Tag: texas

Woke city policies in Austin, Texas blamed for street racing chaos

AUSTIN, Texas — Prominent voices blamed liberal, anti-cop policies for chaos in the city over the weekend after street racers took over city intersections, attacking law enforcement and setting people on fire in wild scenes which were caught on video.

“Austin voters wanted a Mayor, City Council, and [George] Soros [funded] DA who treat cops as criminals and criminals as victims,” tweeted the National Police Association, referring to the left wing billionaire, who is said to have funded Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza.

“This was not only predictable, it was predicted,” they added.

The public statement from the law enforcement organization came after one officer was injured, following four separate street racing incidents Saturday night into Sunday morning in the Texas state capital, Austin police said.

Reckless drivers blocked off intersections, doing donuts, terrorizing other motorists, throwing glass bottles, setting off fire works and starting fires. One Austin cop was hospitalized after being hit with rocks and bottles, but has since been released.


Vandals set off fire works over a police cruiser, injuring an officer Saturday night in the Texas capital.
Aaron Crews via Storyful

A fire set in a road in Austin where a street race was taking place.
A fire set in a road in Austin where a street race was taking place.
Instagram/oscarcruz.ss

In another scene of mayhem, a vandals climbed on top of two sheriff’s patrol cruisers, using traffic signs to shatter the windows.

The Austin Police Department said it took officers 22 minutes to respond to 911 calls by scared citizens “due to no units nearby.”

The department is currently understaffed by about 200 officers, something the Austin Police Association has previously warned could pose a threat to public safety. In October, the union said its ability to respond to Austin City Limits Music Festival and a popular college football game on the same weekend was at a “critical level.”

“This is why it is vital that city leadership prioritizes funding and staffing for [Austin Police Department],” the union tweeted.

After the weekend bedlam, union leaders slammed woke elected officials who campaigned on anti-police rhetoric.

“Austin policy makers are directly responsible for the overall safety of their citizens & visitors,” the tweet stated. “Looks like they failed to make the right decisions & continue to defund, destroy, & demoralize public safety. Austin was one of the safest cities, NOT anymore.”

Garza has clashed with police officials ever since he took office in 2021 and promised police reform in the city.

In August 2020, the city local council voted to defund cops by $150 million, slashing its budget by a third in the months after protests over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis at the hands of the police, which sparked protests and clashes around the country between protestors and police. A year later they chose to refund it.

Additionally, the local district attorney announced the indictment of 19 police officers accused of using excessive force against protestors in summer 2020.

Elected officials also nixed three cadet classes and cut 150 officers from the budget in 2020, according to the Wall Street Journal.


People were set on fire during unchecked street chaos in Austin as police struggled to respond.
Instagram/oscarcruz.ss

Mayor Kirk Watson, who had not previously commented on the chaos in his city, claimed to The Post on-going issues between police and the city have nothing to do with what happened on Austin streets this weekend.

“The Austin Police Association posted some false comments on Sunday that appeared to wrongly conflate this illegal incident with important community conversations about safety and oversight,” Watson said in a statement to The Post.

“Twitter is not an appropriate forum for contract negotiations, and no Austinite should ever accept the false choice between public safety and responsible policing — Austin can, and will, have both.”


Mayor Kirk Watson took office in January and told The Post in a statement that the 911 center received four times the normal calls during Saturday’s street racing, and that led to “unacceptably long waits.”
REUTERS

Meanwhile residents lamented how they say their town has changed in recent times.

“Austin Texas street racing at Lakeline Mall. Racing every night across from my place. No police available, ” tweeted @Artchyk, adding that the drivers were “terrorizing’ her neighborhood.



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Residents of Musk’s Texas space city rip billionaire for destroying quiet beach town

Residents of Elon Musk’s “space city” in southeastern Texas blasted the SpaceX CEO’s treatment of them as he transformed their quiet beach town into his grand Starbase vision, a report said.

