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Pregnant migrant girls are being sent to a South Texas shelter, where both the region and the facility lack the necessary care. The decision from the Trump Administration was made against objections from officials inside the administration. The story is a collaborative effort between The Texas Newsroom and The California Newsroom, and we’ll have from their reporting on today’s show.
A new housing project in East Austin is combining affordable rent with support for musicians as they try to do their part to allow artists to afford to live in the city. We’ll go over what they’ve got going on and how this could lay out a path for future projects.
This week in Texas music history, Alan Lomax records the Soul Stirrers in Austin. We’ll have more about that.
And the bell’s about to ring! Don’t be late! New class times for students and staff in the Georgetown school district.
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] Pregnant migrant girls are being sent to a South Texas shelter where both the region and the facility lack the necessary care. The decision from the Trump administration was made against objections from officials inside the administration. That story is a collaborative effort between the Texas newsroom and the California newsroom, and we’re gonna have more from their reporting coming up on today’s show.
Jon Mellard [00:00:29] The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Jerry Quijano.
Jerry Quijano [00:00:34] Plus, a new housing project in East Austin is combining affordable rent with support from musicians as they try to do their part to allow artists to afford to live in the city, what they’ve got going on, and how this could lay out a path for future projects. And new class times for students and staff in the Georgetown School District. The bell is about to ring. Do not be late, because Austin Signal is coming up next. Howdy out there. Thank you for tuning in. This is Austin Signal, and we are coming to you from listener-powered public radio, KUT News. I’m your host, Jerry Keconnell. It is Wednesday, February 11th. We’re glad to be part of your day. Our top story, the Trump administration is sending pregnant migrant girls to a shelter in deep south Texas. The shelter is flagged as medically inadequate. And advocates for the children inside are worried that they’re being concentrated here in Texas because of the state’s abortion ban. This story is a collaboration between the Texas newsroom and the California newsroom. Mo’s Bouchelle has been covering immigration for the Texas Newsroom. He reported on this story and he’s with us today on Austin Signal. Welcome, Mo’s. Always a pleasure, Jerry. So this is a collaborative story between the Texas New Room and the California news room. Tell us a little bit about how this story came together. How did you hear about this?
Mose Buchele [00:02:02] Yeah, so I was working with a reporter for the California Newsroom, a guy named Mark Bettencourt, who’s actually based in D.C., who started hearing from people within the Trump administration, within the Office of Refugee Resettlement, that there was concern there over this new policy of concentrating pregnant unaccompanied minors at one particular shelter in South Texas. Now, obviously, we are in Texas here in Austin. Uh… The uh… Did the policy shift is coming out of dc and so it seemed to make sense to kind of work together to try to try to get to the bottom was happening here and you actually made a visit down to south texas yeah i went i went down to the real grand valley uh… Uh… Talk to a bunch of folks down there and visited uh… San benito texAS where this particular shelters located
Jerry Quijano [00:02:49] This shelter is at the heart of your story. Can you tell us about the policy that’s sending pregnant minors to this shelter?
Mose Buchele [00:02:55] Absolutely so uh… What started last summer was a directive went out in the office of refugee resettlement is the agency responsible for the care of uh… Uh… Kids uh… In you know immigrant kids in the in its in its custody uh… The policy went out to concentrate all pregnant minors in this one particular place uh… It’s uh… Shelter run by uh… For-profit company called urban strategies in San Benito, Texas. And this is a policy that breaks with long-standing practice at the Office of Refugee Resettlement. What was that old policy? So traditionally, the idea has been if you have a pregnant girl in US custody, she will be sent to whatever place might best accommodate her, a part of the country and a center that has the capacity to deal with potentially high-risk pregnancies, which if you are a minor and you’re pregnant, then you are by definition high risk. In this case, the directive went out to say, no, actually we want all of the detainees who fit this description, all pregnant girls sent to this one particular place. That was a break from long standing practice.
