UPDATE, June 4: U.S. Border Patrol officials now say a man who died after refusing to stop at the Sierra Blanca checkpoint earlier this week took his own life. In a statement issued Friday, the Border Patrol identified the man as a 19-year-old U.S. citizen and said he shot himself after crashing his car into
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SANTA MARIA ZACATEPEC, Mexico — A huge sinkhole some 60 meters in diameter has appeared in farmers’ fields in central Mexico, threatening to swallow a nearby house. The sinkhole is situated in Santa María Zacatepec, Puebla state, and is around 20 meters deep, said state governor Miguel Barbosa Huerta at a press conference. Barbosa said the family that
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CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — A French news agency reported Thursday that it had obtained cellphone video of a 5-year-old boy being abandoned along the U.S.-Mexico border in Juarez as the child screams and begs “don’t leave.” According to Agence France-Presse, the video – which was aired on Fox News Channel – showed a couple helping the
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EL PASO, Texas — Texas counties on the U.S.-Mexico border that once dealt with the brunt of the load of Covid-19 are now outpacing the state vaccination rate. El Paso to date has a vaccination rate of 55.71% when dealing with those ages 12 and over, while the state is lagging behind at a vaccination
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FORT BLISS, Texas — A group of disgruntled employees working at the Fort Bliss shelter for migrant children, gave ABC-7 some insight Wednesday regarding what they said are unsanitary conditions inside the shelter. Among the issues: Lice, scabies and accusations that unaccompanied migrant children inside the facility were forced to eat raw chicken. Those claims
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(Editor’s note: This story was produced as part of the Puente News Collaborative, a bi-national partnership of news organizations in Ciudad Juárez and El Paso.) By Angela Kocherga, El Paso Matters CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico – The figures in pale camouflage uniforms are visible in key spots along this border, from the fence jutting high above the desert
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MEXICO CITY, Mexico — Mexico sent in 250 National Guard troops and 60 police officers to seize land next to the pre-Hispanic ruins of Teotihuacán where authorities have said bulldozers were destroying outlying parts of the archeological site. Mexican archaeological officials reported that they had been trying since March to halt the private construction project,
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EL PASO, Texas — El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego is in talks with Ciudad Juarez officials to open a vaccination hub in El Paso that would administer the Covid-19 vaccine to people from Juarez. The judge wants to help increase the vaccination rate in Juarez before the possibility of the U.S.-Mexico border opening with
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — The Biden administration formally ended the Trump-era policy of returning asylum seekers to Mexico until their court dates in the United States, according to a memo issued by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Shortly after President Joe Biden took office, the Department of Homeland Security suspended new enrollments to the program formally
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — In the weeks since the President asked her to take charge of immigration from Central America, Vice President Kamala Harris and her staff have sought to make one thing clear: She does not manage the southern border. Two White House officials familiar with the dynamic said Harris and her aides have emphasized
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GUANAJUATO, Mexico — The notoriously violent Jalisco cartel has responded to Mexico’s “hugs, not bullets” policy with a policy of its own: The cartel kidnapped several members of an elite police force in the state of Guanajuato, tortured them to obtain names and addresses of fellow officers and is now hunting down and killing police
Continue Reading EL PASO, Texas– The shelter at Fort Bliss meant to house migrant children, has El Paso Congresswoman Veronica Escobar concerned for the children in it. “I spoke with kids on Sunday girls who have not spoken to their case worker in two weeks that is absolutely unacceptable, unacceptable they told me their sponsors had no
Continue Reading FORT WORTH, Texas — Gov. Greg Abbott called the smuggling of fentanyl across the Texas-Mexico border a “crisis” and said Thursday that he has deployed 1,000 Texas Department of Public Safety troopers and National Guard members to combat the problem. In the first four months of this year, Abbott said at a press conference in Fort Worth,
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EL PASO, Texas — U.S. Customs and Border Protection released video Tuesday afternoon, showing a 23-year-old pregnant migrant woman who had to be rescued after she became stranded while on top of the border barrier. Agents said this happened on May 20 near downtown El Paso. Agents responded after being notified by the El Paso
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EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — El Paso is reporting several positive Covid-19 trends. Hospitalizations and the county’s positivity rate have been steadily declining for the past several weeks. More than half of the county’s eligible population is also now fully vaccinated against the virus, but county leaders warn the fight against the virus is not