Boca Chica was a small, seaside village at the mouth of the Rio Grande on the Mexican border with just a few streets before SpaceX moved in, promising to turn the town into a terrestrial terminus for space travelers.

The company broke ground on its launch facility in 2014 and started testing rockets there in 2019. As work on the project progressed, SpaceX gradually bought up most of Boca Chica’s three dozen homes, though a few homeowners held out, according to reports. 

“Creating the city of Starbase, Texas,” Musk tweeted in March 2021. “From thence to Mars. And hence, the stars.”  Starbase, he added, “would encompass an “area much larger than Boca Chica.”


SpaceX reportedly bought out the homes of numerous residents of Boca Chica, where Musk built his SpaceX rocket launch facility.
REUTERS

“It was a little neighborhood, and Elon Musk came and took it over,” Mary Helen Flores,  a teacher from nearby Brownsville, told The Sunday Times. “He renamed it Starbase without asking anyone. He just announced it on Twitter.”

Maria Pointer, who used to live in “the last house in Texas” before the border, told the paper that her home is now being used by SpaceX to store medical supplies.

She could still point out her old home, as it stands, juxtaposed to Starbase’s massive rocket assembly towers. 

In 2012, Musk received bids from states and territories that wanted to host a new SpaceX base, with Florida and Puerto Rico being the two leading candidates before Musk settled on Boca Chica after meeting with Texas officials, according to The Sunday Times.


SpaceX ignites 31 out of 33 raptor engines during a Starship booster static fire test at Starbase on Feb. 9.
AP

“He picked Texas because it’s a dirty red state where no one’s going to care what he does in a poor border town,” Flores told the paper.

Flores said she “knew when I saw them putting the launchpad right behind the dune line that it was going to be a disaster for our beach.”

 “He has destroyed a pristine paradise in the name of saving animals? Come on,” she said, dismissing the world’s richest man as “just a delusional billionaire.”

 “They are destroying an ecosystem that has been there for hundreds of years,” Flores added.

She said she’s seen several fires and “a lot of sea turtle deaths,” following repeated launches and multiple explosions at the site.


Musk has defended the Boca Chica site as necessary for the future of humankind.
AFP via Getty Images

Earlier this month, SpaceX fired up 31 of 33 heavy booster engines on the world’s largest rocket ever built at Starbase.

Musk, whose plans to expand Starbase have reportedly been put on hold, has defended the site as necessary for the survival of humankind.

“Something could go wrong on Earth,” he said at an event on the Starbase launchpad last year, according to The Sunday Times. 

“We are life’s guardians,” he said. “The creatures that we love, they can’t build spaceships but we can bring them with us.”


A spectator watches a SpaceX test launch near Boca Chica with binoculars earlier this month.
AP

In March 2021, Musk claimed that Starbase’s population will “grow by several thousand people over the next year or two” as the company — headquartered in Hawthorne, California — expands its workforce.

To sweeten the deal for prospective residents and local officials, Musk pledged to donate $20 million to schools in Cameron County, which is home to the Boca Chica.

He also said he’d give $10 million toward “downtown revitalization” in Brownsville, where about 29 percent of the population lives in poverty.



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Death row inmate Andre Thomas who cut out eyes, ate one seeks clemency

Plagued by mental illness, Texas death row inmate Andre Thomas started hearing voices when he was 9 years old and first attempted suicide when he was 10, his attorneys say.

Thomas’ psychosis, filled with religious delusions and hallucinations, became worse as he grew older. His family — beset by a long history of mental illness, addiction and poverty — was unable to help.

His lawyers say in March 2004, when he was 21, Thomas’ mental illness erupted in a burst of horrific violence in his hometown of Sherman, Texas. He fatally stabbed his estranged wife Laura Christine Boren, 20, their 4-year-old son Andre Lee and her 13-month-old daughter Leyha Marie Hughes, cutting out the hearts of the two children. He later told police God had instructed him to commit the killings and that he believed all three were demons.

