RIO GRANDE VALLEY, Texas — The mother’s mind raced as she watched her sons from the Mexican side of the Rio Grande. The two boys were crying and holding hands as they crossed the border alone. After all they’d been through together, it was shocking to see the boys — aged 12 and 16 —
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EL PASO, Texas — The El Paso Fire Department says it is expecting an increase in water rescues this summer as the Borderland experiences an influx of migrants to at the U.S.-Mexico border. “Right now there is no water in the canal but it will be here soon,” Fire Capt. Kris Melendez said. Melendez and
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EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — As a record number of migrants arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border, some advocacy groups say there’s confusion as to who is expelled and who is allowed to wait for their court appearance in the U.S. It’s due to what the government calls “acute vulnerabilities.” An El Paso advocacy group says
Continue Reading AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the Biden administration Tuesday in an attempt to restore a policy put in place by former President Donald Trump that forced migrants seeking asylum in the United States to wait in Mexico while their claims are processed. Paxton and Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt argue in the suit that
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COLUMBUS, New Mexico — Southern New Mexico Congresswoman Yvette Herrell flew back to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday after she and a group of Republican leaders visited the U.S.-Mexico border south of Columbus. Herrell told ABC affiliate KOAT that they went to the border to talk to ranchers and farmers one-on-one about what the GOP is
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — A bicameral group of Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to President Joe Biden on Tuesday requesting he prioritize legislation that would offer a pathway to citizenship to undocumented essential workers in the second part of his two-part infrastructure package set to address education and childcare. In the letter obtained by CNN, the
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More than 60 Democratic lawmakers called on the Biden administration Tuesday to eventually end reliance on overflow facilities for unaccompanied migrant children, according to a letter shared with CNN. Some Democrats have been critical of the use of influx facilities, which are not state-licensed and have previously come under scrutiny. The Health and Human Services
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — The Biden administration has secured agreements for Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala to tighten their borders and stem the flow of migration, Special Assistant to the President for Immigration for the Domestic Policy Council Tyler Moran said Monday. “We’ve secured agreements for them to put more troops on their own border. Mexico, Honduras
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EL PASO, Texas — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is providing emergency temporary shelter for migrant families in Texas and Arizona, including right here in El Paso. The migrant families in the custody of ICE locally are staying at a Best Western hotel near the El Paso International Airport. There is a gate surrounding the
Continue Reading The number of unaccompanied minors in US Customs and Border Protection custody, akin to jail-like conditions, has dropped 45%, according to the latest government data, amid an ongoing effort by the Biden administration to find suitable spaces to accommodate kids after facing scrutiny for overcrowded facilities. As of Sunday, there were 3,130 children in the
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RIO GRANDE CITY, Texas — Nicaraguan authorities have put out a news release identifying the 10-year-old migrant boy seen wandering alone along the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley this past week as Wilton Eniel Gutiérrez Obregón. It says they made contact with the boy’s father, Lázaro Gutiérrez Laguna, who detailed how his son and wife initially headed
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Reports received by the state of Texas about the care of unaccompanied migrant children housed in a San Antonio facility and released Friday by Gov. Greg Abbott did not allege children were being abused, as the governor has previously said. The reports were included in a letter Friday sent from Abbott, a Republican, to Vice
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SANTA FE, New Mexico — Southern New Mexico Republican Congresswoman Yvette Herrell on Friday asked Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to deploy New Mexico National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border as more migrant families and unaccompanied children arrive, but the Democratic governor’s office suggested that she redirect her concerns to the federal government. Herrell, the state’s sole
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — The Biden administration is considering making cash payments to multiple Central American nations in the hopes it could stem the surge of migrants to the U.S.-Mexico border, the news agency Reuters reported Friday afternoon. A senior White House official told Reuters that the cash transfer would target the countries of Guatemala, Honduras
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FORT BLISS, Texas — The Fort Bliss migrant shelters are providing job opportunities for Borderland residents. Nearly 1,000 job openings of varying experience levels and competitive pay are available with federal contractors. “These 900 positions are very specific to the migrant shelter centers for children within Fort Bliss,” said Bianca Cervantes, a spokesperson for Workforce
