Latest / Austin Signal / Gov. Abbott targets new H-1B visa applications at state universities, agencies
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- 0:08Immigration and Customs Enforcement
- 0:10operations have been happening in
- 0:11Austin and Central Texas in recent
- 0:13weeks, and during this past
- 0:15weekend's weather event, local
- 0:16officials had to dispel rumors of a
- 0:18large-scale enforcement operation
- 0:20here in Austin.
- 0:21The lack of information and
- 0:22communication around these
- 0:23operations is causing panic and
- 0:25anxiety that can boil beyond social
- 0:27media. We're going to have more
- 0:28about that.
- 0:29And Governor Greg Abbott is freezing
- 0:31new H-1B visa applications
- 0:33until 2027,
- 0:35with some exceptions.
- 0:36The move is the latest in the
- 0:38administration's scrutiny of foreign
- 0:39workers employed at taxpayer-funded
- 0:41institutions.
- 0:42More about the order on today's
- 0:44show.
- 0:45The Austin Signal is a production
- 0:46of KUT News, hosted by
- 0:49Jerry Quijano.
- 0:49And we're less than a month away
- 0:51from the start of the new Austin FC
- 0:53season.
- 0:54We'll talk about the team's off
- 0:55season moves today on Austin
- 0:57Signal.
- 1:09Howdy out there.
- 1:10This is Austin Signal.
- 1:11Thank you for making us part of your
- 1:13day. It's Wednesday, January 28th.
- 1:16I'm your host, Jerry Kehannel.
- 1:18Let's get started with today's show.
- 1:20While trying to get out information
- 1:22about the inclement winter weather
- 1:23over the weekend, local officials
- 1:25also had to put out information to
- 1:27dispel rumors about a major
- 1:28immigration and customs enforcement
- 1:30operation here in Austin.
- 1:32For more about how that situation
- 1:34evolved, we're chatting with
- 1:35Emiliano Tahui Gomez.
- 1:37He covers immigration and Latinos at
- 1:39the Austin American Statesman.
- 1:41Hi, Emiliano. Thanks for joining us.
- 1:43Thanks for having me, Jerry.
- 1:44Now, we know that there are real ICE
- 1:46operations happening across central
- 1:48Texas. We have seen that play out.
- 1:50What sparked the discussion about
- 1:51this planned major event that was
- 1:53supposed to take place in Austin
- 1:54over the weekend?
- 1:55Yeah, that's a great question.
- 1:57I think the source of these
- 1:59claims are
- 2:00still not completely clear,
- 2:03but we do know, I mean, I know that
- 2:05they were around at least since
- 2:06Thursday of last week.
- 2:07I know I started seeing them on
- 2:09Friday, although rumors and claims
- 2:10about ice being here or there are,
- 2:12as you know, very common here as
- 2:14they are elsewhere in the United
- 2:14States.
- 2:16But they really did seem to pick up
- 2:17steam this time. I mean they were
- 2:19shared by a lot of
- 2:21prominent individuals on social
- 2:22media and from food influencers to
- 2:25a prominent immigration attorney
- 2:26here in Austin, and they largely
- 2:28revolved around two claims, which
- 2:30were that one, that ICE had checked
- 2:32out a big block of rooms in
- 2:34a downtown hotel, and two,
- 2:36that people were seeing ICE
- 2:37arresting service workers after
- 2:39work on Friday night.
- 2:40And so, because those two
- 2:42claims were being so widely shared,
- 2:43and because they were such a similar
- 2:45claim, you know,
- 2:46we at the States began to kind of
- 2:48try to track that out and make sense
- 2:49of, you know why were these
- 2:51claims picking up a lot of speed and
- 2:53how much validity or soundness...
- 2:55Was there to them.
- 2:56And what did y'all find?
- 2:58We reached out to a lot of the
- 2:59people who had made these claims and
- 3:00were often told that it was coming
- 3:02from a friend that they had heard
- 3:03from, so a sort of chain of
- 3:05people having heard from other
- 3:06people.
