Many Republican-led states like
Texas require police officers
to cooperate with federal
immigration agents.
That's left liberal cities like
Austin debating how to respond when
they don't want to spend resources
on immigration enforcement.
We've got more about that.
And ICE operations are deterring
immigrants from participating in
routine parts of their lives.
Here in Austin, one clinic has seen
its demand drop dramatically over
recent weeks.
We've more about both of those
stories coming up on today's show.
The Austin Signal is a production
of KUT News, hosted by
Jerry Quijano.
Plus, South by Southwest wraps up
tomorrow, but there's still time to
get in on the activities.
Today we're gonna tell you about a
documentary that follows the search
for an almost mythical Texas
musician.
Come hear that story and more
up next on Austin Signal.
Howdy out there, thank you for
tuning in to Austin Signal.
I'm your host, Jerry Kehannel.
It is Tuesday, March 17th,
sunny and 60 something
today here in Austin, Texas.
We're glad to be part of your day.
Let's jump into today's show.
In many Republican led states,
police officers are required to
cooperate with federal immigration
agents. And that leaves liberal
cities like Austin debating
how to respond when they don't
wanna spend resources on immigration
enforcement.
KUT's Mo's Boo Show has the
story.
City council members opened up
a recent public forum here with
a line they repeat often.
In Austin, undocumented immigrants
should be able to call the police
without fear of being
deported.
Here's Chito Vela, Austin Mayor
Pro Tem.
We are committed and making
sure that we are
keeping our immigrant community as
safe as we possibly can.
But in Texas, there are
few options when it comes to
stopping police from reporting
people to ICE.
In one recent case, a mother and
her young daughter were deported
after the mom called local police
to report a disturbance.
Stopping that kind of thing was what
this meeting with Austin Police
Chief Lisa Davis was about.
With that said, let me go ahead and
turn it over to Chief David.
Thank you for being here, this is
amazing to see this show out.
In Texas, state police
are empowered to arrest suspected
unauthorized immigrants.
Many counties partner with ICE to
get grants and funding.
Those agreements will become
mandatory for all counties by the
end of the year.
And Davis said Texas cities
cannot prevent local
officers from calling ICE if they
see fit.
There is a rule of law that I have
to follow as the chief of police
here in the state of Texas.
But what we can do, what
we CAN do is...
It was a tense evening.
On one side, local officials
explaining that breaking state law
could lead to cuts to funding or
them getting removed from office.
On the other side, many in the
audience calling for resistance no
matter the cost.
Robert Salter is a criminal defense
lawyer who was one of the most
vocal that night.
There is nothing that prevents this
police chief, these city council
members.
From refusing to cooperate with the
state. Heated public debates like
this have also erupted in
San Antonio, Dallas and Houston.
Democratic cities in Tennessee,
Georgia and Florida are also
seeing locals push back against
red state laws that mandate ICE
police partnerships.
Kristen Eder is director of the
Texas Immigration Law Council.
She says far more people are
detained in states that have these
policies.
It's not.
Visible.
It doesn't present the same way as
it does in Minneapolis or Chicago
or Los Angeles.
And so most people, again,
would have no idea that this
is happening every day
all around us in a
very quiet way.
Quiet, that is.
Until people start shouting.
At that public meeting in Austin,
police chief Lisa Davis announced
plans to change city policy.
Officers can still contact ICE,
but the new rules will give police
higher-ups a say in whether
they can hold people until ICE
arrives to arrest them.
And I can tell you the priority is
not waiting for ICE to respond on a
civil detainer.
Officials think it's a way to
thread the needle between local
priorities and state law,
but after the event, immigrant
advocate Carmen Zubieta said it
won't help people who fear
deportation feel any better
about calling the police for help.
To gain their trust,
you have to give it,
you must give it up.
To gain confidence, you have to
earn it. And nothing they're doing
is giving us confidence,"
she said.
Well, the fear of seeking help in
the immigrant community also extends
to health benefits provided by
non-profits.
Workers at a local clinic, Casa
Marianela, told Austin Current
reporter Sam Stark a line that
once snaked past its entrance has
dwindled down to maybe one or two
people a day.
For more about this, we've got Sam
here in the studio. Thanks for
joining us.
Yeah, I thanks so much.
So can you tell us a little bit for
our listeners who may not be
familiar, what is gassa marianella?
Yeah, so Casa Manila
is an organization that provides
shelters and supportive services
for refugees, political asylum
seekers, and immigrants.
