Texas Tidbits: The Human Cost Of Republican Rule
Three stories that show what power without compassion looks like.
A friend emailed the other day and said, “There are only days left until the election. We need to hear about more primary races.” Yes, and we will (and more endorsements). I’m sure we have time to squeeze in plenty more, but we needed to take a quick break from primary coverage for an important Texas Tidbit episode.
If you’re newer here, Texas Tidbits is basically a mish-mash of stuff we need to talk about and stories that deserve attention right now.
The Cruel Theater Of Leqaa Kordia
There is a woman sitting in a detention center in Alvarado, Texas, who has been locked up for almost a year. Her name is Leqaa Kordia.
She is not a criminal. She is not a danger to anyone. She is not accused of violence.
She is a Palestinian woman who protested the massacre of her people and later overstayed a student visa after receiving bad legal advice. For that, the United States government has decided to make an example out of her.
Last week, she had a seizure in ICE custody. For more than 72 hours, her family didn’t know where she was. ICE wouldn’t tell her lawyers where she’d been taken. They wouldn’t say what happened, what her condition was, or whether she was even alive.
That is what “law and order” looks like in Texas in 2026.
Leqaa has been held for over 330 days in the Prairieland Detention Center, a privately run ICE facility with a long history of overcrowding, unsanitary food, and neglect. Her family says she is malnourished. Her lawyers say she’s been denied religious accommodations. She’s reported roaches, illness, and worsening health.
And now a seizure.
Federal judges have already ruled twice that she is eligible for release on bond.
Twice, DHS blocked it.
DHS publicly targeted pro-Palestine activists. Republican officials bragged about it. They labeled her “anti-American.” They’ve admitted to relying on right-wing doxxing sites to identify people sympathetic to Palestine.
This is retaliation.
As Texas State Rep. Salman Bhojani said after trying to visit her: “It’s like the Japanese internment camps, people from one country being targeted.”
He’s right.
And this is happening here, in North Texas, right now.
🚨🚨 Call to Action
Here’s how you can help:
Call Governor Abbott’s office and demand Texas stop enabling private ICE facilities like Prairieland Detention Center: (512) 463-2000
Email your members of Congress through Amnesty International.
Support the Texas Civil Rights Project and Muslim Advocates, who are fighting her case.
Amplify her story. Share it. Talk about it. Don’t let ICE operate in silence.
Public pressure is the only thing that moves this system.
If we let them do this to her, they will do it to others.
Release Leqaa Kordia. Now.
Brian Harrison Discovers Outrage… Again
I came across this gem the way I usually find Brian Harrison content… totally against my will.
Harrison, who remains the single most exhausting human being in Texas politics, is now demanding that Representative Gene Wu be stripped of his leadership positions because of “obscene and racist comments.” According to Harrison, Wu has betrayed conservative voters, civilization, and possibly Western democracy itself.
This is, of course, nonsense.
But watching Brian Harrison clutch his pearls is always a reliable sign that something deeply stupid is happening somewhere.
Which brings us to the actual story.
Texas Monthly ran a terrific piece this week by Christopher Hooks titled “How a 28-Second Clip Sparked a Faux ‘White Genocide’ Panic Among the Texas GOP.” The article walks through how a short, wildly out-of-context clip of Gene Wu went viral in right-wing circles and was immediately turned into proof that a Democratic lawmaker was secretly calling for the destruction of white people.
I mean, no one ever accused Texas Republicans of being smart.
What Wu actually said in a 37-minute interview was pretty standard for Texas liberals. That communities of color, working people, immigrants, veterans, and other marginalized groups have more in common with each other than they do with the politicians and power structures that keep them divided.
He never mentioned white people at all. He never called for violence. He never called for “genocide.” He talked about coalition-building.
But in today’s Texas GOP, if you say the word “oppressors,” a remarkable number of Republicans immediately stand up, point at themselves, and scream, “HE MEANS US.”