Thomas was sentenced to death for killing the little girl after jurors rejected his insanity defense. Prosecutors argued that he knew his conduct was wrong and exacerbated his mental condition with drug use. He has spent the last 15 years at a unit south of Houston for the state’s most mentally ill prisoners. The heavily medicated Thomas, now 39, is also blind. Twice since the killings, he has gouged out his eyes, eating one of them to ensure that the government could not hear his thoughts, his attorneys said.

Thomas’ attorneys say he will never be competent for his April 5 execution. They, along with over 100 faith leaders and dozens of mental health professionals on Wednesday asked Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to commute his sentence to life in prison or to grant a reprieve so the courts can determine his competency for execution.

“Gov. Abbott has the power to stop the spectacle of prison guards leading a blind, mentally incompetent, delusional man to the death chamber,” said attorney Maurie Levin.

But authorities say Thomas’ victims and their families should not be forgotten in this debate and that if Thomas is determined competent, his execution should go forward. The killings of Boren and her children shocked Sherman, a city of about 45,000 residents 65 miles (105 kilometers) north of Dallas.


Thomas gouged both his eyes out — eating one — to prevent the government from hearing the voices in his head.
AP

“A jury has spoken about what justice should be in this case. We are not going to ignore that,” said J. Kerye Ashmore, with the Grayson County District Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted the case.

A spokeswoman for Abbott did not respond to an email sent Friday seeking comment. Abbott has granted clemency to only one death row inmate since taking office in 2015.

The Supreme Court has prohibited the death penalty for the intellectually disabled, but not for people with serious mental illness. However, it has ruled that a person must be competent to be executed.

Thomas’ attorneys will have to file a court motion asking that his competency be reviewed. A judge would ultimately decide the issue.

His attorneys say prison records show that as recently as December, Thomas “still hallucinate(s) constantly,” including “voices ‘from a spiritual prison’ and seeking ‘angels.’”

“He is one of the most mentally ill prisoners in Texas history,” Levin said.

Thomas’ attorneys have said his trial was also problematic because jurors who said they opposed interracial marriage were allowed to serve. Thomas is Black and his estranged wife was white. The U.S. Supreme Court last year declined to hear an appeal on this issue.

Ashmore said the standard to determine if someone is competent to be executed is not “whether he is mentally ill or has hallucinations” but figuring out if an inmate understands why he is being put to death or that his execution is imminent.

Joe Brown, the former Grayson County district attorney who led the prosecution, said this has been a difficult case for everyone involved.

“For many people I hear from, it does not matter whether he understands that he is being punished or not. They believe a crime with those facts demands death. To others … the death penalty is never justified. Our legal system does the best it can in that difficult situation,” said Brown, who is now in private practice in Sherman.

The Texas Legislature is set to debate a bill that would make people with severe mental illness ineligible for the death penalty. Similar bills failed to become law in 2019 and 2021.

Kentucky and Ohio have approved such measures in recent years.

“It would be very troubling to execute Mr. Thomas at the exact time that the (Texas) House is once again considering exempting people like him from being executed, said Greg Hansch, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness-Texas. If such a bill became Texas law, it wouldn’t be retroactive.

Rev. Jaime Kowlessar, a pastor from Dallas who is among the more than 100 faith leaders asking to stop the execution, said putting Thomas to death would serve no legitimate purpose.

“We pray that Gov. Abbott will choose the path of healing and grace by sparing Mr. Thomas’ life,” Kowlessar said.

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Texas school district cancels visit from bestselling author Emma Straub for foul language

A Texas school district canceled a scheduled visit from New York Times bestselling author Emma Straub after learning she “regularly used” foul language on social media.