And so around the country, we had
seen reports that immigrants have,
in some cases, been skipping getting
medical care out of fear of
immigration enforcement being
present.
So while we've not seen reports of
large scale federal immigration
enforcement in raids in
Austin, activists and officials have
said that ICE activity has, in
recent months, increased.
Um, and so I spoke with
Casa Marinella, uh, and they said
that in the past year, since these
activities have ramped up, much
fewer people have come to get help
getting enrolled in the medical
assistance program or MAP,
uh that provides basic healthcare
coverage for low income residents
living in Travis County.
She said she's worried that people
are just going uninsured.
Um, I also spoke with Community
Care. That's a clinic that serves
people who are uninsure or
underinsured The deputy CEO
told me that while they do not track
immigration status, they have heard
from providers that some of
their clients are afraid and
limiting visits.
Still, she said despite that, that
the community care clinics are
seeing a steady demand.
Do we know what kind of numbers they
were seeing prior to these recent
ICE operations?
They didn't provide
any numbers.
They did say that demand has been
pretty steady, and they said that
they have telehealth,
which they've expanded in recent
years after the COVID pandemic,
which has been helpful in situations
like these.
Okay and in your reporting for the
current you do report
that this is obviously happening
here in central Texas but it's not
just limited to here in Central
Texas.
This is kind of happening all across
the country correct.
Yeah, yeah, that's right.
And I also spoke to some people
that weren't in the medical space.
So, as Mo's mentioned in
his reporting, there was an incident
in January when the Austin Police
Department contacted ICE when
responding to a domestic disturbance
in southwest Austin
that led to the arrest
and deportation of
a mother and her five-year-old
daughter.
So the Safe Alliance, which serve
survivors of abuse, domestic
violence, and sexual assault.
Worries that this incident will have
a chilling effect, the CEO told me
members of the community might say
that the mother and the child were
deported right after reporting
domestic violence.
If this happened when they were
trying to get help, why should I
call the police?
You mentioned Casa Marianela and
Community Care that's here in
Austin, and since
people are not going and using these
resources, what do we know about
what they are doing instead?
So the worker
who I spoke to at Casa Marianella
said that she thinks that some are
just not going to see
the doctor when they have like
a cold come up or something.
They're just, you know, turning to
home remedies or traditional
remedies.
It's important to note though that
many immigrants have this fear
and clinics like these haven't
yet been Targeted by
ice operations. Is that correct?
Yeah, that's right.
When I spoke to community care, she
said that they haven't been subject
to these targets yet.
She said that, they do watch the
news and they would be silly to not
consider that as something
that might happen in the future.
Now, there is a sense of mistrust
right now among the immigrant
community, and you've reported that
in some cases instead of calling
911, they are reaching out to
community organizations like the
Safe Alliance. What's going on
there?
Yeah, that's right.
So the Safe Alliance CEO said
that because people are
worried about contacting the police,
especially with that example of the
mother and daughter being deported,
that they're going to other services
that might be more trusted
than the police at this time.
I also talked to this
Immigration Legal Services
nonprofit, American Gateways.
They said that they've been seeing a
massive surge demand for.
Um you know service requests but
also just requests for accurate
information uh they told me
permanent residents are canceling
travel plans some immigrants are
hesitating to apply for citizenship
and others are missing court
hearings uh she said that just
all this immigration enforcement has
caused a lot of confusion throughout
the community
So obviously, people in the
immigrant community are scared to
kind of go out of their comfort
zones. From all the organizations
that you spoke with, is there a
sense that people are considering
ways to reach out to some of
these communities, maybe to go into
them, or other ways to
maybe effectively contact these
communities?
Yeah, I mean, especially in the case
of American Gateways, they said that
the demand is
outpacing what they can provide, but
they still are committed to helping
as many of these community members
as possible.
Is there anything that you're going
to continue reporting on for this
story?
Um, yeah, I'm definitely interested
to see if long term
if this has impacted any
anybody with specific medical
conditions that they just haven't
been able to go and get care for.
Okay, we have been speaking with Sam
Stark, a reporter at Austin Current.
They are KUT's collaborator on the
Austin Signal and a partner with KUT
newsroom in covering the city.
We're gonna have a link to Sam's
story in today's podcast, Show
Notes, and you can always find more
at kut.org slash
signal. Sam, thanks for being on the
show. Thanks so much, Jerry.
And thank you out there for spending
part of your Tuesday with Austin
Signal. We are 100%
community supported public radio
and a South by Southwest is
still going on for about a day
and a half longer.
