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Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in Minnesota have caught the attention of the nation and the world in recent weeks. Meanwhile, such operations in Texas have been taking place at the same time. We’ll check in with folks from Elgin, just outside of Austin, to hear how it’s impacting them.
The City of Austin paid out more than $143 million dollars to its employees in 2025. Five city departments regularly account for the bulk of overtime spending. We’ll go over which departments they are.
Plus, a spot in East Austin is building community beyond its menu by bringing folks together with Chess and Doodle Nights. We hear more about the community garden that’s growing.
The full transcript of this episode of Austin Signal is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is also available as subtitles or captions on some podcast apps.
Jerry Quijano [00:00:08] Immigration and customs enforcement operations in Minnesota have caught the attention of the nation and the world in recent weeks. Meanwhile, such operations here in Texas have been taking place at the same time. We’re going to check in with folks from Elgin just outside of Austin to hear how it’s impacting them. And the city of Austin paid out more than one hundred and forty three million dollars to its employees in twenty twenty five. Five city departments regularly account for the bulk of overtime spending. Which are they? That’s coming up on today’s show.
KUT Announcer: Laurie Gallardo [00:00:39] The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Jerry Quijano.
Jerry Quijano [00:00:44] Plus, a spot in East Austin is building community beyond its menu, bringing folks together with chess and doodle nights. Come hear more about the community garden that’s growing out there. That’s today on Austin Signal. Howdy out there, this is Austin Signal brought to you by listener-powered public radio KUT News. Thank you for tuning in. It is Tuesday, January 27th. We are glad to be part of your day. We will start the show by reminding you that while things are certainly warming up around the Austin area, it is still quite slippery in some spots out there. The ice was enough of a concern to cancel classes again today for UT Austin and for the majority of Central Texas school districts. Temperatures are forecast to dip below freezing again overnight, meaning any melted ice will freeze again. So be mindful and keep it tuned in to KUT News for the latest updates. There’s been lots of attention focused on immigration enforcement in the U.S. As of late, particularly in Minnesota, understandably, but that attention and that enforcement has intensified in many other parts of the country too. That includes Texas. People who live in Elgin, just outside of Austin, are torn over the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in their area. KUT’s Greta Diaz-Gonzalez-Vasquez has been talking with some of them.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:02:20] On a normal day, laborers gather around the downtown gazebo in Elgin, hoping to pick up a gig. But since early January, people in this small central Texas town say they haven’t seen any workers at their usual spot. Tracy Elamia works at an insurance company across the street from that gazebo. She says Immigration and Customs Enforcement came to get the workers one morning.
Tracy Alamia [00:02:41] I don’t know how many they took, but they took a few of them, and I don’t think that’s okay considering they’re not doing anything, and if they’re there, they’re primarily.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:02:50] Look for work. Like many other residents in town, Alameya found out through social media.
Tracy Alamia [00:02:54] They got another Impala over here taking somebody else. And there goes a white truck too.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:03:03] So they’re here. She saw the video where workers are being taken away by men with covered faces and tactical gear. KUT reached out to ICE to ask about the detentions, but has not heard back with specifics about it. Elgin residents had reported seeing ICE around Highway 290, the main road through the city. But this was the first time many of them heard about ICE being in town. Many felt the same way as Alameya. They’re part of the community. Let them work. But others like Jason Keene, who owns a gun shop across the street from the Gasebo, say
Jason Keene [00:03:36] Well, if you’re here illegally, that’s the very first thing. You circumvented a system. There’s a check and balance. It doesn’t matter about your opinion.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:03:44] Keane says he hasn’t heard of anybody in his community being affected by ice. In fact, he says his clients seem pretty on board with it.
Jason Keene [00:03:51] As far as the immigration enforcement, everybody that I know, everybody who’s doing business here, everybody I’m involved with with the community is really happy because that’s what we voted for.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:04:02] A few other business owners in downtown Elgin declined to talk to KUT on the record because they feared backlash from the community for their opinions. Nikolai Finley lives in Elgin. He says he has stopped having political conversations with people, unless he knows them very well.
