EL PASO, Texas — U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers said they seized thousands of pounds of marijuana valued at over $2 million in a pair of huge drug busts this week at the El Paso port of entry. The first drug load seizure came at Bridge of the Americas where hundreds of “bundles (of
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CALEXICO, California —Newly installed panels from the U.S. border wall fell over in high winds this week, landing on trees on the Mexican side of the border. The area is part of an ongoing construction project to improve existing sections of the wall. Agent Carlos Pitones of the Customs and Border Protection sector in El
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TIJUANA, Mexico — The Perla family of El Salvador has slipped into a daily rhythm in Mexico while they wait for the U.S. to decide whether to grant them asylum. A modest home has replaced the tent they lived in at a migrant shelter. Their 7- and 5-year-old boys are in their second year of
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EL PASO, Texas — The U.S. Centers for Disease Control confirmed to ABC-7 on Wednesday that they will be increasing screenings of international travelers to encompass 20 entry points – including El Paso’s airport and border crossings. The clarification comes after local airport and border officials expressed confusion following the original federal announcement about expanded
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WASHINGTON, DC — President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed into law a major rewrite of the rules of trade with Canada and Mexico that he said replaces the “nightmare” of a Clinton-era agreement and will keep jobs, wealth and growth in America. Trump made renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement a priority during his
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FRONTERA HIDALGO, Mexico — Violent clashes have broken out in Mexico between migrants and military forces after a caravan headed north from Central America met the Mexican National Guard at the same time the U.S. government is looking to strengthen immigration enforcement in Latin America. Mexican National Guard troops were recorded forming a shield wall
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — Rodney Scott, a 27-year veteran of the U.S. Border Patrol, has been tapped as the next leader for the border security agency, a decision that was widely rumored prior to Friday’s announcement. Scott comes to the role after time in the spotlight as chief in San Diego — a region that housed
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MEXICO CITY, Mexico — One day after a vigilante group revealed that it was using children as young as 8 as “recruits” for armed defense patrols, Mexico’s president said Thursday that drug cartels too are recruiting ever-younger kids. The whole issue has sparked a debate in Mexico over the use of children in armed confrontations,
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MEXICO CITY, Mexico — The number of homicides in Mexico rose to 35,588 in 2019, the highest number on record, but the rate of annual increase in murders has slowed, according to government figures. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has acknowledged that crime and violence are the toughest challenges he faces. But on Tuesday, he
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EL PASO, Texas — A motorcyclist from Mexico was killed after crashing into a U.S. Border Patrol vehicle early Monday morning along the Border Highway. Police on Tuesday identified the deceased as 60-year-old Rafael Montes de Oca Reynos of Ciudad Jaurez. He was El Paso’s sixth traffic death of the year. The deadly crash happened
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Eighteen members of Congress descended on a Mexican camp sitting near the US border Friday where hundreds of migrants are waiting to claim asylum. The Democratic lawmakers navigated through tents, makeshift food stalls and clotheslines, interacting with migrants as they went. The tent camp in Matamoros, Mexico, has grown over time as migrants, the majority
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A new species of bone-eating worm has been discovered by scientists during a study in which they dropped alligator carcasses into the Gulf of Mexico to investigate the deep ocean’s ecosystem. The worm, which has yet to be named, is the first of its kind found in the Gulf of Mexico. The species was discovered
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CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — Bridging the gap between migrants and attorneys, a new program called Puentes Libres is using laptops to let lawyers from around the country video chat with clients told to wait in Mexico for their U.S. asylum cases to be processed. Judges themselves have told migrants that asylum cases without an attorney
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EL PASO, Texas – Four young El Paso children described as “missing and endangered” were safely located in Mexico and their mother was arrested on kidnapping charges, Texas authorities said Thursday. Biridiana Saenz, 28, was being held in the El Paso County Jail after being taken into custody across the border in Ciudad Juarez and turned
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WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has asked the Pentagon to fund the construction of 270 miles of border wall this year as part of a counter-drug effort, defense officials said Thursday. The officials said the request came in Wednesday, and the Pentagon is beginning what will be a two-week assessment to
