by Michael Robinson |Uvalde Hesperian

04-19-25

Several uniformed U.S. Army soldiers were seen this morning near the intersection of FM 1049 and CR 245 working with some equipment as a U.S. Border Patrol helicopter continues to circle over U.S. Highway 90 and the railroad tracks.

The Uvalde Hesperian spoke with the soldiers, and one said they can’t comment about what they are doing but said the helicopter was a U.S. Border Patrol helicopter.

According to an NPR news report, the U.S, Army is providing logistical support for the U.S. Border Patrol.

“Presidio is in the Big Bend sector of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection – a stretch covering more than 500 miles of the Rio Grande, including a handful of other small towns and a national park too. Throughout this area, the Trump administration recently announced the deployment of some 500 active-duty soldiers.

The Army says that these soldiers won’t be arresting people suspected of being in the U.S. illegally, and instead, will offer ‘logistical support’ to Border Patrol agents,” the article states.

 Press Release from Texas U.S. Senator Ted Cruz

11-13-24

Top Picture: (20) WATCH: Senator Ted Cruz hosts press conference with AI deep-fake victims to call on the House to pass the TAKE IT DOWN Act / X

Last week, the Senate unanimously passed my TAKE IT DOWN Act—a monumental step toward empowering innocent victims, particularly teenage girls, to seek justice against those who exploit them by publishing abusive images. This week, I stood proudly with my colleagues, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.), and alongside courageous victim advocates to urge the House of Representatives to take immediate action and pass this legislation. The TAKE IT DOWN Act will criminalize the publication of non-consensual intimate imagery, including AI-generated “deepfakes,” ensuring that perpetrators are held accountable. At the press conference, victim advocates shared powerful stories, highlighting how this legislation can spare countless women, teenage girls, and boys from enduring similar trauma. I am determined to see it passed into law before the end of this Congress. The time to act is now.

“[The TAKE IT DOWN Act] has passed the Senate unanimously. 100 to nothing. Amy and I worked on both sides of the aisle. Every single Democrat in the Senate supported it. Every single Republican in the Senate supported it. … All of us have spoken to House leadership urging the House to take it up and pass it before the end of the year. … If this bill gets a vote in the House it will pass. The only question is, will it get a vote or not? We’re here today on behalf of the victims, on behalf of women, on behalf of teenage girls across this country to say: bring this up for a vote. Pass it and put it on the President’s desk. We can get it done and we can get it done before the end of the year.”

As a father of two teenage girls, I am appalled by the pain and trauma inflicted upon women and teenage girls who experience non-consensual AI-generated intimate images published of them on social media. In today’s hyperconnected world, such exploitation is not just harmful—it’s devastating. This year, I had the privilege of meeting fifteen-year-old Elliston Berry, a courageous victim advocate from Aledo, Texas, whose story exemplifies the urgent need for change. When Elliston was in 9th grade, she became the victim of a deepfake image. Despite her mother’s repeated pleas to Snapchat, it took over nine agonizing months—and one call from my office—to have the image removed. It should not require intervention from a sitting senator to achieve what Big Tech companies are fully capable of doing immediately. The TAKE IT DOWN Act will mandate that social media platforms and similar websites promptly comply with users’ requests to remove non-consensual imagery, ensuring no one else endures what Elliston and her family went through.

This legislation is essential to holding tech companies accountable and protecting victims.

  “I will say one of the real keys to this getting passed has been Elliston just telling her story. There’s another, another teenage girl [in New Jersey], Francesca Mani who had almost the identical thing happen to her, at almost the exact same time. Both of them were freshmen in high school, [and] both of them [experienced] a boy in their class taking innocent pictures from social media and using an AI app to create fake naked pictures of them. In Elliston’s case, [the photos were] sent to everyone of her classmates. It is hard to be a teenager period today, but the nightmare of going through that it’s fundamentally wrong.

  “When Elliston and her mom came to meet with me several months ago in my office, … I asked, ‘What’s happen with the pictures now?’ They said, ‘They’re still up [and] it’s been nine months.’ Elliston’s mom said she’d called Snapchat, she’d email them, and they wouldn’t do anything. I turned to my team, and I said, ‘I want you to get the CEO of Snapchat on the phone today. I want those photographs down today.’ Within an hour, they pulled them down. … It shouldn’t take a sitting senator making a phone call. Elliston should have the right to say, this is garbage. This is me. I didn’t consent. Take it down.”

I am confident that with President Trump back in the White House and a Republican majority in both chambers of Congress, we will deliver real and meaningful change for the American people. The nation has spoken with a clear mandate: it’s time to restore order, accountability, and common sense to Washington. Together, we will secure our borders, tackle inflation, and wars across the world. The failures of Joe Biden and the Democrats have left America weaker and more vulnerable, but we stand ready to clean up their mess and rebuild a stronger, safer, and more prosperous nation. The time for action is now, and we are ready to get to work.

 “We have a real obligation to deliver on our promises. … Number one, we will secure the border. I think Texans and people across the country are deeply dismayed with Joe Biden and the Democrats open borders. … We’re going to follow it up by having Congress pass legislation providing funding to ensure that we secure the border and keep our communities safe.

“I think there’s also a clear mandate to get the economy moving [and] to get inflation under control. There are a lot of elements of that. One is reining in out-of-control spending from Washington, but another critical element of that is ending the Biden administration’s war on energy and Texas oil and gas.

