AUSTIN, Tex. — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing Facebook owner, Meta.

Paxton alleges that Meta illegally collected users’ biometric data, including facial recognition technology, without their consent.

The lawsuit goes on to accuse Meta of sending the information to others for profit.

According to the suit, Facebook violated a Texas law that requires people to get permission before capturing a person’s biometric information.

The suit also alleges that Facebook failed to destroy the data in a reasonable amount of time, which violates state law.

The Attorney General’s Office says Facebook violated state law billions of times.

Meta is also accused of violating Texas’ Deceptive Trade Practices Act because it reportedly misled users.

There is a $25,000 penalty for each unlawful capturing of a biometric identifier.

The lawsuit asks for an additional $10,000 civil penalty for each violation.

Paxton estimates that the penalties could add up to billions of dollars.

This lawsuit out of Texas is similar to another suit out of Illinois in 2021, where Facebook was accused of using its Tag Suggestions tool to store users’ biometric data without their consent.

The suit ended with a class action privacy settlement.

Facebook was ordered to pay $650 million.

Meta has not commented on the recent lawsuit in Texas.

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico — Since the passage of Senate Bill 8, which prohibits abortion once a heartbeat is detected, many Texans who need abortions have left home for care. It's lead to a surge in patients at clinics in surrounding states

Planned Parenthood of South Texas would normally be filled with patients receiving different types of care for abortion. Jeffrey Hons, the president and CEO, says they had no choice but to shut down those procedures.

“It’s eerily quiet here now and that’s been the case here for the month of September," Hons said. “And then when the Supreme Court turned its back on not only the women of Texas, but the legal framework of the United States of America, then things went eerily quiet here when people realized finding abortion in Texas had essentially become nearly impossible and the flurry of activity has now moved across state lines where people are desperately trying to find the care very very far away that they should be able to find right here.”

Hons says it feels wrong for them to not be offering the services their patients desperately need.

“And for those people finding abortion care that is legal, safe and offered without judgement and without stigma, it’s essential. It’s a human dignity, it’s a human right. And so, it is very painful right now, to be experiencing the emotion and physic toll that Senate Bill 8 is creating for staff who want to help people but can’t," Hons said.

This reality has put some people in a tough spot; their options are slim.

“There is so much to be worried about right now. I mean when you talk to abortion providers in neighboring states, whether that be Louisiana, New Mexico Oklahoma, they are seeing an uptick in the number of patients who are reporting Texas zip codes as their home address," Hons said.

The New Mexico Religious Coalition for Reproduction Choice is seeing that firsthand.

Brittany Defeao, the program manager, shows us some context. She says In September 2019, they performed 20 abortions, in September of 2020 that number dropped to 15, and this year, it’s up to 50 people, 80% of whom are Texans.

“We were not really seeing new Mexico patients, it’s a very small amount of what we serve. We do anyone. Anywhere you come from, we will support you. Clearly Texas is the majority, it always has been, now it’s overwhelming, it is all Texas people," Defeao said.

To look at it another way, in 2020 they provided abortions to 216 people and they have already surpassed that this year with three months to go.

“It’s not how it used to be. It’s like they scatter in, they are just showing up. A lot of them are flying in in the morning. I’m getting them at the airport, taking them straight to an appointment, picking them up, getting food, they are flying back," Defeao said.

She says their phones have not stopped ringing; people are terrified to submit an application while still in Texas and are unsure of the boundaries around Senate Bill 8.

“So, we have the people who are afraid to travel, the people who are afraid to travel in a pandemic, and the people who are afraid that they are going to go to jail if they come out here to access care," Defeao said.

On top of all of that, their resources are slim.

“So, what we’re seeing is really low income, marginalized communities, the people that need the help the most," Defeao said. “These are people that have nothing, that don’t have access to birth control, to health care, to food, to safety.”

That’s why this clinic in New Mexico is making sure the people of Texas are reminded that they do have options.

“Just like confirming that community and trying to break that shame and stigma that’s even heavier because of this law," Defeao said.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — As he ended Texas’ coronavirus restrictions Wednesday over the objections of public health officials, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has tried shifting concern about the virus’ spread to migrants with COVID-19 crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, though without evidence they are a significant factor.

The focus by Abbott and other Republicans on migrant families has drawn criticism about invoking a long history in the U.S. of wrongly suggesting migrants spread diseases.

Twin pressures are bearing down on the Texas border as, beginning Wednesday, state residents no longer are required to wear face coverings after eight months under a mask mandate. Infection levels remain higher in the region than in most others, and rising numbers of immigrants are now overwhelming federal detention facilities.

Arriving migrants who test positive are being directed to local hotels for isolation, as Abbott and Democratic President Joe Biden fight over who is responsible for helping them.

Doctors on the border fear Abbott repealed coronavirus safeguards too soon and threatens a fragile decline in COVID-19 cases. The surge of immigration to the border is also worrying, they say, but far from the biggest factor in containing the virus’ spread.