Nikolai Finley [00:04:17] I know people, even myself included, who may have what I would say are just very general middle-ground opinions, that I would see people that I even know within my community here calling other people Nazis.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:04:33] Finley says the community has been polarized over the last few years. First, it was about COVID, then about politics, now about immigration, and it gets worse when it’s on social media. Since ICE started showing up in Elgin, residents have been posting about it in Facebook community groups. Finley said maybe that’s why everyone is on high alert.
Nikolai Finley [00:04:54] When I walk around every single day and I’m out in my community, I don’t see half of the things that are making everybody freak out.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:05:02] But for many, the fear is real. Especially for undocumented people. Melissa Perez works at a store in Elgin. She is undocumented and says now she’s avoiding being on the streets as much as she can. She does the basics. Takes her kids to school, goes to work, picks her kids up and heads back home. And whenever she’s driving, she’s on the lookout for state police or unmarked white and black SUVs known to be used by…
Tracy Alamia [00:05:33] She says maybe there’s people who don’t pay much attention because they don’t have to worry about their immigration status. But those who don’t have vapors…
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:05:47] She says, they have to be on high alert. In a town where 44% of the population is Hispanic or Latino, the fear spreads beyond the immigrant community. Last year, the Supreme Court allowed immigration enforcement agents in LA to use race and other profiling factors to decide who to stop and potentially detain. Alamilla, the woman who works at the insurance company, says even for US citizens like her,
Tracy Alamia [00:06:11] It’s scary to wonder in what direction it could go for any of us Hispanics, whether you’re here legally or not.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:06:20] After the workers at the gazebo in Elgin were detained in early January, the community organized a protest. Then, they also showed up at city council wanting clarity on where city officials stood. The mayor issued a statement last week saying the city did not condone actions by that are making people feel unwelcome.
Tracy Alamia [00:06:38] I know that there’s not much they can do when it comes to helping someone in that situation because they’re federal officers, but it’s comforting to hear from someone who’s in authority that not everyone hates us.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:06:50] With the town divided and some feeling like ICE is always around the corner, Ferre says she’s constantly questioning who is trustworthy.
Tracy Alamia [00:06:58] Yo la verdad no confío en nadie, ni más que yo, porque tengo dos niños.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:07:02] She says she has two kids who depend on her, so she’ll continue to be cautious and will keep paying attention to her surroundings as much as she can. At least until all this is over. I’m Greta Diaz-Gonzalez Vazquez in Elgin, Texas.
Jerry Quijano [00:07:25] Last year, the city of Austin paid city workers $143 million in overtime, that’s according to records obtained by KUT News. That spending could come under a harsher focus this year as the city is vowed to trim back its spending. To help us go over what these millions in overtime pay means for the city, we are speaking with Andrew Weber, he is KUT’s Government Accountability Reporter. Thanks for coming on the show, Andrew.
Andrew Weber [00:07:50] Yes, sir. Thank you for having me, jerk.
Jerry Quijano [00:07:51] So, uh, overtime pay, I’m guessing that’s something that all employers kind of account for. Does the city of Austin account for that as well?
Andrew Weber [00:07:59] Yeah, you know, they account for this. Obviously, city work is difficult work, and particularly for emergency services, police, and fire. Those departments have been short-staffed for a few years now. So overtime is kind of a necessity to get things done.
Jerry Quijano [00:08:18] Yeah, as we are sort of experiencing right now, you know, UT Austin canceled classes for a couple days, as did Austin ISD and a lot of other school districts, but not the case for Austin Police, Austin First Responders, things like that. So $143 million seems like a pretty big number. How does that compare to payouts in years past?
Andrew Weber [00:08:39] Well, it’s been kind of increasing over the last few years. We looked at from 2021 to 2025 and it went from around $86 million to what’s now $143 million. So it’s something the city is definitely relying more and more on.
Jerry Quijano [00:08:55] Well, speaking of that, which departments tend to make up the bulk of the overtime that is paid out?