“And finally, when it comes to foreign policy and national security, when Trump was president last we had peace and prosperity. We saw peace flowering in the Middle East, and [then] Joe Biden and the Democrats came into office. They produced utter chaos [and] two major wars waging simultaneously across the globe. I believe [both of those wars] … because that’s what happens when you have a strong commander in chief who our enemies are afraid of.”

The chaos at our southern border under Democratic leadership is unprecedented and unacceptable. As of July 2024, ICE has released an astonishing 650,000 criminals into the United States—14,944 of them murderers, 20,061 convicted of sexual assault, and 105,461 with assault charges. This staggering failure has put countless American lives at risk. Under a renewed Trump administration, we will take decisive action to deport illegal aliens and restore safety and security to our communities.

This week, the Senate Judiciary Committee heard the devastating testimony of Patty Morin, the mother of Rachel Morin, who was tragically murdered by an illegal alien due to Joe Biden’s reckless open border policies. Patty’s story is a chilling reminder of the human cost of this administration’s negligence. I am confident that with President Trump’s leadership, we will end the wave of violence, murders, and assaults to ensure that no other American family endure such unimaginable loss.

  “Elections have consequences. For the last four years, we have seen the most radical experiment in open borders this nation has ever seen. … I would ask my Democrat colleagues if they were here, why does the Biden administration not go and arrest every one of these criminals and deport them? What rational world says America is better off with more criminals?

  “Ms. Morin, thank you for being here. The country grieves the loss of your daughter. Your daughter was beautiful. She was a mom, who I know loved her kids, and she’s not with us today. She was raped and murdered because this administration chose to release a violent criminal into America. … I cannot imagine the pain. … No parent should have to bury their child. Children should bury their parents, not the other way around.”

Rest assured; change is coming for our country. God Bless!

by Michael Robinson |Uvalde Hesperian

October 14th, 2024

Top Photo Left to Right: Uvalde City Manager Vince DiPiazza, Mayor Pro-Tem Everardo “Lalo” Zamora, 2nd Lieutenant Shaun Roach and Sergeant First Class Benjamin “Ben” Galluppi 

 Service men and women of the North Carolina National Guard answered a call to mobilize. 

According to Sergeant First Class Benjamin “Ben” Galluppi of the North Carolina National Guard,  their platoon arrived in Uvalde in September of 2023. He said part of their goal was to help the community heal.

“The hardest part of deployment is going to a place you have no family. Here we have the opportunity to get to know the people. I want people to be able to trust people again,” Galluppi said.

He continued saying, “Every single person in this room has made a difference to somebody.”

 During their stay in Uvalde, they performed over 1200 volunteer hours of Community Service work including food distribution and playground builds.  On Wednesday, October 2nd, the North Carolina National Guard platoon members joined Uvalde County City officials and members of the Tomas Valle American Legion Post 479 and community members gathered for a farewell dinner held at the Ssgt. Wille de Leon Civic Center for presentations and an exchange of keepsake souvenirs from Uvalde and North Carolina.

 Uvalde Mayor Pro-Tem Everardo “Lalo” Zamora joined City Manager Vince DiPiazza in presented 2nd Lieutenant Shaun Roach and Sergeant First Class Benjamin “Ben” Galluppi with the Making a Difference Award which included a plaque with the Key to the City for their service to Uvalde. According to Zamora this was the first Key to the City ever presented by the City.

 Local Retired U.S. Navy veteran Dolly Schultz and Uvalde Mayor Cody Smith worked closely with the North Carolina Platoon during their stay in Uvalde. 

“These young men and women have been instrumental in so many projects throughout the community, they immersed themselves wholeheartedly and became one of us. They will be greatly missed,” Schultz said.

 According to one of the North Carolina National Guard members, while Texas barbecued brisket was certainly a new favorite for many of them, he still preferred the North Carolina barbecue sauce.

Press Release by U.S. Representative Tony Gonzales

March 26, 2024
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS — This week, Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) joined Reps. Mike Kelly (R-PA) and Ryan Zinke (R-MT), Co-Chairs of the Northern Border Security Caucus, along with Northern Border Security Caucus members Rep. Nick Langworthy (R-NY) and House Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY) in sending a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas expressing “serious concern about the unprecedented surge in apprehensions along our northern border.”

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data, in Fiscal Year (FY) 2023, Border Patrol Agents apprehended 10,021 aliens illegally crossing the northern border between ports of entry, including 2,229 apprehensions in the first four months alone. In the first four months of FY 2024, through January 2024, the Border Patrol has already apprehended 4,772 subjects along the northern border, a 114% increase from the first four months of FY 2023.

In FY 2024 alone, Border Patrol Agents are on track to apprehend a record number of illegal immigrants at the northern border.

“While the Southwest Border has been overrun with drug smugglers, we cannot allow another avenue for deadly, illegal drugs into our country and our communities,” the Members wrote. “In FY 2024 alone, Border Patrol agents are on track to apprehend a record number of illegal immigrants at the Northern border. These statistics are yet another example of how the Biden administration is downplaying the serious nature of this orchestrated border crisis. Every state has now become a border state under your leadership – or lack thereof.”

A total of 22 House Republicans signed the letter, click here to read the letter.