- 3:07And then we began to reach out also
- 3:08to local elected officials.
- 3:09The first who spoke to me,
- 3:11Councilman Chito Vela, who you know
- 3:12represents the very immigrant heavy
- 3:14North Austin part of the city,
- 3:17and Vela said he had spent the whole
- 3:18Saturday as well after noticing this
- 3:19large number of claims, reaching out
- 3:21to people in downtown hotels,
- 3:23businesses, trying to make sense of
- 3:24things themselves. He's a former
- 3:25immigration attorney reaching out to
- 3:26other immigration attorneys and
- 3:28that by Saturday he was pretty
- 3:30convinced that those weren't true,
- 3:31that this had been information that
- 3:33had picked up a lot
- 3:35of attention because of the
- 3:37fraughtness, I think, of the moment.
- 3:38People were at home and people were
- 3:40turning their eyes to the news and
- 3:41seeing what was happening in
- 3:42Minneapolis. Absolutely. And as you
- 3:43and I know, Minneapolis for the
- 3:45last week has really been the center
- 3:46point of national tension.
- 3:47And we see extreme
- 3:49amounts of
- 3:51conflict between local residents
- 3:53and the large
- 3:55number of federal immigration agents
- 3:56that are there, and that has even
- 3:58led to the fatal killing of
- 4:00a man there.
- 4:01And amid all this uncertainty
- 4:03and misinformation, possibly on
- 4:05social media or this
- 4:07searching for real information
- 4:09from city officials,
- 4:11what do we actually know about if
- 4:13ICE operations are taking place?
- 4:14Do we know anything concrete in
- 4:16terms of those operations right now?
- 4:18Yeah, I mean, I should be clear.
- 4:19So then as you know, as you and I
- 4:21were discussing kind of what
- 4:21happened this weekend, the city on
- 4:23Saturday evening, the mayor,
- 4:25Police Chief Davis came out and, you
- 4:27know and tried to really hold strong
- 4:29and said, you know, we've been in
- 4:30touch with ICE. We've we've heard
- 4:31what people are saying.
- 4:32We have really tried to
- 4:34sort this out and we are being
- 4:35assured this is not happening.
- 4:37Right.
- 4:38But seemingly residents were not
- 4:40immediately assured by those
- 4:42sorts of statements.
- 4:43Right. And I think that speaks very
- 4:45strongly to the complete collapse of
- 4:47trust.
- 4:49That you see in a liberal city like
- 4:50Austin with the federal government
- 4:51and its communication, right?
- 4:53But I think that distrust
- 4:54comes from the fact that A, ICE is
- 4:56uncommunicative and has been proven
- 4:58by the media in many instances
- 5:00to provide inaccurate or false
- 5:01information, right.
- 5:02And I think it also comes from
- 5:04that fact that they are not wrong to
- 5:06think that ICE is in Austin.
- 5:08I mean, we've done reporting that
- 5:10outlets like yourselves have done
- 5:11have shown that ICE has very much
- 5:12been in the city through the past 12
- 5:14months. I think the strongest
- 5:16evidence that we see of that is
- 5:18their collaboration with
- 5:20the Texas Department of Public
- 5:21Safety, the state troopers,
- 5:23particularly in immigrant-heavy
- 5:25parts of the city, like the Rumbert
- 5:26Lamar corridor.
- 5:28I know we wrote last year about how
- 5:30they were consistently going around
- 5:32an elementary school in that
- 5:33neighborhood, arresting parents near
- 5:35that school and causing a lot of
- 5:37fear and really instability
- 5:39in that area because it led to
- 5:40arrests and deportations.
- 5:42But that is something if you were to
- 5:43go on to a Spanish-language
- 5:45Austin area.
- 5:46Social media page, if that's the way
- 5:47to say it.
- 5:48Like an influencer page.
- 5:50You will see that people are sharing
- 5:51these claims. I mean, sometimes
- 5:52those claims turn out to not be
- 5:54true. But I mean there are there's
- 5:56a lot of people taking videos of ICE
- 5:57very, very, very often with DPS
- 6:00in immigrant heavy parts of the
- 6:01city. So we know that DPS is
- 6:02contacting ICE during traffic stops
- 6:04in those situations.
