WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. Defense Department is canceling all contracts for wall construction on the U.S.-Mexico border that used funds originally intended for military missions and functions, the department announced Friday, a significant action after the Trump administration dipped into Pentagon funds to build additional border barriers. In one of his first actions in
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LAS CRUCES, New Mexico — Ahead of International Workers Day, Las Cruces ‘dreamers’ and immigrant advocates called on the federal government Friday to create a pathway to citizenship for essential workers. “My mom is the definition of a hardworking woman,” said Brenda Martinez, a dreamer who said her mother risks her life by cleaning hospitals
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SIERRA BLANCA, Texas — Three migrants were injured after trying to jump on a moving Union Pacific Train in Hudspeth County on Wednesday, authorities said. It happened along some railroad tracks near Interstate 10 just outside of Sierra Blanca. Two of the hurt migrants were citizens of El Salvador and the third was a Mexican
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MEXICO CITY, Mexico — Mexico’s pandemic death toll passed 345,000 Tuesday, though most states have not seen any rebound in coronavirus cases, officials said. There have been over 215,500 test-confirmed deaths related to Covid-19, but Mexico does so little testing that many people die without having been tested. A preliminary government review of death certificates suggested
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El Paso, Texas– Mia Flor Gonzales is hoping to provide a sense of warmth to immigrant girls by providing them with feminine care packages. It’s all a part of a project created in memory of her late great grandmother called, ‘Project Carmen.’ “My great grandmother from my moms side was also an immigrant as well
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WASHINGTON, DC — President Joe Biden will nominate Harris County, Texas, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, a critic of former President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, to serve as director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the White House announced Tuesday. Gonzalez, who was elected Sheriff of Harris County in 2016, has a decades-long career in law enforcement, according
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CIUDAD VICTORIA, Mexico — A raging gun battle between rival Mexican drug gangs near the U.S. border left eight people dead and a string of burned-out armored trucks littering a roadway. Residents of the northern border state of Tamaulipas said Monday the gun battles occurred Saturday and continued into Sunday in the hamlet of Santa
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AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. Greg Abbott sent a letter to county judges across Texas on Monday requesting that they send his office an estimate of the fiscal impact of the current “border crisis” on their respective communities. According to a statement from Abbott’s office, “The State of Texas will use this information to formally request
Continue Reading PHARR, Texas — U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers recently seized more than $4 million worth of suspected methamphetamine at the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge cargo facility, the agency said. On April 17, CBP officers examined a tractor-trailer hauling a commercial shipment of fresh cucumber pickles into Texas with a non-intrusive imaging system and found it
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CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — The state of Chihuahua is implementing a ‘Stay at Home’ order for the weekend in light of the rising infections of Covid-19. The order goes into effect statewide, including for Ciudad Juarez, at midnight Friday and ends Monday at 6 a.m. State Health Secretary Eduardo Fernández Herrera said this order includes the
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CALEXICO, California — It’s happened yet again, for at least the third time in recent weeks. U.S. Border Patrol agents apprehended a group of three adults and two children after human smugglers lowered them by rope down a 30-foot section of the border wall, KVIA sister-station KYMA reported Friday. The incident occurred approximately three miles
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Immigration and Customs Enforcement will no longer issue fines to undocumented immigrants who have failed to depart the United States, the agency announced Friday, a reversal from the Trump-era policy that threatened immigrants with thousands of dollars in debt to the federal government. ICE officials said the agency rescinded the two Trump-era orders on the
Continue Reading DES MOINES, Iowa — An Iowa woman who told police in 2019 that she ran over a girl because she “was a Mexican” has now pleaded guilty to federal hate crime charges, according to court records filed this week in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa. Nicole Marie Poole Franklin had
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YUMA, Arizona — U.S. Border Patrol agents encountered a 12-year-old boy and his sisters, ages 8 and 6, wandering in the Arizona desert after having just crossed the border from Mexico hours earlier, KVIA sister-station KYMA reported. Agents discovered the trio by themselves near the Morelos Dam near Yuma on Wednesday afternoon. The children were
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WASHINGTON, DC — A bipartisan group of three Texas lawmakers — U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican, and U.S. Reps. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, and Tony Gonzales, R-San Antonio — teamed up with an Arizona Democrat, U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, on Thursday to roll out legislation they hope will ease the strain on federal resources near the U.S-Mexico border.