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CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — All Isela can do is hope. She’s one of dozens of migrants who have found temporary refuge at the Buen Samaritano shelter in Juarez. The Peruvian fled from her home country six months ago. The pandemic shuttered her business, and that left her in debt. A debt that she says gang
Continue Reading FORT BLISS, Texas — The shelter at Fort Bliss feels more like a warehouse, according to people who have been there, with rows and rows of bunk cots stacked on top of each other, filling up large white tents where hundreds of migrant children wait. Now, officials are talking about doubling that population — from
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EL PASO, Texas — A Republican congressional delegation made up of members of the Border Security Caucus visited El Paso on Monday to examine U.S.-Mexico border conditions. The partisan group spoke to reporters afterwards, which you can watch in the video player above. The trip was led by GOP Rep. Brian Babin, the caucus co-chair
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CHAPARRAL, New Mexico – Federal prosecutors on Monday charged three Chaparral residents with operating a human smuggling operation that allegedly held migrants hostage for ransom payments from their families. Ricardo Arce, 40, Vicki Sowell, 35, and Jonathan Gonzalez, 34, are also accused of assaulting those they held hostage, sending videos of assaults to the victims’
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SUNLAND PARK, New Mexico — For the second time in a week, a person fell off the U.S.-Mexico border wall in Sunland Park on Saturday and was seriously injured. The incident happened near the Sunland Park port of entry. The man suffered traumatic injuries that required him to be flown from the scene to University
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EL PASO, Texas — Farmers from El Paso’s Lower Valley shared their concerns about the influx of migrants along the southern border with Texas Congressman Tony Gonzales (R-District 23) and a Republican congressional delegation on Friday. Farmers said encounters on their property have increased significantly over the last five to six months. The farmers who
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SAN DIEGO, California — One person is confirmed dead after an incident involving a suspected smuggling vessel off the coast of San Diego Thursday morning. At least 15 migrants are in custody after U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents rescued them from their panga-style smuggling boat, according to CBP. The San Diego Police Department reported
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — The Biden administration announced Thursday that it will stop detaining immigrants at two detention centers that came under investigation over allegations of inadequate medical care and poor conditions. It’s the latest move by the administration to address immigration detention following President Joe Biden’s executive order that called for a review of Immigration
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SUNLAND PARK, New Mexico — A migrant woman was severely hurt Wednesday when she fell off a section of the U.S.-Mexico border wall in Sunland Park. Firefighters said the 30-year-old victim was flown by helicopter to University Medical Center in El Paso for treatment of traumatic injuries after she hit her head on the ground
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WASHINGTON, DC — Travel restrictions across the U.S.-Mexico border have now been extended through at least June 21, according to Mexico’s foreign minister who said the decision was made by the U.S. government. The extension came as Mexican officials continued to express “hope” that those curbs could be removed over the summer. There was no
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ESTANCIA, New Mexico — One year ago Monday, more than 20 asylum seekers were on a hunger strike, protesting Covid-19 safety conditions at the Torrance County Detention Facility. According to a new lawsuit from the ACLU of New Mexico and the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center, they were all sprayed with pepper spray, held in
Continue Reading CHIHUAHUA CITY, Mexico — Miss Mexico Andrea Meza of Chihuahua City was crowned Miss Universe at the 69th annual pageant, which was delayed last year due to Covid-19. “MÉXICO ESTO ES PARA TI,” Meza, 26, wrote in the caption of an Instagram post, which translates to “Mexico this is for you,” alongside a video of
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SIERRA BLANCA, Texas — U.S. Border Patrol agents this past week encountered a large human smuggling scheme off Interstate 10 at the immigration checkpoint near Sierra Blanca. Twenty undocumented migrants were discovered in both the bed of a truck, covered by a hard plastic cover that was sealed shut. Plus, there were even more in
Continue Reading US Customs and Border Protection officers in Ohio have seized 36,000 headphones that resembled Apple AirPods. CBP in Cincinnati found that the headphones, which arrived in three shipments from China, were in violation of “trademark and copyright codes,” CBP said in a news release Friday. The wireless headphones violated trademarks that “protected Apple configuration” recorded
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EL PASO, Texas– The border between the U.S. and Mexico initially shutdown on March 20, 2020, due to the rising cases of Covid-19 in both countries. The closure has now lasted well over a year, and there is belief that it may becoming to an end as the U.S. moves forward with a new sense
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