Matt Rinaldi called it “advocacy for white genocide.” Ken Paxton labeled Wu a “radical racist.” Online trolls flooded his social media with racist garbage and threats. The usual suspects demanded he be deported to China, even though he’s an American citizen.
Gene Wu is one of the most thoughtful, decent, pro-Texas lawmakers we have. He represents one of the most diverse districts in the state. He spends his time fighting for immigrants, working families, and the basic idea that Texas should be big enough for everyone.
I stand with Gene Wu.
And if you do too, take thirty seconds today and let him know. Drop him an email. Send him a message on social media. Tell him that Texans see what’s happening and that the loudest voices online don’t speak for all of us.
Because right now, he’s being targeted by the worst corners of Texas politics simply for saying something true. And he shouldn’t have to face that alone.
Pregnant Migrant Girls, One Shelter, One Goal
The Trump administration is reportedly sending every pregnant unaccompanied migrant girl in federal custody to a single shelter in San Benito, Texas, a facility that internal child welfare officials have already flagged as medically inadequate.
Pregnant kids. Some as young as 13. Many pregnant from rape. And the federal government is concentrating them in one place, in South Texas, in one of the worst healthcare regions in the state.
Because Texas is where abortion is effectively banned.
That’s the part they keep pretending isn’t the point. But multiple current ORR sources and former officials are saying it out loud. This looks like an ideological operation dressed up as “placement policy.”
One former ORR official who ran the program during Trump’s first term said, “This is about abortion.”
It’s about denying choice. And it’s about creating medical risk on purpose.
Because in Texas, if a pregnancy goes sideways, ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage complications, infection after premature rupture, severe hemorrhage, doctors are forced to treat everything like a legal minefield first and a medical emergency second. Even with “exceptions” on paper, the fear and confusion have already hollowed out obstetric care across the state.
So when experts say concentrating high-risk adolescent pregnancies in San Benito is dangerous, they’re being literal.
Congressman Joaquin Castro says he visited the Dilley facility and learned the youngest person being held there is a two-month-old baby. This is the system, and Greg Abbott is not a bystander. Castro says Abbott has embedded the Texas National Guard in detention centers to support deportation operations.
Texas is helping run this cruelty, on your dime.
This Is Why Elections Matter
If you needed a reminder that politics isn’t a hobby, here it is.
A woman gets disappeared in ICE custody in North Texas after a medical emergency, and the government shrugs. A state lawmaker says “coalition,” and the Texas GOP responds with “white genocide.” Pregnant, raped children are being funneled into a medically inadequate shelter in South Texas, in a state where the abortion ban turns pregnancy complications into a death sentence.
It’s policy. It’s ideology. It’s cruelty by design.
It’s happening here. In our counties, our towns, our courts, our hospitals.
Texas Republicans want you exhausted. They want you numb. They want you to treat this like background noise. They want you to argue about vibes while they build a machine that chews up human beings and calls it “order.”
So here’s my ask:
Vote like it matters, because it does.
Every single Republican. Up and down the ballot. In November.
Because you cannot separate “moderate” Texas Republicans from extremist outcomes anymore. They are the same party. They vote the same way. They fund the same system. They protect the same cruelty.
If you want a Texas where the government doesn’t disappear people into cages, where doctors can practice medicine without fear, where kids aren’t turned into political leverage, where racism isn’t a governing strategy, then you have to break the power that makes all of this possible.
That starts in November. (We’ll get back to the primaries tomorrow.)
Make a plan now. Check your registration. Drag three friends with you. Vote early if you can. And then keep voting like your neighbors’ lives depend on it.
Because they do.
February 17, 2026: First Day to Early Vote
March 3, 2026: Primary Election
Click here to find out what Legislative districts you’re in.
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They are targeting Muslims, demanding Sharia Law banned. Umm, okay they Angela Paxton, you biblical divorce is also banned. Cruelty is always the point.
I stan with Gene Wu! I VOTED and GOTV too.
This is so upsetting! 🤬🤬🤬