Andrew Weber [00:09:02] You know, like I said, police, fire, and EMS usually are the sort of big three. This past year, that was different. Austin Energy employees got paid out more than $20 million, followed by fire, firefighters got $22 million. And police make up, as they often do, the largest share of this overtime. In this past year, they got paid almost $53 million.
Jerry Quijano [00:09:26] And since those numbers have remained somewhat consistent, does the city kind of plan ahead into its budget for this overtime pay?
Andrew Weber [00:09:35] Yeah, this is kind of baked in. Like I said, it’s kind of a necessity, but I will say, you kind of hinted at that at the top of the intro there, that this is an interesting year because Overtime was a part of the discussions ahead of Prop Q with EMS, with police, and with FIRE, and with just departments across the city were asked to sort of pare down these expenses and Overtine being one of them. With Prop Q’s failure, it’s going to be interesting going forward to see how the city sort of tackles that next budget cycle.
Jerry Quijano [00:10:08] Yeah, what are the ways that the Prop Q’s failure could affect the next budget cycle?
Andrew Weber [00:10:14] You know, it’s funny, there was, I believe it was council member Ryan Alter had a measure that would have done sort of monthly breakdowns for how the city is spending overtime with the focus on those big three, the police, fire, EMS. That didn’t go anywhere. They ultimately didn’t adopt that, council members didn’t. And so now it’s kind of up in the air. Like I said, it obviously the city wants to pare down that spending to sort of be in line with what voters wanted in rejecting Prop Q. But we will have to wait and see on it.
Jerry Quijano [00:10:46] Ian, we’re talking about numbers here for 2025. We’re only a month into the new year, maybe a little bit more time for the fiscal year. Do we know what part of the, you know, budget of the overtime budget has APD kind of reached already for this new fiscal year that we’re in?
Andrew Weber [00:11:02] Yeah. Like I said, APD is very much the lion’s share, about 36% of the $143 million that we’re talking about. So far, at the last update at the Public Safety Commission, that was on January 5th, APT said they’d already spent $7 million in overtime out of their budget of around $26 million. So it’s a department that regularly runs over that budget, right, because we’re talking about 53 million from the previous year. They’re budgeted this year for $26 million, and they’ve already spent a sizable chunk of that. Obviously, ACL is a thing, SXSW is a things, police overtime is a necessity, and we’ll again have to kind of wait and see how that shakes out this year with the post-Prop Q Austin.
Jerry Quijano [00:11:50] All right. Well, we have been speaking with KUT’s government accountability reporter, Andrew Weber. Andrew, thank you for coming on the show.
Andrew Weber [00:11:57] Appreciate you, dear.
Jerry Quijano [00:11:58] You can read more of From Andrew’s Story at KUT.org. We have more there and on the KUT app, including Governor Greg Abbott directing all public universities and state agencies today to freeze new H-1B visa applications. This latest move escalates his administration’s scrutiny of foreign workers employed at taxpayer-funded institutions. We have about that story at K-U-T.org, and we have more Austin Signal coming up after this break.