The novelist was going to read her first children’s picture book, “Very Good Hats,” to kindergarteners and first graders at two elementary schools in the Katy Independent School District outside of Houston on Jan. 13, however, the district decided to rescind their invite a day before Straub’s visit, the Houston Chronicle reported.

“It has been brought to our attention that this author has regularly used inappropriate and foul language on her social media platforms — specifically repeated use of the ‘F’ word,” administrators wrote to parents and staff from both schools in an email on Jan. 12.”This type of language, as you know, does not align with our school and community’s values.”

“We apologize for any misunderstandings or inconvenience regarding this decision,” the district continued. “Though, ensuring we are consistently modeling appropriate behaviors and expectations for our students, both in the classroom and via other campus opportunities, is of high priority.”

“Very Good Hats” is Straub’s first picture book and was published this year.
Rocky Pond Books

One Katy ISD parent, Anne Russey, tweeted out a screenshot of a complaint she found from a fellow parent in which the parent posted an expletive-laced tweet from Straub and demanded the district “do better” vetting guest speakers.

“F-ck guns, f-ck people who care more about controlling women’s bodies than protecting all of us from people with guns, f-ck!” Straub tweeted on May 24, 2022. “It’s too much. So heartbroken.”

May 24, 2022 was the date of the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas , in which 19 students and two teachers were mercilessly gunned down.

Crosses set up to honor those who lost their lives during the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas are shown.
AFP /AFP via Getty Images

“Once again @katyisd caves to the unrelenting demands of parents who insist on restricting access and experiences for ALL students and not just their own,” Russey said in response to the cancellation.

Straub, who’s penned six novels including NYT’s bestsellers “This Time Tomorrow” and “Modern Lovers,” responded to Russey and said she was “sorry not to be able to read my silly book about hats and imagination to those kids.”

“The only F words in the presentation: funny, feline, feelings,” she said.

According to Chron, Katy ISD similarly canceled a scheduled event from award-winning author and cartoonist Jerry Craft in October.

The school removed the author’s books from its libraries after parents claimed the books professed “Critical Race Theory.” The district later rescheduled Craft’s visit and returned the books to the library, according to Chron.

In 2021, the school began removing books from its library it found “pervasively vulgar,” and opened an online portal for parents to suggest books that should be reviewed for their appropriateness for children.



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Migrants plead with El Paso cops as they’re rounded up for Biden visit: video

Gripping video captures the moment migrants in El Paso pray in vain as cops rounded them up outside a local church shelter ahead of President Biden’s first visit to the Mexican border on Sunday.

“Cover us, Father, in the name of Jesus,” a man is heard praying loudly in Spanish as cops and US customs agents rounded up as many as 150 immigrants in the Texas border city, a report by NBC News shows.

“They come seeking your salvation, sir,” the man says. “They are looking for a better future. They’re respecting the law, sir.

“We respect the law and they’re doing their job,” he says. “But, father, you have the power to protect them… We pray for them, father, in the name of Jesus.”

City police and US Customs and Border Protection officers swept through the Texas city in the days before Biden’s arrival on Sunday, clearing immigrants from a shelter at Sacred Heart Church and outside a local bus station, the outlet reported.

Cops and US customs officers rounded up immigrants in El Paso this week in anticipation of President Joe Biden’s first trip to the Mexican border on Sunday.
James Keivom

El Paso has taken the brunt of the record number of immigrants crossing into the US in recent weeks, with as many as 2,500 a day flowing into the city in mid-December.

Well-meaning shelters like the one at the church have been forced to turn away many immigrants as they overflow, with the migrants turning to tent cities instead.

The move to round up the migrants came as Biden made his first trip to the beleaguered border on Sunday — for a brief three-hour visit before heading to Mexico.

President Joe Biden made his first visit to the US border since taking office on Sunday, visiting El Paso and a local shelter before heading on to Mexico for a summit.
AP

In a statement, the federal agency’s El Paso office issued a statement defending the sudden roundup of the migrants.