- 6:05So Austinites I think are very
- 6:07correct to believe that the ICE is
- 6:09here, that ICE is acting, that if
- 6:10they disagree with that, then there
- 6:11is something to disagree with.
- 6:13You know, but we do not have not
- 6:14been able to confirm.
- 6:16Any sort of large scale operation
- 6:19that has ever occurred in Austin,
- 6:21singularly by federal immigration
- 6:22agents in the same way that we've
- 6:23seen in other large cities in the
- 6:25United States.
- 6:26Well, yesterday on our show we had a
- 6:28reported piece from the KUT newsroom
- 6:30with voices from Elgin,
- 6:32people who are affected.
- 6:34One undocumented person
- 6:36spoke on this story.
- 6:38I was wondering, what are
- 6:40you hearing from the community here
- 6:42in Austin?
- 6:43You mentioned earlier, you know,
- 6:46that trust that's being broken.
- 6:47And what else are you hearing from
- 6:48the people that you're speaking with?
- 6:51What I thought was very interesting
- 6:52about this weekend, going out and
- 6:54reporting about some of these
- 6:55claims, is a lot of these things I
- 6:56saw this time around, this weekend
- 6:58were on the English language side of
- 7:00things. They were people in the
- 7:01restaurant industry, downtown,
- 7:03people with social platforms on
- 7:05the english language side things.
- 7:07And I remember reaching out to a lot
- 7:08of immigrant activists who are
- 7:10Spanish speaking during the Austin
- 7:11area over the weekend.
- 7:13They always see these videos.
- 7:15And to them, the idea that they
- 7:16should, if this means something to
- 7:18them if this mean something to their
- 7:19loved ones, that they should be keeping
- 7:20up with this. Is always there.
- 7:23And so this particular
- 7:25rumor that I think a lot of us saw
- 7:27this weekend, people,
- 7:29a lot immigrants that I speak to day
- 7:30in, day out, are trying
- 7:32to be very aware of this,
- 7:34have already been impacted by this,
- 7:36are making difficult decisions as
- 7:38to whether,
- 7:40if they do not have legal status,
- 7:41whether it's worth being in this
- 7:43country.
- 7:44You know, and those are stories we
- 7:46see day in day out and we're trying
- 7:47to tell the statesman and I'm sure
- 7:48you all are as well.
- 7:49And what
- 7:51are you going to continue working on
- 7:53in the coming days, in the coming
- 7:55weeks? What stories are you focusing
- 7:56on?
- 7:57I think we're very interested to
- 7:59continue to document the economic
- 8:01effects that we're seeing on
- 8:03many immigrant families.
- 8:05I know that's something we're interested
- 8:06in at the States, but I know in some
- 8:08way this has already come out in our
- 8:09reporting when we've very often
- 8:12cover the arrests of
- 8:14men and families and in families
- 8:15where the man was the
- 8:17largely the sole breadwinner of a
- 8:19family.
- 8:20You see the complete collapse and
- 8:21how effective this immigration
- 8:24crackdown has been on
- 8:26putting people in very difficult
- 8:27positions, and that's very arguably
- 8:29the intent here.
- 8:31And I think that's something we
- 8:32think is very important to continue
- 8:34to make sense of.
- 8:35We know it's breaking people, but
- 8:37how many people are able to,
- 8:39in some way, make their way past
- 8:40this?
- 8:42And when are these final straws for
- 8:44a lot of the immigrant individuals,
- 8:45immigrant residents, immigrant neighbors
- 8:46that Austinites have?
- 8:48We have been speaking with Emiliano
- 8:50Tahui Gomez.
- 8:51You can read his story and more
- 8:53from his reporting at
- 8:54the Statesman.
- 8:56He covers immigration and Latinos
- 8:57there. Emiliano, thanks for coming
- 8:59on the show. We appreciate you.