Madison Stidham [00:12:32] Hi, I’m Madison Stidham, owner of Dead or Alive Cloth, and you’re listening to Austin Signal. Well, I was born with the view of I-35, so I am as Austin as they come. It started out as like, Oh, I want to find like old historical clothes. And then it was like, oh, I’m leaving behind stuff that doesn’t fit me, but it’s really cool. I bet you I could sell these. And then, it just went off from there. It was just like, I took a gamble on this Goodwill and they didn’t have anything that I really thought I could pick up. And so I was like. Oh. That’s so weird, look at these old yearbooks. And I just naturally have a fascination for like really, really old things. But I just happened to like look at it and there’s actually like a note that came in it. And it’s like a high school reunion speech that was given in like 80 something. And it talked about how, you know, they had gone through personal struggles like murder and suicide. And I was like, I wonder who was murdered at Yellow Jacket High School. So I left the Goodwill to, you know, to leave because I was just like, oh, there’s just a whole bunch of yearbooks, but oh, let me look up who was murdered at Yellowjacket High. I looked up Yellowjackett High 57 and immediately that yearbook popped up. And then I saw that Lee Harvey Oswald was in it. And so I did the fastest U-turn in the whole world. And I whipped over there and found the yearbook. I didn’t think I should keep it. I’ve gotten a lot of comments about, you know, you should have kept it, and things like that. But I feel like I don’t have any sort of resources to keep that book, like, protected and perfect. So I was like, I need to just give it to somebody who would cherish it and, like protect it and put in, like some case or something. Um, so I was like… Alright, they need to go to the auction house, so that’s what happened there. Yeah, it’s like, I think in like, January 30th, the catalog will go out. Um, it, so it’s really just a waiting game. Um, I’ve never done an auction. Like I, I have never done like a real auction, like eBay. Yeah. But I mean, this is completely different. Um, they have four sites that they’re going to have it on. So it’s going to reach as far as possible. And um The book will be on AustinAuctionGallery.com I posted the story on TikTok and Instagram, and collectively, they gathered around 30,000 views. So we’ve got a lot of comments, a lot of questions, and a lot people interested in it. The auction house actually wrote back and said that people had been contacting them about the book. And he basically said that you have a far reach. So that video went to whoever I needed it to go to.
Jerry Quijano [00:16:18] Shortly after Community Garden opened in East Austin, staff started putting out butcher paper and markers for customers to just make art. Three years later, doodle nights are a regular Wednesday night activity at the cafe and wine bar. Ella Kopeikin reports the owner wanted to create an environment made for connection.
Ella Kopeikin [00:16:41] On Wednesday nights at Community Garden, the energy feels more like an elementary school art class than a wine bar. I caught Maria Vargas as she was starting on a watercolor.
Maria Vargas [00:16:50] It’s like this place in the neighborhood you can just walk, relax, decompress, and then just work on whatever projects and have good conversations.
Ella Kopeikin [00:16:57] The crowd ranges from couples on first dates, to friends catching up, to regulars like Francesca Hymas.
Fransesca Hymas [00:17:03] I live like two houses down from here, so I’ve been coming here for a while now. I would come here and draw because there was like nothing really else to do.
Ella Kopeikin [00:17:12] These Doodle Nights, soundtracked by local DJs, are weekly staples. This is Corbin Carey, a frequent Doodle Night DJ who runs the record shop inside Community Garden.
Corbin Carey [00:17:22] It kind of just started putting out butcher paper on all the tables and a bunch of markers. And even within the first couple of weeks, I mean, there were people bringing like typewriters and all sorts of different artistic activities.
Ella Kopeikin [00:17:36] Tucked away in the Chestnut neighborhood of East Austin, the space operates as a coffee shop, wine bar, and performance venue. Here’s co-owner and manager, James Harcrow.
James Harcrow [00:17:45] It was always important to me to have Community Garden be a home for a lot of different people that are into a lot different types of music or events.
Ella Kopeikin [00:17:56] Before Community Garden, Harcrow had never been involved in hospitality, but music was a constant.
James Harcrow [00:18:02] I was working in a screen printing shop and making electronic music and I wanted to create a platform, the label Growth and Decay, so catalog, underground electronic music from Texas.
Ella Kopeikin [00:18:17] The record label, which he founded in 2015, introduced him to new local music and expanded his network of fellow artists. Then, when the pandemic halted live events, Harcrow made an unexpected pivot to keep in touch with his growing community.
James Harcrow [00:18:31] I just started making acai bowls at home. I would have friends come over. They would eat these bowls. We would hang out. We would catch up.
Ella Kopeikin [00:18:37] Two of these friends were Brian Almaraz and Cole Evans, owners of the Coconut Club downtown. When club staff began to discuss reopening, they asked Harcrow to cater the meetings. After a few months, they had a proposition.