“CBP, which is responsible for securing the US border between ports of entry, uses a layered approach that includes patrolling the border itself, nearby areas and neighborhoods and conducting checkpoints,” the statement said.

“In response to migrants evading apprehension in the El Paso area, the United States Border Patrol increased the number of agents patrolling the area.”

A record number of immigrants have settled on the streets of El Paso after crossing the US border with Mexico creating a migrant crisis in the Texas border city.
Getty Images

Meanwhile, the union representing border patrol workers issued a scathing statement, declaring it is “beyond frustrated” with Biden’s lack of action to stem the flow of migrants.

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Border Patrol arrests migrants near church in effort to clear up El Paso

US Border Patrol rounded up illegal migrants camped out on streets near a Catholic church in El Paso, Texas on Tuesday, the agency confirmed to The Post.

Federal agents continued checking migrants on the streets of the border town throughout Wednesday and took any who were not authorized asylum seekers into custody.

An eyewitness said: “They were asking people across from the church where many of them are staying for documents. If they produced them, they let them go. If not, they took them in.”

Sources said dozens were arrested by border agents and most likely expelled to Mexico.

As The Post has documented, around 60 migrants slipped over the border in the early hours of Tuesday morning, and others freely admitted to The Post they snuck into the country and had been sleeping on the streets near Sacred Heart Church for days.

Discarded belongings following US Border Patrol’s raid on migrants sleeping on the streets of El Paso.
James Keivom for NY Post
A migrant family’s makeshift home of sheets and blankets, with all their possessions piled up next to it
James Keivom for NY Post

As Border Patrol continued taking migrants into custody Wednesday, church volunteers hurriedly ushered people onto its property and out of the reach from agents, as houses of worship are considered off limits. 

“I need you to take your child, and come with me,” said a volunteer to a group of migrants, adding, “There are more vans coming to take you away.”

A pregnant migrant woman sobbed as she rushed to squeeze into a long, narrow gated area with others who are in the US illegally.

Migrants line the sidewalk outside Sacred Heart church in El Paso, Texas.
James Keivom for NY Post

“There’s no space left inside the church — it’s filled with women and children, so we’re just standing out here and could be deported at anytime. All we can do is run if they try to get us,” a Venezuelan migrant, who only wanted to be identified as Johnny because he is in the US illegally, told The Post.

El Paso has seen an increase in migrant crossings since the last week of December when Title 42 was extended, allowing the US to keep asylum-seekers from certain countries out of the US.

The Post witnessed a number of migrants missing from spots where they had been sleeping near the house of worship Wednesday morning. A Honduran couple with several young children were gone, their few belongings discarded on the sidewalk.

Sacred Heart Catholic Church opened its doors to migrants at the end of December.
James Keivom for NY Post
Migrant tents in the El Paso streets, with their inhabitants wrapped up against the cold
James Keivom for NY Post

Other migrants told The Post “immigration officials” plucked people off the streets at night as they were sleeping Tuesday night.

A statement from Border Patrol said patrolling the neighborhood is part of its regular enforcement strategy.

“In response to migrants evading apprehension, the United States Border Patrol has increased the number of agents patrolling the area,” the agency told The Post.

An alley between the church and its gym has become a place where many have camped out
James Keivom for NY Post

Border Patrol checkpoints have become another focal point, as illegal immigrants are increasingly trying to leave West Texas by riding further into the country aboard commercial buses.

At least 16 commercial buses with 178 immigrants were stopped this weekend alone. Hundreds more have been apprehended at checkpoints in recent days.

The sixth largest city in Texas declared a state of emergency in December after being overwhelmed with migrants, both illegal and legal, who are escaping failing states south of Mexico since August.

Those with nowhere to go hunkered down for another long night on the streets Wednesday, with many unsure if they would still be in the US by morning.



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Texas woman smuggled monkey in ‘beer’ box at Mexican border

A Texas woman has pleaded guilty to some monkey business at the US-Mexico border.