- 9:06Governor Greg Abbott this week
- 9:08directed all public universities and
- 9:09state agencies to freeze new
- 9:11H-1B visa applications through
- 9:13the end of the next legislative
- 9:15session in 2027,
- 9:17except without written permission
- 9:19from the Texas Workforce Commission.
- 9:21For more about the order and its
- 9:22impacts, we're joined by Jessica
- 9:24Priest. She covers higher education
- 9:25for the Texas Tribune.
- 9:26Thanks for being with us today.
- 9:28Thank you for having me.
- 9:29So first off, I wanted to ask who
- 9:31is eligible for an H-1B
- 9:33visa and how are they used by public
- 9:35universities and state agencies?
- 9:37H-1B visas
- 9:39typically are people that
- 9:41have PhD degrees.
- 9:45They are for like specialty
- 9:47roles, and so I
- 9:50don't know about eligibility,
- 9:52but that's what they're normally
- 9:54used for in the university setting.
- 9:56People with
- 9:57H-1B visas are professors,
- 10:00doctors, really skilled
- 10:02researchers.
- 10:04So what is the reasoning behind this
- 10:06initiative from the governor that
- 10:07was issued yesterday?
- 10:09The governor, we got like a
- 10:11preview that he was thinking about
- 10:13this like a week, maybe over
- 10:15the weekend.
- 10:16Another news outlet had reported
- 10:18that he was asking the
- 10:20Texas A&M University system
- 10:22about their use
- 10:24of H-1B visas.
- 10:27And conservative news outlets have
- 10:29reported about, you
- 10:31know, Texas A& M
- 10:33system and the University of
- 10:35Texas system, spending a lot
- 10:37of money, helping, I
- 10:38don't know. Helping is the right
- 10:40word, but facilitating these, like,
- 10:42petitions for
- 10:45and employing people with
- 10:46H-1B visas.
- 10:49So I think the governor is
- 10:51concerned about the cost and
- 10:53also about the,
- 10:57he in his statement yesterday
- 10:59talked about how he wants these
- 11:00rolls to go to Texans.
- 11:03I mentioned that
- 11:05he is freezing these new H-1B
- 11:09visa applications, except
- 11:11without written permission from the
- 11:12Texas Workforce Commission.
- 11:14What else was included in this
- 11:16directive?
- 11:18The universities and state
- 11:19agencies that employ
- 11:21people with H-1B visas
- 11:23have to report information
- 11:25to the Texas Workforce Commission.
- 11:27They have to, like, report the
- 11:29number of people
- 11:31they employ, their countries
- 11:33of origin, the roles that
- 11:35they fill, so their job
- 11:37titles, and when their visa
- 11:39expires.
- 11:41He also wants documentation
- 11:44about Just
- 11:46so showing that they made like
- 11:48a reasonable effort to
- 11:50employ a qualified
- 11:52Texan for the job
- 11:53Okay, you mentioned numbers.
- 11:55What do we know about the numbers of
- 11:56H-1B visa holders here in Texas?
- 11:59Um, so I
- 12:01was getting a crash course on this
- 12:03earlier this week, but,
- 12:06uh, there's this great
- 12:08website, uh you know,
- 12:10where you can look up like employer
- 12:12data for, uh H1B
- 12:14visas and like
- 12:17The people who are the companies
- 12:19that employ the most
- 12:21H-1B visa holders
- 12:23are in the private sector, number
- 12:25one.
- 12:26But if you filter it in Texas,
- 12:28in the education sector,
- 12:30the number one employer
- 12:32is Dallas ISD,
- 12:35which isn't the subject of the
- 12:37governor's directive.
- 12:38It's just universities and
- 12:40state agencies.
- 12:42And so if you look at universities,
- 12:45the The number one
- 12:47is UT Southwestern
- 12:49Medical Center.
- 12:50Okay.
- 12:51220 as of
- 12:53this data that I'm looking at for
- 12:55September 30th,
- 12:572025, followed by
- 12:59Texas A&M University and
- 13:00College Station, and then
- 13:02the MD Anderson Cancer Center
- 13:05in Houston.