Continue Reading SANTA TERESA, New Mexico — Ecuador’s government says two toddlers dropped over a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border near Santa Teresa have been reunited with their families. Video shot in March by the U.S. Border Patrol showed a smuggler dropping a three and five-year-old girl over the border fence. According to Ecuador’s Ministry of Foreign
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AUSTIN, Texas — The General Investigating Committee of the Texas House of Representatives held a hearing Tuesday to listen to testimony regarding the issues and current status of immigrants at the Texas-Mexico border from five state agencies. One agency that had its officials testify was the state’s Health and Human Services Commission. They are responsible
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By Lauren Villagran, Puente News Collaborative EL PASO, Texas — I keep a candy in my fridge that I can’t stand. It’s a chewy, chocolate-covered marshmallow-and-strawberry thing called a Bubu Lubu. Its shiny blue wrapper crinkles every time I shift bottles in the fridge door ― soy sauce, ketchup, clamato ― and I’m reminded that the person who
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WASHINGTON, DC — Travel restrictions across the U.S.-Mexico border have now been extended through at least May 21, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The border crossing limitations for non-essential travel, which have been in place throughout the pandemic to help slow the spread of Covid-19, have now been extended for yet another month.
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EL PASO, Texas– Much has been made about ‘herd immunity’ in the fight against Covid-19. With vaccinations continuing to increase in El Paso and more than 500,000 vaccine doses administered, the opportunity to create herd immunity in the community appears to be within reach. “That herd immunity has to be achieved either by having immunity
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — The leaders of two US immigration agencies issued new guidance Monday ordering staff to end the use of terms such as “illegal alien” and “assimilation,” according to two officials, words that immigration advocates had criticized as dehumanizing. A pair of memos issued Monday from Tae Johnson and Troy Miller, the acting heads
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EL PASO, Texas — Firefighters rescued a man who was stuck for a couple of hours atop the border wall in an area near downtown El Paso, authorities said Monday. The incident happened on Sunday night. Fire crews used a ladder truck to reach the top of the wall and bring the man down safely.
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HOUSTON, Texas — The Biden administration over the weekend shuttered a Houston warehouse that housed unaccompanied migrant children following allegations that the nonprofit organization running the site failed to provide adequate living conditions for hundreds of young girls, multiple sources familiar with the matter told ABC News. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) opened
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — The White House said Friday President Joe Biden will set a new, increased refugee cap next month after facing a barrage of criticism when officials confirmed to CNN and other outlets that it would remain at the historically low level set by former President Donald Trump. Only hours earlier, the administration announced
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — Facing swift blowback from allies and aid groups, the White House says President Joe Biden plans to lift his predecessor’s historically low cap on refugees by next month. Biden earlier Friday moved to accelerate refugee admissions but kept his predecessor’s historically low cap of 15,000 refugees for this year, triggering a backlash
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WASHINGTON, DC — President Joe Biden on Friday signed an emergency determination that officials said would speed refugee admissions to the U.S., but he did not lift his predecessor’s historically low cap of 15,000 refugees for this year. Biden, instead, is adjusting the allocation limits set by former President Donald Trump, which officials said have
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — President Joe Biden has resisted signing off on raising the Trump-era refugee cap because of political optics, sources have told CNN. The President’s hesitation comes as the administration faces heat from Republicans and Democrats for its handling of an influx of migrants at the US-Mexico border. But the situation at the US
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IMPERIAL BEACH, California — It’s happened again. U.S. Border Patrol agents said a smuggler was caught on video dropping a two-year-old from the 18-foot-high border wall into the arms of the child’s father. The Border Patrol told KVIA sister-station KYMA that this incident happened earlier this week in California. Agents saw a group of people
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EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — ABC-7 is learning new details about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement efforts to provide emergency temporary shelter for migrant families in Texas and Arizona. ABC-7 has learned a second hotel in El Paso is also housing migrant families. A representative from the El Paso County Judge’s office confirmed migrants are
Continue Reading HOUSTON, Texas — The federal government can take “immediate possession” of a Texas family’s land along the US-Mexico border after a years-long court battle, a federal judge has ruled — a move at odds with President Joe Biden’s pledge to halt wall construction. Tuesday’s ruling from Judge Micaela Alvarez of the Texas Southern District Court
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