Savannah Nicole Valdez, 20, was accused of smuggling a live spider monkey into the United States inside a beer box, running from border guards and then being busted when she tried to peddle the simian online, officials said.

The Katy, Texas, woman was first spotted trying to pull her scheme on March 21 at the Gateway International Bridge in Brownsville, Texas, when authorities noticed the suspicious box in her car.

She told them she was carrying beer that she bought in Mexico, but the border agents weren’t fooled – noticing holes in the wooden box.

When they opened the enclosure, they discovered the live spider monkey inside and instructed Valdez to pull over.

But the woman refused and sped off, running a traffic light and “nearly colliding with officers and other vehicles,” officials said.

“Later that day, agents found multiple online postings advertising the sale of the spider monkey in the Katy and Houston areas with Valdez’s phone number listed in the advertisements,” the Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement.

Savannah Nicole Valdez, 20, of Texas, tried to smuggle this spider monkey into the US by claiming the box it was in was carrying beer.
ICE
“The monkey was ultimately recovered and placed with an animal shelter in the Central Florida area,” officials said.
ICE

A week later, she tuned herself in and admitted that she had smuggled the primate and fled the scene.

“The monkey was ultimately recovered and placed with an animal shelter in the Central Florida area,” officials said.

Valdez pleaded guilty this month to smuggling wildlife into the US without first declaring and invoicing it, as well as  fleeing an immigration checkpoint.

“Smuggling in endangered species for commercial gain is a tragic crime against nature’s precious resources,” Acting Special Agent in Charge Craig Larrabee said in a statement.

Valdez faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a possible $250,000 maximum fine when she is sentenced Jan. 25.

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Tornadoes in Texas, Oklahoma kill 1, injure dozens, destroy buildings

Tornadoes tore through parts of Texas and Oklahoma on Friday, killing at least one person, injuring two dozens others and leaving dozens of homes and buildings in ruins.

Tornadoes hit hard in McCurtain County, Oklahoma, in the southeastern corner of the state. Cody McDaniel, the county’s emergency manager, confirmed one death although he didn’t immediately provide details.

The small town of Idabel saw a church, medical center and a school torn apart.

“There was total destruction on the south and east sides of Idabel,” Steven Carter, an emergency management coordinator for McCurtain County, told the Texarkana Gazette.

Carter told the paper people were still trapped late Friday.

Gov. Kevin Stitt said search-and-rescue teams and generators were being sent to the Idabel area.

“Praying for Oklahomans impacted by today’s tornadoes,” Stitt tweeted.

Powderly, Texas, was hit hard by a tornado yesterday.
AP

Keli Cain of the Oklahoma Emergency Management Office said at least three other counties were also hit by storms, with flash flooding in some areas.

The National Weather Service said tornadoes also were reported in Texas and Arkansas and a storm system was heading toward Louisiana.

In Texas, authorities in Lamar County said at least 50 homes were damaged or destroyed and 10 people were treated at one hospital, including two with critical injuries. No deaths were immediately reported.

Judge Brandon Bell, the county’s highest elected official, declared a disaster in the area, a step in getting federal assistance and funding. Bell’s declaration said at least two dozen people were injured across the county.

No deaths occurred in Powderly, Texas, although the tornado caused injuries and natural ruins.
AP

One community hit hard was Powderly, about 45 miles west of Idabel and about 120 miles northeast of Dallas. Both Powderly and Idabel are near the Texas-Oklahoma border.

The Lamar County Sheriff’s Office and Emergency Management said the tornado touched down shortly after 4 p.m. and traveled north-northeast through the communities of Hopewell, Caviness, Beaver Creek and Powderly.

Randi Johnson, chief of the Powderly Volunteer Fire Department, told The Paris News newspaper that she wasn’t aware anyone had been killed but knew of injuries.