- 13:07UT Austin actually comes in number
- 13:09five.
- 13:10They have 165.
- 13:12You mentioned those emails obtained
- 13:14that were sent to a Texas A&M
- 13:16University leaders.
- 13:17Have you heard anything from other
- 13:18public universities here in Texas?
- 13:21I reached out on
- 13:23Monday to
- 13:25MD Anderson and
- 13:27UT Dallas and UT
- 13:29Southwestern Medical
- 13:34Center for comment, but I didn't
- 13:36hear back from them.
- 13:38On Tuesday, after the governor's
- 13:41order came out, both the
- 13:43Texas A&M system and the
- 13:45UT system said that they would be
- 13:47complying with the governor order
- 13:48and they'd be sending him.
- 13:50The information that he wants.
- 13:51Okay, we only have about 40 seconds
- 13:53left. The last question I have, this
- 13:54sort of crackdown isn't just
- 13:56happening here in Texas, correct?
- 13:57No, it's also happening in Florida.
- 14:00Last year, the governor there was
- 14:02asking a lot of the same questions
- 14:04that Governor Abbott is asking,
- 14:06and he proposed the same
- 14:08thing, like a pause.
- 14:10But unlike here,
- 14:12the proposal is being taken up by
- 14:14the universities themselves,
- 14:17and they're going to be adopting a
- 14:18policy.
- 14:19Okay, that is Jessica Priest.
- 14:21She covers higher education for the
- 14:23Texas Tribune.
- 14:24We're gonna have more.
- 14:25We will have her story in the show
- 14:27notes for today's podcast and you
- 14:29can find it right now over at
- 14:31kut.org.
- 14:32Jessica, thanks for coming on the
- 14:33show. Thank you.
- 14:35And thank you out there for spending
- 14:37part of your Wednesday here with
- 14:39Austin Signal.
- 14:40We are brought to you by listener
- 14:42powered public radio,
- 14:44KUT. We will be back
- 14:46in just one moment.
- 15:00This is Austin Signal.
- 15:01Thank you for spending part of your
- 15:02Wednesday here with us.
- 15:04So we are less than a month away
- 15:06from the start of the newest
- 15:07Austin FC season and
- 15:10here to help us talk about what's
- 15:11been happening this off season is
- 15:12KUT's Juan Garcia.
- 15:14He is one of the hosts of the
- 15:16KUT Austin FC podcast,
- 15:18Vamos Verde.
- 15:19Juan, thanks for coming on the show.
- 15:21Always a pleasure, Jerry.
- 15:22So last year's team made
- 15:24the playoffs, made a first round
- 15:26exit, so didn't advance too far.
- 15:28They had a pretty good
- 15:30season, but every team is going
- 15:32to look to retool in the off-season
- 15:34and to revamp.
- 15:35What did Austin FC really need
- 15:37going into this recent off- season?
- 15:39Well, the...
- 15:41Biggest area of need
- 15:42that most folks looked
- 15:45for in the offseason
- 15:47would have been some way
- 15:49of improving the goal tally.
- 15:51They struggled for stretches
- 15:53on the year to score
- 15:55relatively consistently.
- 15:57Granted, that could have been
- 15:58affected by many things.
- 16:00Injuries, a relatively new squad
- 16:02that was still gelling with one
- 16:03another, but it
- 16:05did come after a summer where they
- 16:07spent a lot of money on attackers.
- 16:09And so that was the area that I
- 16:10think disappointed most folks in
- 16:12what can be seen in
- 16:14many respects as a season where they
- 16:16met and in some ways exceeded
- 16:18the expectations going into the
- 16:19year.
- 16:19Yeah, this might be soccer, but
- 16:21we're still Americans, we still want
- 16:23to see points on the board, you
- 16:25know, that still feels like
- 16:26translating to success.
- 16:28And Austin FC made a recent
- 16:30signing that they're going to be
- 16:31announcing tomorrow.
- 16:33Who is this person and is he going
- 16:34to help score some goals?