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EL PASO, Texas — For the second time in less than a month, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas visited El Paso on Thursday to see firsthand the situation along the U.S.-Mexico border with a surge in the arrivals of unaccompanied children that has filled migrant facilities in the Borderland and elsewhere. His visit came
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EL PASO, Texas — ABC News Live presents a streaming news special “Hope & Desperation: Emergency at the Border” here on KVIA.com. Anchored by ABC News Correspondent John Quiñones from Dallas, Texas, the special features the first U.S. interview with Guatemala President Alejandro Giammattei and reporting from ABC News Anchors and Correspondents Juju Chang, Martha Raddatz, Cecilia Vega, Terry Moran,
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EL PASO, Texas — Allegations that migrant children being cared for at a Texas shelter may have been sexually abused need to be investigated, Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (D-El Paso) said Thursday – but she added that Gov. Gregg Abbott (R-Texas), who raised the claims, has “zero credibility” in her view. RELATED CONTENT: Video: El Paso
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WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. government picked up nearly 19,000 children traveling alone across the Mexican border in March, authorities said Thursday, the largest monthly number ever recorded and a major test for President Joe Biden as he reverses many of his predecessor’s hardline immigration tactics. A complex mix of factors in the United States
Continue Reading LORDSBURG, New Mexico – For the second time in a week, U.S. Border Patrol agents said they had to rescue a migrant child abandoned in the southern New Mexico desert. After the recent discovery of two young girls dropped over the border wall near Santa Teresa, the latest incident disclosed Wednesday involved an 8-year-old boy
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CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — Juarez city officials struggling to find room for newly expelled migrant families have opened a new shelter that can house up to 400 people. Kiki Romero is a gym that city officials are now utilizing to help with the demand of migrants coming into Juarez everyday from El Paso. At least
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LAS CRUCES, New Mexico — U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-New Mexico) was visited the El Calvario United Methodist Church in Las Cruces Wednesday to thank community members for advocating and preparing assistance for migrants during the pandemic. This comes on the heels of 170,000 migrants being taken into custody along the U.S.-Mexico border in March
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SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Gov. Greg Abbott, citing what he called “anonymous” complaints made Wednesday to two state agencies, claimed some migrant children being held at a Texas facility were victims of sexual abuse. Abbott said he directed the Texas Rangers to look into the allegations involving the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, which is
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CABORCA, Sonora, Mexico — Sixteen people were killed and 14 injured when two buses carrying mine workers collided in the northern Mexico border state of Sonora. The buses were transporting employees of the Noche Buena mine when they crashed into one another in the pre-dawn hours of Tuesday. The smaller of the two buses appeared
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — The number of people arrested and deported for being in the U.S. illegally has dropped under President Joe Biden after his administration narrowed its enforcement focus to those who may pose a threat or have criminal backgrounds, marking a shift from the policies under the Trump administration. Immigration and Customs Enforcement under
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — The Biden administration will need to continue to build up bed capacity and drastically reduce the time it takes to release unaccompanied migrant children to a sponsor like a parent or relative in the US to avoid backlogs in Border Patrol facilities in the coming months, according to internal government documents obtained
Continue Reading EDINBURG, Texas — Migrant families are “self-separating” in Mexico, sending children alone to cross into the United States after first having been expelled, the U.S. Border Patrol’s chief patrol agent of the Rio Grande Valley sector told CNN. “What we are seeing, more and more, is the families are self-separating in Mexico,” Brian Hastings, who
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MEXICO CITY, Mexico — Mexico’s president now says he won’t get a Covid-19 vaccine because his doctors told him he still has a high level of antibodies from when he was infected in January. Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Monday, “I have sufficient levels of antibodies and right now it isn’t indispensable for me to
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — More Americans disapprove than approve of how President Joe Biden is handling the sharply increasing number of unaccompanied migrant children arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border, and approval of his efforts on larger immigration policy falls short of other top issues. That suggests it could be a weak point for the new administration.
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EL PASO, Texas — U.S. Customs and Border Protection in El Paso is getting extra help with 19 new employees as its agents deal with an influx of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. Dozens of people graduated Saturday from Border Patrol’s “Class 01” to become civilian processing coordinators. The new positions, created in January, focus
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