Jerry Quijano [00:04:02] And why San Benito, I mean it’s this tiny town in the border, in the valley of Texas, why San benito of all places?
Mose Buchele [00:04:10] So a lot of the people that we’ve heard from within ORR and people outside, I should say as well, state with great confidence that this has to do with access to abortion. In the first Trump term, there was an ongoing effort to deprive detained girls access to abortions while they were in U.S. Custody. And in this case, they believe that by sending these girls to Texas, which has some of the strictest abortion restrictions in the country of almost complete ban, you will eventually kind of deprive them of access to abortion by having them here. Now, this will require other changes in rules at the federal level, but they see this as a step in that direction.
Jerry Quijano [00:04:52] Did these immigrant children who are in custody of federal officials, did they have any kind of protections prior to this policy change?
Mose Buchele [00:05:00] Yeah, I mentioned in the first Trump term, there was an effort to stop them from getting abortions and that was litigated in 2017. There was a lawsuit that led to it’s kind of a long story, but essentially led to a what you might call an agreement that then was translated into policy under the Biden administration. The policy was no, if there is a minor in custody that wants wants an abortion, she she has the right to that access no matter where she’s kept in the country. Currently, it appears the Trump administration is changing those rules. Once those rules are changed, and you are detained in Texas, many people fear that will restrict or end their access to abortion.
Jerry Quijano [00:05:45] The article is over at KUT.org. It has a couple of photos of the shelter. One thing I wanted to ask Moe is that as you’ve been covering immigration for the Texas newsroom for the last few months, you have been working or trying to get information from federal officials more often. I feel like that is something that’s happening across our newsroom. How difficult was it to build sources to be able to report out a story like this?
Mose Buchele [00:06:07] Uh… We had a lot of trouble talking to people you know multiple emails and gotten went on answered uh… Eventually we did get some uh… Kind of boilerplate uh… Answers uh… In email from from federal agencies. I went down in person to this shelter just to kind of knock on the door after getting no reply to our emails for a long time. And that also, maybe not surprisingly, didn’t yield great results. But we do have all the replies we got in our story online, what we did receive from them. We quote them in their responses and we quote our named sources within the government who often who in many cases might contradict what the official
Jerry Quijano [00:06:50] responses might be is there anything else that I haven’t asked you about that you I mean I know it’s hard to just jump into a really well yeah I mean the only
Mose Buchele [00:06:57] Oh, yeah, I mean, the only the only so so another part of this is just the fact that there’s a lot of concern we have heard within our and then also experts we talked to outside of the agency, that this is not in the best interest of these kids in many cases, you know, if you had your choice of anywhere in the country to send pregnant minors, who are again, medically vulnerable by definition, why choose a part of the country that Struggles with some- Some healthcare access issues already right you know you could send them to a city in texas that has better access to specialized care or you can send them. To any other part of the country that has a better access two specialized care so you know the the deep concern on the part of many people is that whatever is happening is on its face. Bad for these kids that is not in their best interest when it comes to health and safety.
Jerry Quijano [00:07:48] We’ve been speaking with Moe’s Bouchelle. He has been covering immigration for the Texas newsroom. His latest story was co-reported with Mark Betancourt of the California newsroom, you can read their story at kut.org and we’re gonna have a link in our show notes for today. Moe, thanks for talking with us. Thank you, Jerry. As school districts across the state continue working to find creative ways to save some money, one district north of Austin is considering doing so by rearranging its school day. KUT’s Kaylee Hunt reports a new bell schedule for Georgetown ISD is the district’s attempt at cutting down on transportation costs.
Kailey Hunt [00:08:30] Georgetown ISD’s newly adopted Bell schedule includes earlier start times for the district’s elementary and high schools. Middle schools will also start later. The district superintendent, Devin Patteville, says the idea is to make enough of a gap between start times so the same bus can serve all three school levels.