- 16:36He is a known quantity in
- 16:38Major League Soccer.
- 16:39He arrives in Austin holding
- 16:42the record for the most goals scored
- 16:44by a single player at
- 16:45Orlando City.
- 16:46Okay, that sounds good, sounds good
- 16:48off the bat.
- 16:51And he's an upgrade on
- 16:53what the team had.
- 16:54Ultimately, they made a move to sell
- 16:56winger Osman Bukhari after a
- 16:58couple, I think two and a half years
- 17:00with the team, or
- 17:01a year and a 1 half with the theme.
- 17:04Bukkari arrived with a lot of
- 17:06expectations around, you know,
- 17:08being this dynamic winger that could
- 17:09take defenders on one-on-one.
- 17:12But his production never really
- 17:14justified the cost of
- 17:16bringing him in and holding him at a
- 17:18premium roster slot.
- 17:19Uh, so he
- 17:21got shipped out to Poland and
- 17:23in his place, they brought in
- 17:25Fakundo Torres.
- 17:27Um, this is a guy that, like
- 17:29I said, has proven experience in
- 17:31major league soccer, uh,
- 17:32would slot into his role as
- 17:34a winger relatively effectively in a
- 17:36one-to-one. He's younger than
- 17:38Bucari.
- 17:38You're bringing in a guy who
- 17:40knows how to score goals in major
- 17:42league soccer. And I think that's
- 17:44the.
- 17:45Logic around this signing is
- 17:47we need to score more goals.
- 17:49So we brought in a guy who has
- 17:50proven to know how to do just
- 17:52that in Major League Soccer.
- 17:53And scoring goals comes in
- 17:55a variety of ways in Major League
- 17:57Soccer.
- 17:57Some people create their own shot,
- 18:00some people are in the right place
- 18:01at the right time and just know how
- 18:03to put the ball in the back of the
- 18:04net. Facundo Torres, what kind
- 18:06of player is he?
- 18:07Is he a finisher?
- 18:08Is he creator? It's very
- 18:10clear that
- 18:10he scores goals more
- 18:13than he creates them.
- 18:14And that could be something
- 18:16that gives some folks pause
- 18:19in terms of like the expectations
- 18:20going into the year.
- 18:22The team had a clear need
- 18:24to create more goals.
- 18:26They weren't scoring the chances
- 18:28that they were creating last year,
- 18:30but in many cases those chances
- 18:32weren't the best chances that could
- 18:33have been created.
- 18:34And so that's why there was a lot of
- 18:36questions around whether they would
- 18:38be targeting.
- 18:39A player that's more of an
- 18:40orchestrator, a chance creator,
- 18:42rather than a chance finisher.
- 18:44Instead, they actually went a
- 18:45different route.
- 18:46They brought in two
- 18:49chance finishers last offseason
- 18:51in Mirtuzuni and Brandon Baskes
- 18:53occupying two designated player
- 18:55slots. Those are the
- 18:57premier roster slots
- 18:59where the cost
- 19:01of acquiring a player and paying
- 19:03their salary, only
- 19:05a certain portion of that is
- 19:07actually going to apply to the cap.
- 19:09So that's designed for teams
- 19:11to be able to bring in more
- 19:12expensive players with higher
- 19:13transfer fees, higher salaries, and
- 19:15still be able to field competitive
- 19:17teams against other teams that
- 19:19also have three or
- 19:20four players that are being paid a
- 19:22little bit more or cost a little
- 19:24more to be brought in.
- 19:26What they didn't do so far this
- 19:28season is bring in a player
- 19:30that is that chance
- 19:32creator profile
- 19:34instead choosing to bring a guy that
- 19:36is going to slot into Bukkari's role
- 19:38but they hope will score goals
- 19:40at a much higher rate than Bukkarri.
- 19:43That tells me that they're
- 19:45comfortable with the players that
- 19:46they have and with the system that
- 19:48they have that they feel they will
- 19:50be able to create enough
- 19:52high quality chances consistently
- 19:54for these players to
- 19:56do what they do best which is put
- 19:58the ball in the back of the net.
