CLAREMONT, California — A California church is displaying a nativity scene depicting Jesus, Mary and Joseph as refugees in cages to draw attention to the conditions faced by migrants seeking asylum in the United States. The Claremont United Methodist Church, about 30 miles east of Los Angeles, posted the photo on its website showing the
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EL PASO, Texas — U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it caught a woman trying to smuggle a half-pound of methamphetamine into the country from Mexico by hiding the drugs in her “vaginal cavity.” The unusual discovery was made by CBP agents on duty Thursday at the Paso Del Norte pedestrian border crossing in El
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EL PASO, Texas – Sister Cities International has selected El Paso and Ciudad Juárez as the host cities for the All Mexico – U.S. Sister Cities Summit. This will be the fourth in this series of bi-national summits, designed to strengthen Sister City relationships in key countries. The Summit, to take place on Feb. 26
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WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced Thursday it no longer plans to move forward with a facial recognition program that would conduct a mandatory scan of all U.S. citizens arriving or departing the country at airports and ports of entry, reversing course on a Trump administration plan. (Editor’s note: As ABC-7 reported
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HOUSTON, Texas — A Texas judge has temporarily halted the construction of a private wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, delivering a blow to the group that has ardently supported the President Donald Trump’s push for additional border barriers. “We Build the Wall,” a group founded by an Air Force veteran, kicked off new construction on
Continue Reading SUNLAND PARK, New Mexico — A company touted by White House officials — and that’s already building sections of border wall for a private group in Sunland Park with Trump administration ties — has been awarded $400 million by the government to design and build part of President Donald Trump’s border barrier in Yuma County,
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EL PASO, Texas — It was one year ago this month the immigration surge was in the early stages. Immigration enforcement agents had been working hand in hand with Annunciation House in El Paso to find shelter for immigrants waiting on their asylum claim. But on Christmas 2018, agents mistakenly dropped off a large group of immigrants,
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MEXICO CITY, Mexico — More suspects have been arrested in connection with the massacre of a Mormon family in northern Mexico last month, the Mexican Attorney General’s Office said in a news release. A person suspected of participating in the killings who was arrested in November led to “fundamental information and evidence” in the case,
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EL PASO, Texas — U.S. Army officials on Wednesday confirmed that an El Paso father accused of violently attacking and seriously injuring his two young boys and then running naked outside his home after getting high on LSD, is an active duty soldier at Fort Bliss. That word came one day after police said 26-year-old
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WASHINGTON, DC — President Donald Trump said Mexican cartels will “absolutely” be designated as foreign terrorist organizations, a move which could lead to tougher financial penalties and legal ramifications in the US against those involved. Trump was asked by conservative radio host Bill O’Reilly whether he’d “designate those cartels in Mexico as terror groups and
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SANTA TERESA, New Mexico — A motorcyclist from Mexico died after being struck by an SUV in Santa Teresa on Tuesday morning. The New Mexico State Police on Wednesday identified the victim as Francisco Zavala, 24, of Juarez The deadly crash happened where the Pete V. Domenici Highway intersects with McNutt Road just after 7
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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Migrant families have sent approximately 135 children across the US-Mexico border alone after waiting in squalid and unsafe conditions in Mexico as a result of a Trump administration policy. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services told CNN it has identified approximately 135 children in their custody who previously arrived at
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EL PASO, Texas — It’s a calm fall afternoon for Border Patrol agent Carlos Antunez. He’s driving near the border in El Paso’s Lower Valley. He’s back doing what he signed up for — patrolling. ABC-7 spent the afternoon with him during his shift. “It’s been a very difficult year for agents in the El
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CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — ABC-7 has learned of a large campsite in Juarez made up of hundreds of migrants, displaced from their homes and fleeing violence in their homes states. That group of people is camped out on the Juarez side of Chamizal Park. “They are displaced,” said Jocelyn Quiñonez, who is with a group
Continue Reading EL PASO, Texas — The federal government has introduced biometric facial technology in El Paso to “further secure” the Paso Del Norte, Ysleta and Bridge of the Americas ports of entry. When arriving at the pedestrian port of entry, travelers will now be asked to take a photo, according to a U.S. Customs and Border
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EL PASO, Texas — More than 150 pounds of contraband Mexican bologna was seized at the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso earlier this week. A man was driving through the Bridge of Americas crossing and told U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents that he was carrying frozen rolls of turkey ham. But officials said when
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EL PASO, Texas — An El Paso man accused of smuggling undocumented immigrants into the U.S. will remain behind bars as the case against him proceeds. A federal judge has ordered David Meza held without bond on charges of conspiracy to harbor, shield or conceal “unauthorized aliens” — essentially smuggling people illegally into the country.