“It’s going to take a long time to get this cleaned up, but the community came together,” Johnson said. “It’s really heartbreaking to see.”

Churches opened their doors to serve as shelters for those whose homes were impacted.

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Migos manager says rapper Takeoff, 28, was killed by a stray bullet as celebs react

Rapper Takeoff, best known as one-third of the hip-hop group Migos, died Tuesday after he was struck by a stray bullet, his label announced.

The Grammy-nominated hitmaker, whose real name is Kirshnik Khari Ball, died in a shooting after a fight broke out over a dice game at a private party at 810 Billiards & Bowling in downtown Houston.

The “Walk It Talk It” hitmaker’s record label, Quality Control Music, issued a statement on social media on Tuesday night, saying the rapper’s death was a result of “senseless violence and a stray bullet.”

“It is with broken hearts and deep sadness that we confirm the loss of our beloved brother Kirsnick Khari Ball, known to the world as Takeoff,” the statement read.

“Senseless violence and a stray bullet has taken another life from this world and we are devastated.”

Takeoff’s death rocked the music world as celebrities and fans alike paid their respects to the late 28-year-old rapper.

Rapper Desiigner said he is quitting music over the shooting, breaking down during an Instagram Live.

“I’m done, I’m done, I’m done. I can’t live like this no more,” he said through tears before posting on his Instagram story, “I’m done [with] rap.”

Rapper Drake — who collaborated with Migos on the hit track “Walk It Talk It” — paid his respects on Instagram.

“I got the best memories of all of us seeing the world together and bringing light to every city we touch. That’s what I’ll focus on for now 😔 rest easy space man Take 🚀,” Drake wrote alongside a snap of the pair performing live together.

Takeoff was fatally shot at a private party at 810 Billiards & Bowling in downtown Houston at 2:40 a.m. Tuesday.
A gunshot victim reportedly identified as rapper Takeoff is tended to in Houston, Texas.

“This is so sad. Wow! over what?? May God cover everyone who is in pain. These senseless acts have got to end. So so sad,” Khloé Kardashian tweeted.

Actor Jamie Foxx shared an image of Takeoff on Instagram, writing, “Rest in power,” meanwhile, British rapper AJ Tracey tweeted, “not takeoff! RIP.”

Singer Keri Hilson tweeted, “Rest In Peace, @1YoungTakeoff. Healing love to your brothers, family, & friends. #gonetoosoon.”

Takeoff’s manager poured out a heartfelt message on social media about the Atlanta based rapper.
Getty Images

In a follow-up tweet, the “Knock You Down” hitmaker wrote, “These all too frequent tragedies we’re experiencing are the culmination, the natural trajectory of not rejecting/correcting toxic, dangerous, & damaging culture in our community. To the point where it has turned deadly. 💔💔💔 Are we ready to acknowledge it now? How many more?”

Ja Rule, referencing the recent killings of rappers including Pop Smoke and Nipsey Hussle, tweeted, “Rip Takeoff… this s–t has to STOP… sending love to friends and family 🕊🙏🏾.”

City Girls rapper Yung Miami simply tweeted, “Damn takeoff 💔💔💔.”



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White House urged Texas officials not to declare migrant emergency: Sources

The White House pressured the Democratic mayor of El Paso, Texas, to not declare a state of emergency over the city’s migrant crisis due to fear it would make President Biden look bad, The Post has learned.

At least three of the El Paso City Council’s eight mayors have urged Mayor Oscar Leeser to issue an emergency declaration in response to the thousands of migrants who’ve filled the city’s shelters and are being housed in local hotels, sources familiar with the matter said.

But Leeser admitted during a private phone conversation last month that he’d been directed otherwise by the Biden administration, one of the officials told The Post.

“He told me the White House asked him not to,” Councilmember Claudia Rodriguez said.

Councilmember Claudia Rodriguez shared that they were advised by the White House.