We got an update from KUT's
Jimmy Maas and a conversation
about a mythical Texas musician
that's coming up after the
break. This is Austin Signal
Hi, this is Jimmy Maas, program
director with KUT News, and you're
listening to The Austin Signal.
The line of appearances by the
rich and fabulous continued
yesterday at South By Southwest.
Los Lobos, 50 years
in the business, closed out the
public radio day stage show.
A day after a documentary about them
premiered at South by.
Alexander Shipp, who you may know as
Storm in the recent X-Men movie
reboots, as well as Betty from
Riverdale, Lily Reinhart.
They were on hand for the premiere
of their film, Forbidden Fruits.
The iHeart Podcast Awards were held
last night in the house that ACL
built.
Saturday Night Live alum Eggo Wodham
hosted the show with presenters that
ranged from Will Ferrell to Jenny
Garth to... Gotta jump in real
quick, Jimmy. Did I win anything?
Well, this is a little awkward.
We were not entered in any category.
Not really that kind of podcast
award show.
Oh. Giggly Girls was the podcast
of the year.
And just like the Golden Globes,
public radio shows were once again
shut out of all categories.
However, Terry Gross, host of NPR's
Fresh Air, received the 2026
Audible Audio Pioneer Award,
essentially a lifetime achievement
award for her
podcast efforts.
Elsewhere, there were tons of panels
on the future of AI, music,
and even the future of influencer
branding.
At a panel on World Cup marketing,
an executive at American Airlines
said her flight was canceled Monday
morning and that she had to get to
Austin another way.
You'd think an airline exec would be
exempt from airport delays, but
as John Cornyn reminded us
yesterday, it's spring break.
It's South By.
I'm Jimmy Maas and you're listening
to the Austin City.
There are some musicians we know on
a first-name basis, like Willie,
Waylon, Selena, Beyoncé.
But as David Brown from the Texas
Standard puts it, there are some
just as big who we know by
last name as well.
Like the name from Holtz.
Six o'clock silence of
a new day, beginning
is heard in a small
Texas town.
Now if you just got goosebumps,
I know who you are.
You probably grew up in Texas, or
you're a Texas musician yourself.
You may have shed a tear listening
to him sing his Texas Trilogy,
took a gasp of breath when he was
done, and you probably wondered
how anyone could capture so much of
Texas in songs that could
speak in a voice that was at the
same time so astonishingly
universal.
You probably have a copy of
a Fromix album.
From here to there, his
collaboration with Dan McCrimmon in
your record collection, a prized
possession.
Yeah, I see you out there.
Stephen Fromholst may have left us
in 2014, but in Texas,
Fromholts lives on.
His latest incarnation, a
documentary making its world
premiere at South by Southwest.
It's called The Man with the Big
Hat, about a musical pioneer
that no musical label has
ever adequately captured.
It's the first film by Austin-based
director, Austin Sayre, who joins us
now. Austin, welcome to the Texas
Standard.
Thanks for having me.
Some directors avoid the
camera, but you start this
film by telling us how you first
encountered Stephen Fromholz.
Why did you feel that was so
important in terms of getting
folks into the documentary?
You know, I
didn't want to be in front of the
camera, but I felt it was
necessary, especially with the
olive branch that Lyle kind
of gives me.
Lyle Lovett actually reached out to
you about being in this film?
He did, he did.
I had started the project and
was making several posts online,
and Lyle reached out to me saying,
you know, if it's, I love to,
you know, repay what Frumholz
meant to me, if there's any
room for me left in the film, I'd
love to be a part
of the project, you know, If you see
a place for me.
And I was just, I was taking a
gas, you know, I'm like, Lyle,
reached out to me and he's asking to
be in this film about Frumholtz.
Yes, of course, we will make room
for Lyle.
And I'm the man with the big
hat his body in
Yeah, I think it says
a lot though that he would reach
out to you and say hey you got room
for me because I want to know I want
do this could could we talk
a little bit about what it was
about Steve from Holtz and his music
that Left such an
indelible mark.
Did you find him?
Did you discover him through his
music?
I did.
I found Stephen's Fromix
album in an antique mall, you know,
and it was the record cover that
drew me in. It was all the things
that I love, just the
way that it was designed is just
this lone mountain looking
man, you, know, looking off into the
distance, you know, I was drawn
immediately to it.
I had no idea what kind of album it
was.
Maybe it was a folk album, but that
was my initial introduction
to Stephen.
If it weren't Willy covering I'd
have to be crazy and then Lyle.