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By ABC-7’s Darren Hunt EL PASO, Texas – It’s almost like a science fiction movie! This summer the Department of Homeland Security is going high-tech. It plans to roll out iris and facial recognition technology to the U.S. Border Patrol to help keep the border safe. The new service will be able to share images
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EL PASO, Texas — Chad Wolf, now the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, is making his first visit to the Borderland region with a three-day tour this week of Texas. In addition to El Paso, Wolf’s trip is also taking him to McAllen and Austin. He’s participating in an operational tour of
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TORNILLO, Texas — A car being chased by Texas Department of Public Safety troopers spun out of control and crashed along Interstate 10 near Tornillo on Wednesday evening, and authorities said the driver fled on foot toward the U.S.-Mexico border. The reason was not immediately known for the pursuit, which ended on I-10 westbound at
Continue Reading The Department of Homeland Security violated the First Amendment when it allegedly tracked and interrogated five journalists between 2018 and 2019, the American Civil Liberties Union said in a lawsuit filed Wednesday. The lawsuit includes accounts by five freelance photojournalists, all of whom are US citizens and were stopped by Customs and Border Protection, an
Continue Reading SAN DIEGO, California — A 16-year-old who allegedly used a remote-controlled car to attempt to smuggle methamphetamine across the U.S.-Mexico border has been arrested by U.S. Border Patrol agents, the agency announced. The teenager, a U.S. citizen, was arrested Sunday after agents spotted him carrying two large duffel bags and ducking in-and-out of an agent’s
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EL PASO, Texas — Authorities executed a search warrant at a house in east El Paso in connection with an “alien smuggling” investigation, according to a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It happened Tuesday just after 6 a.m. in the 11900 block of Royal Woods Drive. ICE spokeswoman Leticia Zamarripa told ABC-7 that several
Continue Reading A group of physicians has volunteered to vaccinate migrants against the flu for free, but US Customs and Border Protection is all but certain to say no to the offer. “We haven’t responded, but it’s not likely to happen,” a CBP official told CNN. “As a law enforcement agency, and due to the short term
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EL PASO, Texas — It has been two years since the death of Rogelio Martinez, a Border patrol agent from El Paso. To this day, his cause of death remains a mystery. The case made news around the world, but the investigation remains open. Right before he died, Martinez was patrolling in a remote and
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EL PASO, Texas — They’re lighting up our sky and captured the attention of many: Six giant spotlights lining the U.S.-Mexico border, straddling the Rio Grande. Three in El Paso, three in Ciudad Juarez. But what exactly are they? The Border Tuner is an art installation meant to shine a light on how the El
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CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — Data collected by U.S. outlets seems to support a claim made earlier this week by the mayor of Juarez that American guns are responsible for many of the killings taking place in Mexico. In fact, according to the U.S. government’s own records, the bulk of the American guns ending up in
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CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — Juarez Mayor Héctor Armando Cabada Alvídrez said Wednesday that the majority of the recent violence in Juarez is being caused by people using firearms illegally brought into Juarez. And he noted that those firearms are coming from the United States. “The majority of the firearms that are used in Mexico, not
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WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court appeared to struggle Tuesday with the Trump administration’s efforts to terminate the Obama-era program shielding hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children from deportation. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh — whose votes will be key — seemed poised at
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LA MORA, Mexico — A 13-year-old boy hailed as a hero in the wake of last week’s deadly ambush in Mexico is speaking out for the first time about the horrors he witnessed that day. Devin Langford said the last thing his mother said to him before she was fatally shot was “get down right now.” “She was
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