Devin Patteville [00:08:50] So by spreading out with about 45 to 50 minutes between each level of schooling, we’re able to reduce bus routes, which saves us close to a million dollars.
Kailey Hunt [00:09:00] Right now, the district runs on a schedule that has 60 minutes between elementary and high school start times. High school and middle school start time are only 20 minutes apart. That means most bus routes are only able to service two schools, either an elementary and a high school, or an elementary and a middle school. And that’s expensive, says Clint Pruitt, Georgetown ISD’s Executive Director of Support Services. He recently spoke at a meeting of the district’s board of trustees.
Clint Pruitt [00:09:28] Each route equates to between $70,000 to $80,000, so you can see the potential savings are considerable if we’re able to implement a balanced three-tier system.
Kailey Hunt [00:09:40] Superintendent Padaville says the new bell schedule and the resulting savings means the district will be in a better position to offer teacher and staff raises next year.
Devin Patteville [00:09:50] So we’re carrying a balanced budget into 2026, 27, but that doesn’t allow us to increase teacher pay. In order to increase teachers pay, I have to lead the district in essentially eliminating more expenses or going with the deficit budget. There’s no more new revenue.
Kailey Hunt [00:10:09] Pataville also recently announced a delay in opening two new schools until 2027. Elementary school number 12 and middle school number 5 were supposed to open this August. But Patavilles says the district is seeing slower than anticipated enrollment growth. Right now, the cost of opening the schools outweighs the benefits.
Devin Patteville [00:10:29] When we look at student enrollment, it’s pretty much tapering off in central Texas because of the state of economy and homeowner interest rates. Everything’s staying real stable.
Kailey Hunt [00:10:42] David de Matthews is a professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy at UT Austin. In his role, he helps train district administrators like Pataville. He says
Speaker 7 [00:10:54] In a lot of districts across the state, people are looking everywhere to tighten their belts because there’s just not enough money.
Kailey Hunt [00:11:03] DiMathias says saving a million dollars might not seem like a big deal when you consider the overall budget of a school district like Georgetown ISD. Last year, its budget was just over $260 million. But he says every bit counts. $1 million is equal to 10 or more teachers’ salaries. I’m Kaylee Hunt in Georgetown.
Jerry Quijano [00:11:25] And this is Austin Signal. We are listener-powered public radio. We’re gonna take a break, but after the break, we’re gonna talk a little Texas music history, a little Austin music history. And then we’re going to talk about an affordable housing, a project that is being set up to keep those musicians here in Austin, hopefully for the foreseeable future. We’ve got more about those stories coming up after this break. This is Austin signal. This is Austin Signal, welcome back. Well, many decades and many moons ago, a set of historic recordings were created right here in Austin, caught on tape by a 21-year-old kid. Here’s Jason Mellard from the Center for Texas Music History at Texas State University to tell us a little bit about it.
*Music* [00:12:19] In our listening to the five soul souls of Houston, Texas, we are singing in Austin, Texas on February the 12th for the Library of Congress in Washington.
Jon Mellard [00:12:33] This week in Texas music history, a Houston gospel group stirs things up in Depression-era Austin. On February 12th, 1936, the Soul Stirrers made their first recordings. The influential gospel group didn’t do so with a record company. Rather, it was 21-year-old folklorist Alan Lomax, who first captured their music for the Library of Congress. The Houston-based group was in Austin for the weekend, and Lomx took time off his studies at the University of Texas to set up the session. Lomax participated in thousands of such sessions in his career. And he described the four songs of these initial soul stirrers recordings as the most incredible polyrhythmic music you’ve ever heard. Though Lomax was ostensibly recording them as an example of folk culture for posterity, he surely recognized their popular potential. When singer R.H. Harris of Trinity, Texas joined the group in 1937, their style gelled, and their move to Chicago positioned the soul stirrers to influence the next generation of gospel performance and even duop. The commercial success grew in the 1940s, but it would be another addition to the group that took them to the next level.