- 19:59Well, a new season for Austin
- 20:01FC means a new season of the Vamos
- 20:03Verdad podcast, which
- 20:05you host along with KUT's
- 20:07Jimmy Moss. What are y'all cooking
- 20:08up for this new season?
- 20:09Ooh, quite a bit.
- 20:13We're trying to approach things a
- 20:14little bit differently, but for the
- 20:16most part, what you're going to hear
- 20:17is- What?
- 20:17What what season sorry to interrupt
- 20:18but what season will this be for
- 20:19y'all show?
- 20:20This is gonna be our third season
- 20:22and, you know, we're
- 20:24looking to maybe mix things up a
- 20:25little bit, but not too much.
- 20:27We're gonna try to put more of
- 20:29a focus, more of an emphasis than we
- 20:30did last year
- 20:32on stuff around the
- 20:34team. The artists that do
- 20:36the heartbeat and the anthem and
- 20:38that contribute to sort of the
- 20:40culture side of building Austin
- 20:42FC's relevance
- 20:44in the city.
- 20:46We're going to be talking to
- 20:47artists, we're gonna be talking too.
- 20:49Some of the new players as well.
- 20:51Just looking to approach things with
- 20:54a fresh set of eyes.
- 20:55You know, we've done it for two
- 20:57seasons now.
- 20:58We're not trying to reinvent the
- 20:59wheel, but we're seeing areas
- 21:02that we can improve on.
- 21:03And yeah, I'm really excited to see
- 21:05what what's coming up this season.
- 21:06We actually have an interview coming
- 21:08up with someone who was on The
- 21:09Signal earlier this week.
- 21:11We'll be talking to Lindsay Mackin
- 21:13of Annabelle Chairlegs in
- 21:15this sort of early portion of
- 21:17this upcoming season.
- 21:18Very cool.
- 21:19Well, we are excited for the new
- 21:20season for Austin FC and
- 21:22for Vamos Verde.
- 21:23That is Juan Garcia, one of the
- 21:25hosts of the show.
- 21:26Thanks for coming on the signal,
- 21:27Juan. Thanks for having me, Jerry.
- 21:29And before we get out of here today,
- 21:31we've got another update from the
- 21:33KUT newsroom.
- 21:34Texas Attorney General Ken
- 21:36Paxton is suited Delaware-based
- 21:38nurse practitioner, alleging
- 21:40that she broke Texas law by
- 21:41prescribing abortion pills to women
- 21:43in Texas.
- 21:44In the suit filed This week Paxton
- 21:46said that the operator of the
- 21:47organization Her Safe Harbor
- 21:49has sent packages containing the
- 21:51medications Mifepristone and
- 21:53Misopristol to women
- 21:55in cities including Beaumont,
- 21:56Houston, and El Paso.
- 21:58The suit references statements Lynch
- 22:00made to media outlets, including in
- 22:02a profile by the Austin American
- 22:04statesman.
- 22:05Her Safe harbor advertises itself
- 22:07as a telehealth service that offers,
- 22:09quote, safe private care
- 22:11to women and all 50
- 22:12states.
- 22:13The action follows a cease
- 22:15and desist letter the Texas Attorney
- 22:17General's Office sent Lynch last
- 22:18year.
- 22:19KUT's health care reporter Olivia
- 22:21Aldridge has more over
- 22:23at KUT.org
- 22:25and you can find more from
- 22:27what we do every single day
- 22:29at K-U-T dot
- 22:31org slash signal.
- 22:34That is it for today's
- 22:36show. Thank you for making us part
- 22:38of your day.
- 22:39Thanks to Emiliano Tahui Gomez,
- 22:41to Jessica Priest, and to Juan
- 22:43Garcia for their help
- 22:45with today's episode.
- 22:46And as always, thank you to Rayna
- 22:48Sevilla and Kristen Cabrera for
- 22:50making Austin's Signal happen every
- 22:52single day.
- 22:54I'm Jerry Quijano.
- 22:54We will talk to you tomorrow.