CBS News
Patrolling the border with a Texas state trooper
As border security emerges as a central issue in the 2024 presidential campaign, a stretch along the banks of the Rio Grande in Texas has become the epicenter of conflict between the state and the federal government.
For the last three years, the centerpiece of Texas’ border security efforts has been Operation Lone Star, Gov. Greg Abbott’s controversial initiative that aims to deter the record numbers of illegal border crossings. Operation Lone Star has deployed thousands of state police and National Guard soldiers to the border.
So far, Gov. Abbott has committed more than $11 billion to Operation Lone Star. In an interview with 60 Minutes, Abbott argued that the investment has been worth it — and that he is not trying to deviate from federal immigration laws.
“Texas is not trying to impose its own law,” Abbott said. “We’re simply trying to enforce the law that says that you cannot cross the border illegally, and if you do, you must be detained.”
On a recent trip to the border, 60 Minutes correspondent Cecilia Vega went on a ride-along with Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Jaclyn Gooding, who said most of her work is now border-related.
60 Minutes
“Operation Lone Star has changed our role tremendously,” Gooding said. “We went from normal highway patrol things, like stopping cars for traffic infraction, working crashes, looking for driving while intoxicated drivers. And now, we still cover all those things, but we’re also enforcing different laws that have to do with human smuggling more so than we’ve ever seen in the past.”
Gooding acknowledged that stopping illegal immigration and the smugglers who profit from it is the job of the U.S. Border Patrol. But as a state trooper, she said she sees her job as serving Texas.
“I think that it’s just all entangled together at this point in time,” she said.
Gooding told Vega that state troopers stationed along the border are often far from their homes and working long hours. Extended shifts — including seven straight days and 12 to 15 hours a day — are not uncommon.
“It is very overwhelming,” Gooding said. “It feels in a lot of ways … like there’s no light at the end of the tunnel right now.”
The video above was produced by Brit McCandless Farmer and edited by Sarah Shafer Prediger.
NEW YORK — Former New York Gov. David Paterson and his stepson were attacked in New York City on Friday night, authorities said.
The incident occurred just before 9 p.m. on Second Avenue near East 96th Street on the Upper East Side, according to the New York City Police Department.
Police said officers were sent to the scene after an assault was reported. When officers arrived, police say they found a 20-year-old man suffering from facial injuries and a 70-year-old man who had head pain. Both victims were taken to a local hospital in stable condition.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the former governor said the two were attacked while “taking a walk around the block near their home by some individuals that had a previous interaction with his stepson.”
The spokesperson said that they were injured “but were able to fight off their attackers.”
Both were taken to Cornell Hospital “as a precaution,” he added.
Police said no arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
The 70-year-old Paterson, a Democrat, served as governor from 2008 to 2010, stepping into the post after the resignation of Eliot Spitzer following his prostitution scandal. He made history at the time as the state’s first-ever Black and legally blind governor.
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A 17-year-old boy was critically injured and a person is in custody after a gunman opened fire on a SEPTA bus in North Philadelphia Friday evening, police said.
At around 6:15 p.m., Philadelphia police were notified about a shooting on a SEPTA bus traveling on Allegheny Avenue near 3rd and 4th streets in North Philadelphia, Inspector D F Pace told CBS News Philadelphia.
There were an estimated 30 people on the bus at the time of the shooting, Pace said, but only the 17-year-old boy was believed to have been shot. Investigators said they believe it was a targeted attack on the teenager and that he was shot in the back of the bus at close range.
According to Pace, the SEPTA bus driver alerted a control center about the shooting, which then relayed the message to Philadelphia police, who responded to the scene shortly.
Officers arrived at the scene and found at least one spent shell casing and blood on the bus, but no shooting victim, Pace said. Investigators later discovered the 17-year-old had been taken to Temple University Hospital where he is said to be in critical condition, according to police.
CBS Philadelphia
Through their preliminary investigation, police learned those involved in the SEPTA shooting may have fled in a silver-colored Kia.
Authorities then found a car matching the description of the Kia speeding in the area and a pursuit began, Pace said. Police got help from a PPD helicopter as they followed the Kia, which ended up crashing at 5th and Greenwood streets in East Mount Airy. Pace said the Kia crashed into a parked car.
The driver of the crashed car ran away but police were still able to take them into custody, Pace said.
Investigators believe there was a second person involved in the shooting who ran from the car before it crashed. Police said they believe this person escaped near Allegheny Avenue and 4th Street, leaving a coat behind.
According to Pace, police also found a gun and a group of spent shell casings believed to be involved in the shooting in the same area.
“It’s very possible that there may have been a shooting inside the bus and also shots fired from outside of the bus toward the bus,” Pace said, “We’re still trying to piece all that together at this time.”
This is an active investigation and police are reviewing surveillance footage from the SEPTA bus.