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EL PASO, Texas — Black Hawk helicopters are starting flights over a stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border including New Mexico and Texas for border enforcement and search and rescue operations, federal border agency officials said. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations confirmed the U.S. Army transferred three Black Hawk helicopters to
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — Senators of both parties came together Thursday morning to pass President Donald Trump’s foremost legislative priority — the revised North American Free Trade Agreement — with his historic impeachment trial about to formally begin. Among other changes from the Bill Clinton-era trade agreement known as NAFTA, the USMCA includes new provisions for
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EL PASO, Texas — A memorial service was held Wednesday for Bulder, the 5-year-old Belgian Malinois U.S. Border Patrol canine, who was killed during a shootout in northeast El Paso in December. Bulder was with agents while they were attempting to execute a search and arrest warrant to a 62-year-old man who was charged with illegal possession
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MEXICO CITY, Mexico — Travelers on the Mexico City subway system often blame authorities for broken-down escalators at subway stops, but Metro officials have another explanation: vast amounts of pee. Somehow, urine is penetrating and corroding the drive wheels and mechanisms of the escalators that carry riders up from underground stations. In a list published
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CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — Two people were gunned down over the weekend at a Juarez bar. On Tuesday, it was disclosed that one of the victims was a U.S. citizen living in El Paso. The deadly shootings happened at the San Martin Cantina on Saturday night. El Pasoan Mario Torres was among the two killed,
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WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. House Judiciary Committee plans to investigate the Department of Homeland Security’s migrant protection protocols (MPP), which has been dubbed the Trump Administration’s “Remain in Mexico” policy. That’s according to reports Tuesday afternoon from The Hill and the New York Times. Those protocols are forcing some asylum-seekers from Central America to
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — The Trump administration is considering diverting around $7.2 billion in additional Pentagon funding for border wall construction, five times what Congress authorized, sources told CNN and the Washington Post. The additional funds would allow the government enough money to complete approximately 885 miles of new fencing by the spring of 2022, according
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MEXICO CITY, Mexico — Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador has made selling off the luxurious presidential jet a centerpiece of his austerity program, but there’s just one problem: Nobody, it seems, wants to buy the white elephant. López Obrador said Tuesday the Boeing Dreamliner will be returned to Mexico after a year on sale
Continue Reading MEXICO CITY, Mexico — An 11-year-old boy who killed his teacher and himself and wounded six others in a northern Mexico school shooting used his grandfather’s guns in the attack, officials said Monday. Coahuila state Attorney General Gerardo Márquez Guevara told reporters that authorities would finish their preliminary investigation before deciding if the grandfather will
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CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obador visited Juarez on Friday, holding a press conference at a military garrison, discussing how security is an ongoing problem in the state of Chihuahua after Juarez had its fourth deadliest year in history. Crime data shows femicide – the systemic killings of women because of
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YUMA, Arizona — Trump administration officials on Friday touted the 100th mile (161st kilometer) of border wall to be built since the president took office as crossings have continued to drop. Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf responded to critics who say the new construction is only replacing old fencing. The new, 30-foot (9
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AUSTIN, Texas — Texas will no longer accept the resettlement of new refugees, becoming the first state known to do so under a recent Trump administration order, Gov. Greg Abbott said Friday. Abbott’s announcement could have major implications for refugees coming to the United States. Texas has large refugee populations in several of its cities
Continue Reading Two fathers who were separated from their children at the border are suing the US government for $12 million, saying their children were abused at foster homes in the US. The lawsuit filed Friday in the US District Court of Arizona argues that the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy was “cruel and unconstitutional,” that it
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EL PASO, Teasx — The number of people arrested or stopped entering the United States on the Mexico border fell for a seventh straight month in December, with Mexicans outpacing Central Americans among the detainees, authorities said Thursday. The tally helps explain why the U.S. has turned more attention to Mexican asylum-seekers as President Donald
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GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala (AP) — Outgoing Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales said Wednesday his government has not agreed to receive Mexicans who had sought asylum in the United States. Morales, whose presidency ends next week, said he had told U.S. officials the issue would have to be negotiated with his successor. “It’s more than clear; in
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