*Music* [00:13:50] You gave me water, you gave me w-
Jon Mellard [00:13:53] When singer Harris left the Soul-Stirrers in 1950, a 20-year-old Sam Cooke took his place. Their biggest hit to date came the following year, Jesus Gave Me Water, and Sam Cook’s smooth, lilting style and harmony with the Soul Stirrers set the standard for 50s gospel. So much so that the larger commercial gains and creative freedom of secular music beckoned CooKE. In a move controversial with some of their gospel fans, CooKe left the soul stirrers in 1957 and crossed over into pop and R&B. The genius of you send me, bring it on home to me. And of course, a change is gonna come on the horizon. And all of it traces back to an Austin weekend where a Houston gospel group crossed paths with a UT student and the Library of Congress. You can hear music from the Lone Star State 24-7 on the Texas Music Experience at tmx.fm.
Chad Swiatecki [00:14:45] He gave that woman water, gave a livin’ a lovin’ lastin’ water, and was not in bread. Well, on that woman he had pity, she ran back to the…
Jerry Quijano [00:14:58] Rising rents are not just an issue for one set of industry workers here in the City of Austin, but for the live music capital of the world, getting musicians housed in Austin remains an ongoing issue. However, a small East Austin nonprofit has stepped in to help out. For more about that, we are talking with Chad Switecki. He wrote the story for KUT’s Artbeat, and he’s joining us now on Austin Signal. Chad, thanks for being with us.
Chad Swiatecki [00:15:22] Thank you.
Jerry Quijano [00:15:22] So tell us a little bit more about this non-
Chad Swiatecki [00:15:25] So Blacklands CDC is an organization that’s been active in the Blacklands area of East Austin for decades now. And they’re all about housing preservation and creating affordable housing for that community, that area, which we all know is being gentrified practically out of existence. So they’re doing as much as they can to create new housing opportunities for folks. And what we’re talking about here is they’ve got a tiny project that’s gonna be called Arts Village that is going to eventually provide 10 Small homes, not apartments, but standalone small homes of about 500 square feet or less, specifically for musicians and priced at an affordable rate because as we all know, there’s not a lot of money in music and living in this city becomes more expensive by the millisecond and so they are trying to step in and just see what can we create here that would maybe provide a tiny solution for some of these folks.
Jerry Quijano [00:16:22] You talked with one musician who’s been a fixture around town, Thor Harris, and he talked about the cost of living here obviously, but the cost losing what makes Austin Austin, right? The musicians, the people who have been able to afford to live here and work here. What else did he have to say about this project?
Chad Swiatecki [00:16:36] Well, you touched on a great point, because culture grows slowly and disappears quickly, right? Under bad circumstances. And so his point is, you know, no shade thrown at San Francisco or New York, but it is tough to exist there in those cities as an artist, as a musician. And for decades, both those cities were known as meccas for creativity and music. And Austin, much the same way. And we’re, you now, in the process of losing that. I don’t think we’re at risk. We are in the process. Of losing that. His message or statement that he made to me was, we don’t want to become the next Manhattan or the next San Francisco. And so there’s the possibility that you can have a great little curative community that can be started by all these folks living in close proximity. As I understand it, these homes are going to be kind of oriented toward a common area so you’re going to have you know, like jam sessions of sorts possibly kind of out in the open. That’s a really great, cool idea. The Blackland CDC is actually gonna be creating a tiny stage behind their own building. That’s gonna be part of this eventually. That’s separate effort, but related. And so, you know there’s just on top of the good vibe is just from housing. You could also have just a really cool interaction of creatives and people who, you now. Thankfully, they don’t have to worry about losing their homes and having to scrape together every nickel possible. They can be a little more freewheeling, I guess you might say, and embrace their creativity rather than having to function like a business person, like a creative entrepreneur, which has its benefits, but also some of these people aren’t wired that way, and we should embrace that and allow for them to live good and decent lives. You mentioned that this is
Jerry Quijano [00:18:30] a tiny project what is happening here at 10 homes is the stated goal but this isn’t meant to be kind of a cure-all right it’s supposed to maybe lay out a plan for a way that to
Chad Swiatecki [00:18:41] possibly move forward. So one of the individuals I spoke with in my story is higher up at the nonprofit housing opportunities for musicians and entertainers and they said that this is a good potential pilot program that you know just again it is happening on its own but it kind of happened very quickly and is still happening. They’re still in the fundraising phase but it’s something that I think everyone kind of sees a lot of potential in and you know not that it’s going to be modeled exactly but what do they say uh success has many fathers and and failures and orphan and if this thing is successful then we could hopefully be seeing more of them sprouting up in other parts of the City.
