WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday returned and took up another of President Donald Trump’s immigration-related policies as it considers the attempt to exclude undocumented immigrants from being counted in the Census totals when seats in Congress are divvied up between the states next year. It’s the second time in two terms
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After a day picking cranberries at a California farm, Josefino Cervantes Alvarado sat down for dinner to a unique mix of voices and music filling the room. “Greetings to everybody tuning in to Radio Indígena 94.1 FM,” said a voice coming from the radio’s speakers in Spanish. Moments later, he heard another voice speaking in
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SAN SALVADOR, El Savador — The Central American countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras have rounded up hundreds of suspected street gang members as part of a U.S.-backed effort known as “Operation Regional Shield.” The attorney general’s office in El Salvador has taken the lead, reporting that it obtained arrest warrants for 1,152 suspects,
Continue Reading When President-elect Joe Biden comes into office, he will inherit the Trump administration’s restrictionist immigration agenda, which cut access to asylum and has kept migrants in limbo in Mexico while they await humanitarian protection in the US. Biden has promised swift change, but it won’t be simple. “They’re realizing that they have two months to
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EL PASO, Texas — Efforts currently underway by the Trump administration to erect a new border barrier in El Paso are putting the city’s water supply and flood protection at risk, according to local water district officials. In a statement issued Friday, El Paso County Water Improvement District No. 1 takes issue with U.S. Customs
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MEXICO CITY, Mexico — Mexico’s anti-monopoly commission said this week it has begun a formal investigation into possible monopolistic practices in wholesale and retail goods distribution and sales, a probe that appears to involve Wal-Mart’s Mexican subsidiary. While the Federal Economic Competition Commission did not identify its target, Wal-Mart de Mexico told investors earlier this
Continue Reading CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — Mexico reported a record daily increase in the number of coronavirus cases Friday, with 12,081 more infections reported. Ciudad Juarez reported 167 of those new cases along with 65 additional deaths related to the virus, to take the city’s death toll over 2,000. The total number of cases reported to date
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HELENA, Montana — Two women, one a native El Pasoan, who were detained in northern Montana by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents for speaking Spanish while shopping at a convenience store have reached an undisclosed monetary settlement in their lawsuit against the agency, the ACLU of Montana has announced. Ana Suda, who was born
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McALLEN, Texas — The U.S. Border Patrol is temporarily closing a converted warehouse used to detain immigrants in South Texas for renovation. The McAllen facility garnered international attention when images emerged of children separated from their parents detained in chain-link cages inside. The agency said in a statement Wednesday that the facility, known as the
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CLINT, Texas – Border Patrol agents with the Clint station arrested two people and seized marijuana with a street value of more than $70,000, officials said Tuesday. Agents found muddy footprints coming out of an irrigation canal just north of the international border late last week. The agents followed two sets of footprints for about
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MEXICO CITY, Mexico — Mexico’s Roman Catholic Church announced the cancellation Monday of what’s considered the world’s largest Catholic pilgrimage, for the Virgin of Guadalupe, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Mexico’s Episcopal Conference said in a statement that the basilica will be closed from December 10-13. The Virgin is celebrated on Dec. 12 and for
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MEXICO CITY, Mexico — Mexico’s Roman Catholic Church has criticized a vote in the Senate to legalize the possession, cultivation and use of small amounts of marijuana. The bill adopted last week must still go to the lower house of Congress for a vote. It would legalize the possession of up to an ounce (28 grams)
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SAN DIEGO, California — U.S. border authorities stopped people entering the country illegally from Mexico more than 69,000 times in October, the sixth straight monthly increase and the highest level since July 2019. Mark Morgan, acting U.S. Customs and Border Protection commissioner, said deteriorating economic conditions were driving more people to come to the United
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EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — More than 1,500 pounds of methamphetamine have been seized in the El Paso region this year. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has led a massive crackdown on the illegal trade of the drug, including here in El Paso. The pandemic has presented new challenges for cartels. “The drug traffickers have
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MEXICO CITY, Mexico — A top health official says Mexico has passed the 100,000 mark in Covid-19 deaths, becoming only the fourth country – behind the United States, Brazil and India – to do so. José Luis Alomía Zegarra, Mexico’s director of epidemiology, announced Thursday evening that Mexico had 100,104 confirmed deaths. That death toll