“It’s not trivial,” said Dr. James Castillo, the public health authority for Cameron County in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, the busiest corridor for migrant apprehensions along the U.S.-Mexico border.

“Is it the biggest source of infection to our whole community?” he said, referring to migrants arriving with the virus. “No, it’s maybe one source, and there’s a lot of different sources. And it’s a shame that we’re going to create new sources by dropping the restrictions.”

Abbott, under pressure from conservatives to end COVID restrictions, announced last week that Texas would fully reopen, allowing full capacity in restaurants and bars and large gatherings that had been considered dangerous. Biden criticized the decision as “Neanderthal thinking,” and Abbott shot back by alleging Biden was “releasing COVID-positive illegal immigrants in our state” by easing some of former President Donald Trump’s toughest border policies.

Abbott has rejected offers from the Biden administration for help with testing and quarantining migrants, saying that job belongs entirely to the federal government.

“The federal government has the responsibility to fund the testing of anybody coming here who does have COVID,” Abbott said during a trip to the border Tuesday.

The Department of Homeland Security said it would fully fund testing, isolation, and quarantine of migrants, but that Abbott needed to sign off.

DALLAS — The U.S. government will use the downtown Dallas convention center to hold up to 3,000 immigrant teenagers as sharply higher numbers of border crossings have severely strained the current capacity to hold youths.

During a White House briefing Monday, Press Secretary Jen Psaki acknowledged the administration is facing a "big problem" on the US-Mexico border. More than 4,000 unaccompanied minors are in Border Patrol custody.

Once in Border Patrol custody, they are supposed to be turned over to Health and Human Services, however because of coronavirus pandemic safety measures, capacity at HHS facilities have been limited.

“We recognize this is a big problem. The last administration left us a dismantled and unworkable system, and like any other problem, we're going to do everything we can to solve it," Psaki told reporters Monday.

The Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas will be used for up to 90 days beginning as early as this week.

That's according to written notification sent to members of the Dallas City Council and provided to The Associated Press. The memo says federal agencies will use the facility to house boys ages 15 to 17.

The memo describes the soon-to-open site as a “decompression center.”

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo has been plagued with spontaneous violence carried out using illegal weapons.

Buffalo Police said shootings with injuries up 71% from 2020, and felony gun arrests are up almost 50% compared to last year.

"We have people shooting now that never shot before. We have people carrying guns now that never carried guns before," Pastor James Giles, president, and CEO of Back to Basics Outreach Ministries, said, "Out of 22 people, I have 19 of them raising their hands, saying I can go get a gun. We're talking about 14 to 19 years old. That's a dangerous sign."

Pastor Kenneth Simmons, old Spring Bible Church and Mad Dads of Buffalo, said these guns are being brought in from states like Ohio and West Virginia.

"They're not buying them from Dick's Sporting Goods. They're not stealing them from their grandmother. They're not breaking into people's houses stealing them. There are straw buyers, and there are laws that protect gun manufacturers. That's why we see so many guns in the street. That's why we see so many shootings because they're accessible," Pastor Simmons said.

Pastor Simmons said kids and teens get guns for protection.

"There's a lot of kids on the Eastside, west side, south side, north side of buffalo that are just out there fending for themselves. They're angry. They didn't ask to be put here. They didn't ask to be the child of an unwed mother. They didn't ask to grow up in an area that suffers from poverty," Pastor Simmons said.

It's the same level of protection members of Mad Dads of Buffalo wanted when they were teens back in the 1990s. The early 1990s were Buffalo's most violent years, and the City is tracking to top those years now.

John Smith spent almost 28 years in prison for a crime committed in the 90s. He said he started carrying a weapon back then because he felt he had no one to protect him.

"When I went from foster home to foster home, who was going to protect me then? When we were to the point, we were damn near drinking our own urine because we had nothing to drink; who protected you then? Where was the protection when you came out here, and the street lights were coming on, and people were going in the house, but you weren't?" Smith said.

Smith said kids carrying weapons now are just as broken as he was as a teen.

"When you say broken, it's beyond broken. You got a 12-year-old dude saying he wants to be alive," Smith said.

Decades later, some men responsible for record levels of violence in the 1990s have been released from prison and now are doing everything they can to prevent teens from going down the same path.

"It's why I relate. I was that kid," Gabriel Williams, a member of Mad Dads of Buffalo, said.

Lamarr Scott was let out of prison in May after serving more than 20 years. He said the flow of guns into the Queen City would never stop, so he's working to stop teens from pulling the trigger.

"By letting them know their lives are worth living and other individuals' lives are worth saving," Scott said.

"We're the last line of defense. When it comes down to saving these kids. If people can't see that, then I don't know what you're looking at," Smith said.

Mad Dads (Men Against Destruction Defending Against Drugs and Social Disorder) was founded in the 1990s by Dwayne Ferguson.

Olivia Proia with WKBW first reported this story.