James Harcrow [00:18:49] Brian and Cole had approached me and just said, hey, we think these are really tasty. And if you were ever interested in doing something outside of your studio apartment, we would be really stoked to chat more.
Ella Kopeikin [00:19:03] Harcrow felt a cafe would provide him the opportunity to create an environment that encourages connection, especially connection through music.
James Harcrow [00:19:10] It was going to be a place that we could do the record release parties and the art shows and be a hub for the city for interesting things that are going on.
Ella Kopeikin [00:19:20] Community Garden opened its doors in spring 2023, offering acai bowls and coffee during the day, wine at night, and music from open to close. Within the first few weeks, a friend proposed doodle nights.
James Harcrow [00:19:34] Had suggested that it would be really neat to do some type of doodle night. People would show up and would just draw and hang out. And so from there, we gave it a try.
Ella Kopeikin [00:19:43] They would also have a DJ or curated playlist to make the evening feel relaxed and encourage the artistic flow. Here’s Corbin Carey again.
Corbin Carey [00:19:51] Sometimes there’s DJs, sometimes there’s not, but even when there’s no DJs usually James is playing records or someone’s playing good records.
Ella Kopeikin [00:19:58] Francesca Hymas was part of a small group that started coming early on.
Fransesca Hymas [00:20:02] Some usuals would be here and we would draw and then we started making like games out of it. I was drawing with a friend and we would always like make like fun characters and we’d play like Pictionary and stuff. I try to come as often as possible.
Ella Kopeikin [00:20:16] Over time, the word spread. Maria Vargas found out about Doodle Night through Instagram.
Maria Vargas [00:20:21] I lived in a neighborhood for years and I just had always seen on social media that they had a doodle night and so I texted these guys and I was like, hey do you want to check it out?
Ella Kopeikin [00:20:29] Almost three years later, the event has become a Wednesday night tradition.
Corbin Carey [00:20:33] I think it’s like a lot of first dates and then a lot of just cool creative people that come and like having, you know, an outside space to come and draw or do whatever kind of art they would like to do. And there’s good music.
Ella Kopeikin [00:20:47] Although rooted in music, Community Garden now hosts all kinds of creatives. No two weeks are the same.
Corbin Carey [00:20:53] Whether it’s a food pop-up or a market, zines, book pop-ups, vintage pop- ups, there’s always going to be something new and interesting.
Ella Kopeikin [00:21:02] But Wednesday doodle nights, where DJs cultivate a different theme or vibe, and Tuesday listening room sessions where DJ’s play full albums, are mainstays, drawing big crowds on slow nights, and showcasing the diversity of music played at Community Garden. This is Marshall Spaulding, an employee and DJ.
Corbin Carey [00:21:19] We are so good at being a canvas for like any type of person or music that wants to come here and express themselves.
Ella Kopeikin [00:21:28] And as the venue has grown as a host for artists, the business itself has grown, much to Hargrove’s surprise.
James Harcrow [00:21:35] I would have never thought that the space would then go into be a wine bar that also served espresso, that also then turned into a spot that’s serving these elevated small plate.
Ella Kopeikin [00:21:45] But for Harcrow, the greatest achievement is that people keep coming in.
James Harcrow [00:21:49] You know, I think at the core of it, it was my love for all the people that were around me and wanting to create a home that would foster a bit more connection.
Ella Kopeikin [00:21:59] And the community of Community Garden keeps growing. For KUT News, I’m Ella Kopaken in Austin.
Jerry Quijano [00:22:13] And that is it for today’s show. Thank you for tuning in and spending some time here with us. Don’t forget that you can find more from today’s show in the show notes wherever you listen to your podcasts, as well as over at kut.org slash signal. Rayna Sevilla is our technical director and Kristen Cabrera is our managing producer. Special thanks today to Casey Cheek, Greta Díaz, González Vázquez, Andrew Weber and Ella Kopeikin. I’m your host Jerry Quijano. Austin Signal is going to be back on the radio at the same time tomorrow. We’ll talk to you then. Be careful out there. Stay warm.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