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EL PASO, Texas — U.S.-Mexico border restrictions are set to be extended until late December, the news agency Reuters reported on Wednesday evening citing officials with both governments. That means the border will remain closed to non-essential travel until Dec. 21 at 11:59 p.m. at the earliest amid a coronavirus surge in each country. Mexico’s
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from turning back unaccompanied migrant children at the U.S.-Mexico border under a public health order implemented in March, a major blow to the administration, which has relied on the order to swiftly expel migrants during the coronavirus pandemic. Earlier this year, as coronavirus swept
Continue Reading NEW YORK, NY — A federal judge in New York who ruled over the weekend that the new DACA rules were invalid tore into the Trump administration for its handling of the program in a hearing Wednesday, calling the latest government actions a “sad and inappropriate use of executive authority.” “I just want you to
Continue Reading NEW YORK, NY — A U.S. judge has granted the Department of Justice’s request to drop the drug trafficking and money laundering case against former Mexican Defense Secretary Salvador Cienfuegos and return him to Mexico. The action came after Mexico acknowledged making veiled threats to cut off cooperation unless the general was sent home. Acting
Continue Reading MEXICO CITY, Mexico — The U.S. Justice Department is dropping its drug trafficking and money laundering case against former Mexican Defense Secretary Salvador Cienfuegos, Attorney General William Barr said Tuesday. Barr said the department would drop its case so Cienfuegos “may be investigated and, if appropriate, charged, under Mexican law.” Cienfuegos, who was charged in
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EL PASO, Texas – U.S. Border Patrol agents working with Homeland Security investigators said they disrupted a human smuggling attempt and discovered 24 undocumented immigrants being held at a couple of motels near the El Paso International Airport. A U.S. citizen was taken into custody in connection with the stash house discoveries made last week,
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CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — Authorities in Ciudad Juarez said they have arrested two drug gang members in connection with the Oct. 29 murder of a local television anchor. But the governor of Chihuahua state said the killing was not related to the victim’s work as a journalist. Gov. Javier Corral said the suspects were members
Continue Reading CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — Mexico has registered more than 1 million total coronavirus cases and nearly 100,000 test-confirmed deaths, though officials agree the number is probably much higher. How did Mexico get here? By marching resolutely, even defiantly, against many internationally accepted practices in pandemic management, from face mask wearing, to lockdowns, testing and contact
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — Chad Wolf was not legally serving as acting U.S. Homeland Security secretary when he signed rules limiting DACA applications and renewals, and those rules are now invalid, a federal judge ruled Saturday. Wolf in July issued a memo saying that new applications for DACA, the Obama-era program that shields certain undocumented immigrants
Continue Reading CUAUHTEMOC, Mexico — Taking breaths every few words, a nurse struggled to record a video for his family hours before he died of Covid-19. Sergio Humberto Padilla Hernandez prepared his final farewell to his family, while holding onto hope that he could still recover. “I will recover, God willing. We will move forward,” he said
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EL PASO, Texas — It has been two months since former navy veteran Frank De La Cruz was allowed to come home to El Paso after being deported and spending about 20 years in Juárez due to several drunk driving violations. It has been a whirlwind eight weeks for De La Cruz as he works
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SANTA TERESA, New Mexico — The U.S. Border Patrol said 41 migrants were apprehended after getting off a bus on the Mexican side and then crossing into southern New Mexico while other people threw objects at agents to divert their attention. The crossing attempt occurred Monday near the Santa Teresa Port of Entry, the Border Patrol said Wednesday
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — For nearly four years, the Trump administration gradually, and swiftly, choked off immigration to the United States, making it exceedingly difficult for people to come to the country to study, work, and seek refuge. But on Saturday, after unrelenting attacks, thousands of immigrants breathed a sigh of relief after Joe Biden was
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CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — A record surge in Covid-19 cases has pushed Ciudad Juárez General Hospital to the brink, officials said Wednesday as they announced stricter measures aimed at stemming the virus infection spike. The General Hospital has reached 100% capacity and there is now a wait list of two weeks, government leaders said. The
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EL PASO, Texas – A 17-year-old was arrested after he allegedly hid more than 2 pounds of methamphetamine in his shoes and groin area and tried to smuggle it across the border. Customs and Border Protection officers arrested the teenager, identified only as a U.S. citizen, shortly after 4 p.m. Sunday at the Ysleta Port
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