Rodriguez also said Leeser has repeatedly assured her that he’d declare a state of emergency “if things got worse” — without saying what that meant.

US Rep. Tony Gonzalez (R-Texas), whose district covers rural areas and border towns near El Paso, also said he heard similar accounts from other city officials.

“It is a sleight of hand what the administration is doing — pressuring the local government to not issue a declaration of emergency, to say as if everything is going OK,” he said.

Gonzalez also alleged that the White House has done “the same thing in other parts of my district,” which have also seen huge numbers of migrants seeking refuge.

Leeser declined to speak with The Post but said in a prepared statement, “I don’t bow to pressure from any side.”

At one point over 2,100 migrants were crossing the border at El Paso.
New York Post

“I make decisions based on current circumstances and in the best interest of the citizens of El Paso,” the statement said.

Leeser also praised the federal government for providing his city with “critical” assistance.

The White House pressured El Paso’s mayor to not declare a state of emergency over the city’s migrant crisis.
New York Post
Congressman Tony Gonzalez shares it was not the first time they’ve received pressure regarding migrants seeking refuge.
Congressman Tony Gonzalez

At a Sept. 27 City Council meeting, Mayor Leeser also addressed the issue, saying Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) had urged him not to declare a State of Emergency, adding: “The White House has asked, at this point, for us not to do that and they’ll continue to work with us and continue to give us … money through [the] Federal Emergency Management Agency.”

Figures posted on El Paso’s official website show the city has received only $2 million in federal reimbursements toward the $8 million it has spent dealing with the migrant crisis.

The total cost could end up being much more, with ElPasomatters.org reporting in September the city was spending as much as $300,000 a day to shelter, feed and transport asylum-seeking immigrants.

At least three of the El Paso City Council’s eight mayors have urged Mayor Oscar Leeser to issue an emergency declaration.
City of El Paso

In May, The Post first reported how officials in El Paso were considering declaring a state of emergency ahead of the expected ending of pandemic-related expulsions of border-crossers under Title 42 of the federal Public Health Services Act.

The move would have made the city and county eligible for state and federal funding to open additional shelters for housing migrants.

But the following day, El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego said that “the mayor and I backed off,” telling The Post that “we found out that there’s very little difference between the funding we’re getting now and the funding that we would get if it went up to the governor and the governor sent it to President Biden.”

At the time, about 700 migrants a day were arriving in El Paso.

But that number topped 2,100 a day last week before dropping down to around 1,600 a day, according to the latest information posted Monday on the city’s website.

Between April and mid-September more than 62,000 migrants had crossed the border at El Paso alone.

El Paso has relocated more than 10,000 migrants by bus to New York City since August, with Lesser revealing at a public meeting last month that he got a green light to do so from Mayor Eric Adams.

The increase of migrants has been an ongoing issue for the El Paso community.
New York Post
El Paso has relocated more than 10,000 migrants by bus to New York City since August.
New York Post
Between April and mid-September more than 62,000 migrants had crossed the border at El Paso alone.
New York Post
The city has received only $2 million in federal reimbursements toward the $8 million it has spent dealing with the migrant crisis.
New York Post

Adams has denied that assertion and publicly called on Leeser to end the program earlier this month, saying “New York cannot accommodate the number of buses that we have coming here to our city.”

The Oct. 7 appeal came the same day Hizzoner declared a state of emergency in the Big Apple over its migrant crisis.

But the buses have continued rolling to the city from El Paso, most recently on Sunday.

Leeser has said that most of the migrants flooding El Paso come from Venezuela.

In recent days, migrants have been able to simply walk across the dried-up Rio Grande, surrender to US Customs and Border Protection officials and get released after saying they intend to seek political asylum.

Last week, the US and Mexican governments announced a deal under which Venezuelans who cross into the US would be sent back to Mexico.

But border sources told The Post that the agreement was only being enforced in a small number of cases.

The White House didn’t immediately return a request for comment.

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