Jerry Quijano [00:19:25] Yeah, you mentioned a little bit about, we’re gonna have a link to your story in our show notes for today and at kut.org slash signal. In the story, you can see one of the homes already that has been built, but you mentioned there that they are still at the fundraising process. What stage is this?
Chad Swiatecki [00:19:41] Process in. They’ve secured about a $200,000 grant from the St. David’s Foundation that I think is more just geared toward architecture, planning, design, and that sort of thing. And then the estimated cost is going to be about $2 million, which for ten homes in Austin, frankly, that’s quite modest. And when I was talking to Thor, he was very much of the mind that we want to get different builders in there or different designers. Maybe you can get the folks from Icon Homes to 3D Printo Home, but he wants them all be. Kind of different, kind of a little funky and have their own character, just again, so it doesn’t feel prefabbed or anything like that. And so currently in the fundraising stage to get the two million dollars that it’s estimated this thing could cost. So it’s a thing that when you hear everyone in Austin liking to beat their chest about us being live music capital and as much money as we’ve got flying around in the city all the time on the tech side. You would certainly hope that two million dollars wouldn’t be that difficult to scrape together.
Jerry Quijano [00:20:45] We talked to somebody earlier on Austin Signal this week about an affordable housing complex in Travis Heights in the Travis Heights neighborhood. And we talked about how sometimes the pushback to those kinds of projects is the neighborhood that it’s going to be placed in. For this kinds of project, I wonder, is there any community interest for support?
Chad Swiatecki [00:21:03] These sorts of ventures? You know, given that it’s being led by Blackland CDC and they have such a good track record in that community, and again, you know, talk about Thor, he’s been a musician and a member of that board for 40 years. So I think there’s enough equity and enough trust built, I mean, and, again, they’re going to orient these homes so that you’re not going to have people getting blasted out by music in the surrounding neighborhood. So I think I think they’re going to be very Intentional and thoughtful around this kind of thing. So, I mean, you never know until the rubber actually hits the road But it seems like you got the right people leading the charge on this to Get the buy-in and get the trust and get Acceptance of doing something a little bit different, but that has some really good intentions behind it
Jerry Quijano [00:21:50] All right, we have been speaking with Chad Switecki. We’re gonna have a link to his story at kut.org slash signal. And in today’s podcast show notes, Chad, thanks for chatting with us.
Chad Swiatecki [00:22:00] My pleasure, thanks, Jerry.
Jerry Quijano [00:22:01] And before we get out of here today, you may wanna take advantage of this early spring-like weather and spend some time out at Barton Springs Pool, because it’s about to close for about three weeks. Austin Parks and Recreation says the closure will start the week of February 23rd, that’s the week after next, and continue until March 13th. The reason for the closure is removal of old creek flow bypass infrastructure that is at risk of collapse and that would threaten the habitat of the endangered Barton Springs salamander and that we don’t want and that is it for us here today on Austin Signal. We have more from today’s show at kut.org slash signal and in today’s podcast show notes. Thank you to Rayna Sevilla and Kristen Cabrera for making today’s show happen. And thank you to you for spending part of your day here with us. We will be back tomorrow. Talk to you then.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
