have jurisdiction.

Minnesota charged Castro months before his federal indictment. He was arrested in Texas in May on the Minnesota charges. But Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last month refused to sign an extradition warrant to hand him over to Minnesota authorities. He was released in Texas and soon after was indicted on the federal charges. He then turned himself in to federal authorities and returned to Minnesota on his own.

Sullivan and Bynum write for the Associated Press. Bynum reported from Savannah, Ga.

MARFA, Texas — Landowners, ranchers and business owners in the Big Bend region of Texas along with a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the region’s landscape and heritage are suing to stop the Trump administration’s plans to build a wall and other border infrastructure through the remote section of the state.

The lawsuit, filed by Conserve Big Bend and with the support of dozens of landowners, comes as the administration is ramping up a $46-billion effort to line the roughly 2,000-mile southern border with a collection of 30-foot steel bollard walls, vehicle barriers and technology intended to keep out smugglers and migrants.

In Texas, the effort has run up against numerous lawsuits and bipartisan opposition from sheriffs, elected officials, tour guides, environmental groups and landowners.

Officials backing the wall “were woefully unprepared for the hornet’s nest they stirred up because they had no idea how much we love this place,” said David Keller, an archaeologist and historian who specializes in the Big Bend and lives in the region.

“For us, the Big Bend is not an empty place on the map,” he said. “It is our home.”

As part of its wall-building efforts, the administration has waived numerous regulations and statutes designed to protect the environment, archaeology or wildlife, on the basis that there’s an urgent need to protect the border in what Homeland Security has called areas of “high illegal entry.”

But in the lawsuit announced Monday, the plaintiffs argue that when it comes to the Big Bend region, that’s not an accurate description. They’ve cited historical statistics issued by Customs and Border Protection showing how few people cross the border in Big Bend compared with other areas along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Big Bend has about 500 miles of border with Mexico — roughly one quarter of the length of the border from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. But the region only accounted for about 1% of arrests, according to the lawsuit’s stats.

The plaintiffs are arguing that the Department of Homeland Security is misusing powers from Congress that allow the secretary broad authority to waive regulations in order to build border walls or other infrastructure in areas where there are large numbers of people trying to cross into the country illegally.

“That determination is legally and factually unsound and unsupported,” the plaintiffs wrote.

The lawsuit filed Monday is the latest in efforts to slow or stop the administration’s plans in Texas and elsewhere.

The biggest outcry has come over Customs and Border Protection’s plans for the Big Bend National Park, which sits in a far southwestern corner of Texas where the Rio Grande separates the U.S. from Mexico.

The park’s remote and rugged location, its steep limestone canyon walls and crystal clear starry night views attract visitors from around the world. The government has said in court hearings that no final plans have been decided for what will be built in the park but plans made public so far have included building a new road, installing detection technology and barriers to stop vehicles from crossing the border.

When bulldozers were spotted clearing land in the park in August, people across the state were outraged. CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott temporarily paused construction-related activity in the park but many activists and residents would like to see even more changes to the administration’s plans in the broader Big Bend region.

Native American groups have argued that the construction could inhibit their ability to practice their faith and is damaging important religious sites while environmentalists worry the wall will cause flooding or keep animals from migrating.

Landowners who’ve lived and worked along the Rio Grande for years have questioned how they’ll feed livestock or water their crops if they can’t access the river.

Santana writes for the Associated Press.

Indigenous groups, environmentalists, and locals in several states have opposed the border wall construction.

A group of landowners, ranchers, businesses and a non-profit organisation have sued the administration of United States President Donald Trump to stop construction of a wall along the country’s border with Mexico in the remote Big Bend region of the southern state of Texas.

Trump officials “were woefully unprepared for the hornet’s nest they stirred up because they had no idea how much we love this place”, David Keller, an archaeologist and historian who specialises in the Big Bend and lives in the region, said in a news conference announcing the lawsuit on Monday.

“For us, the Big Bend is not an empty place on the map,” he said. “It is our home.”

The lawsuit was filed by Conserve Big Bend and six landowners, with the support of dozens more people along the border.

It comes as the Trump administration is ramping up a $46bn effort to line the roughly 3,219km (2,000-mile) border with a collection of 9-metre (30-foot) steel bollard walls, vehicle barriers and technology intended to keep out smugglers and migrants.

In Arizona, federal officials are pushing ahead with construction of the border infrastructure, even though it cuts through land belonging to the Tohono O’odham Nation, an Indigenous tribe that has said it does not want the barrier and that it is unnecessary.

In Texas, the effort has run up against numerous lawsuits and bipartisan opposition from sheriffs, elected officials, tour guides, environmental groups and landowners.

As part of its wall-building efforts, the administration has waived numerous regulations and statutes designed to protect the environment, archaeology or wildlife, on the basis that there is an urgent need to protect the border in what the US Department of Homeland Security has called areas of “high illegal entry”.

But in the lawsuit announced on Monday, the plaintiffs argue that when it comes to the Big Bend region, that is not an accurate description. They cite historical statistics from US Customs and Border Protection showing how few people cross the border in Big Bend compared with other areas along the US-Mexico border.

Big Bend has about 805km (500 miles) of border, roughly one quarter of the total length of the border with Mexico from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. But the region accounted for only about 1 percent of arrests, according to the lawsuit.