Covering bears like I don't know if
this movie would have been made
But I'd have to be
crazy, plumb out
of my mind To
fall out of love
with you
And yet, we say
this, and he was appearing on
Austin City limits without having
had a hit of his own, for example.
And I'm wondering how it could be
that someone who has had so much
of an impact on music,
how it can be that so few
people beyond Texas really
understand or know about him,
because he was hard to fit into a
category, wasn't he?
I mean, he sort of seemed
to be almost a transitional figure,
musically speaking.
Between folk and what the
outlaw country movement, I guess,
huh?
Yeah, I don't know, you know,
because like he was the
only artist in
ACL's history to perform on three
of the first four seasons.
Yeah.
I don't t know why he
didn't catch on.
You know, I didn't know how he
seemed to fall through the cracks.
You know his first two records
on Capitol, like they're not
the best representation of Steven's
music because he is an artist that
should be experienced in
person. So I don't think his records
really translated like fully
represented
Performing abilities, so I don't
I don't I really don't know why he
didn't catch on
Well, in a way his music
didn't fit into a
radio scene that was about
two and a half three minute long
hit records He told
stories in a sort of
a long form fashion.
Don't you think?
Yeah, yeah, the Texas trilogy is 13
minutes long, you know,
so then the man with the big hat is
nearly seven minutes.
So Stephen didn't write for radio.
You know, Stephen wrote what he
knew, what he experienced
and if it fit under three minutes,
great. But if not, then, you know,
oh well.
Yeah.
What was your mission with this
film? Because you knew going in
that he wasn't famous for
radio hits.
He wasn't a kind of public
figure. He's not a household name,
I suppose, unless you live in Texas
and you love Texas music.
What were you hoping to do with
this?
The way he impacted me was so
profound. You know, I had never met
Steve, I never saw him perform.
He passed away as soon as I figured
out who he was.
And just the way that, the way I
felt when I watched
the archival videos of him and
the way he carried himself on
stage and just out on the river and
the that he impacted people's lives
and continues to do that.
If this feeling can come across the
way that he makes me feel and
the way that he changed my life
without ever knowing this guy.
I know it's going to resonate in
some way with everybody who sees it,
because this is much more than
a movie about music.
This is the way that he lived his
life. It was just so positive and
so full of life and joy.
I have to get this out there.
It will translate.
That was my goal was just to
get more inside of Stephen's
head and share what
brought me so much joy.
What was he chasing?
Just his freedom to do whatever he
wanted.
He came close to having big
record deals and being a more
household name.
But I think he just wanted to stay
close to home. His family meant more
to him.
He loved Texas and he loved Austin
more than anything.
So he wanted to repay that.
He just, he really just wanted it to
be a good dad.
You mentioned that he loved Austin,
how meaningful is it to premiere
this documentary at SXSW?
It's pretty surreal, you know, like
I had never made a movie.
I had no intentions of making a
movie and it just kind of, it just
kind of happened.
It's a perfect homecoming for
Stephen and for the movie.
I hope people walk
away seeing this film, you know,
moved the way that, that I have
been.
The way that he lived his life is
just so inspiring.
And is the main reason why I made
this film.
And you know when I asked his, his
daughters during their interview,
you know, what do you want people to
take away, walk away feeling and
knowing from this film?
And his daughters both were just
like, that he loved his two
daughters more than anything in the
world.
And so that was always kind of like
the number one thing that I wanted
to come across in this film.
Not the music, not the
could have been, should have beens,
but just the way that he is
so well loved by
his daughters and
his Austin and Texas
community.
Austin Serr is the director of
the documentary, The Man with the
Big Hat, about Texas musician
Stephen Fromholtz.
The film premiered at this year's
South by Southwest and we're going
to share more at TexasStandard.org.
Austin, thanks again for speaking
with us.
Thank you so much for having me.
You've been great.
Come no better than those
who just don't Come
no-better-than-a-bear
And we've got plenty more
South by Southwest coverage at
KUT.org,
KUTX.org and
on all of our social media
channels and we've had lots of
South by stories recently here on
Austin Signal.
You can catch up on all those by
going to KUT
dot org slash Signal.
That is it for today's show.
Thank you for making us part of your
Tuesday afternoon.
Enjoy the weather before it gets
Little hotter and have a
great day. Rayna Sevilla is our
technical director, Kristin Cabrera
is our managing producer,
and Jimmy Maas is our show runner.
I'm your host, Jerry Quijano.
We will talk to you tomorrow.
This is Austin Signal.