WASHINGTON, DC — When President Joe Biden spoke with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador last week, the most controversial issues complicating the relationship between the two countries were not on the agenda. It’s a sign that Biden is looking to reset his relationship with the Mexican leader who had developed a close personal relationship
Continue Reading MEXICO CITY, Mexico — Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Sunday he has tested positive for Covid-19 and that the symptoms are mild. Mexico’s president, who has been criticized for his handling of his country’s pandemic and for not setting an example of prevention in public, said on his official Twitter account that he
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CIUDAD VICTORIA, Mexico — Mexican authorities say they have found 19 shot and burned bodies near a town across the Rio Grande from Texas in an area that has seen violent territorial disputes between organized crime groups in recent years. The Tamaulipas state prosecutor’s office said that the bodies were discovered along a dirt road
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A Salvadoran immigrant who spent more than three years in sanctuary on the grounds of a North Carolina church headed home on Friday. José Chicas, 55, says the Biden administration’s new policies are giving him a chance to leave sanctuary — and hope for the future. Chicas took shelter in June 2017 inside the School
Continue Reading AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Friday sued the Biden administration over its 100-day deportation pause, citing an 11th-hour agreement between Texas and the Trump administration that required the Department of Homeland Security to consult with the state before making changes. It’s the first lawsuit challenging one of the Biden administration’s immigration
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — President Joe Biden has ordered a “pause” on all border wall construction within a week, one of 17 executive orders issued on his first day in office, including six dealing with immigration. The order leaves billions of dollars of work unfinished — but still under contract — after Trump worked feverishly last
Continue Reading EL PASO, Texas — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced two significant immigration changes in the first day of the Biden administration that could impact the Borderland. A new 100-day moratorium on deportations for some undocumented immigrants is in place, and migrants seeking asylum in the United States will no longer be forced to
Continue Reading The Oval Office décor quickly changed after President Joe Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday. Walls featuring figures such as Andrew Jackson were replaced with portraits of Founding Fathers and busts of civil rights leaders Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. Among the new displays near a collection of personal photos: a bust of Mexican American
Continue Reading President Joe Biden kicked off his term by signing out a series of immigration executive actions, moving swiftly to undo many Trump administration policies and ending the national emergency that diverted millions of dollars to the border wall. Biden outlined an ambitious immigration agenda on the campaign trail that would reverse the actions of his
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EL PASO, Texas — El Paso city leaders said late Wednesday they were coordinating with federal immigration enforcement agencies to “prepare for a possible migrant surge.” Officials, in a brief statement, said they were also in contact with local nonprofit and community groups that have traditionally provided migrant aid. El Paso’s Emergency Management Office said
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — The Department of Homeland Security is pausing deportations for 100 days, the department announced late Wednesday, with some exceptions. The announced pause on deportations joins a list of sweeping changes made by President Joe Biden only hours after taking office, including halting border wall construction, drawing down the controversial “remain in Mexico”
Continue Reading Days from the end of Donald Trump’s term, his administration rushed to push through possible legal land mines to make President Joe Biden’s goal of immigration reform more difficult. Biden has outlined an ambitious immigration agenda that would reverse the actions of his predecessor, vowing, for example, to undo policies that largely sealed the US
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WASHINGTON, DC — President Donald Trump pardoned his former chief strategist Steve Bannon in a last-minute decision made only hours before he was scheduled to depart the White House for the final time. Bannon’s name was on contained a list of 73 pardons and 70 commutations believed to the last batch of the Trump presidency. “Mr. Bannon has been
Continue Reading Sen. Josh Hawley blocked quick consideration of President-elect Joe Biden’s Homeland Security nominee, Alejandro Mayorkas, on Tuesday, leaving the third-largest federal department without confirmed leadership as it faces national security concerns, a pandemic and an incoming president prepared to roll out ambitious immigration plans. The Missouri Republican’s decision stemmed from an exchange with Mayorkas hours
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SUNLAND PARK, New Mexico — A collection of teeter-totters that briefly allowed children on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border wall to play together has won a prize from London’s Design Museum. The three hot-pink seesaws were installed through the slats of the wall, with one seat in Sunland Park and the other in Ciudad
Continue Reading UPDATE, Jan. 18: President-elect Joe Biden will now send his immigration bill to Congress on Wednesday, which is his inauguration day. The Washington Post reported Monday afternoon that in addition to the pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants, the measure also includes “a heavy focus on addressing the root causes of migration from
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CHIQUIMULA, Guatemala — An estimated 7,000 to 8,000 U.S.-bound migrants have entered Guatemala from Honduras this weekend, a spokesman for Guatemala’s official immigration agency, Alejandra Mena, told CNN. Thousands of people are joining the U.S.-bound groups to flee a life of poverty and violence. Two devastating hurricanes struck the region late last year, exacerbating the economic strain
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MEXICO CITY, Mexico — Mexico’s president is vowing to start an international effort to combat what he considers censorship by social media companies that have blocked or suspended the accounts of U.S. President Donald Trump. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s administration is reaching out to other government to form a common front on the issue.
Continue Reading WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. Justice Department leaders under President Donald Trump knew their 2018 “zero tolerance” border policy would result in family separations but pressed on with prosecutions even as other agencies became overwhelmed with migrants, a government watchdog report released Thursday has found. The report from the inspector general for the Justice Department found
Continue Reading Jonathan Fahey is resigning as acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to a Department of Homeland Security official, only weeks after assuming the post. Fahey’s departure is the latest in a string of leadership changes at the Department of Homeland Security, and he is the most recent acting ICE director to step down.
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EL PASO, Texas — An El Paso protest against President Trump’s visit to Texas to tout the U.S.-Mexico border wall was briefly disrupted Tuesday afternoon by a man who hurled racial slurs at the crowd and tried to agitate a fight, an ABC-7 news crew observed. The confrontation occurred at El Paso’s Chihuahuita Park, just
Continue Reading ALAMO, Texas — President Donald Trump visited the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas on Tuesday trumpeting one of the pillars of his presidency: his campaign against illegal immigration and building a wall along the southern border. It was Trump’s first time appearing in public since a violent mob of his supporters sieged the nation’s Capitol last
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WASHINGTON, DC — Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf is stepping down from his post, days after criticizing President Donald Trump over the riot at the U.S. Capitol. Wolf said in a message to staff that he would step down at 11:59 p.m. Monday, even though he had earlier said he planned to remain in his
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PHOENIX (AP) – A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s most sweeping set of asylum restrictions less than two weeks before President-elect Joe Biden takes office. The new rules had been set to take effect Monday. The ruling Friday has limited immediate impact because the government has largely suspended asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border
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The State of Texas has directed city health departments to provide the Covid-19 vaccine to people regardless of place of residence, and that includes people who live outside the county, the state or the country, said Dr. Hector Ocaranza, El Paso’s health authority.Ocaranza said there is no proof of residency required to receive the free
Continue Reading CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — Mexico has reported a new high for a daily increase in coronavirus cases, with 13,345 newly confirmed infections reported Wednesday for the previous 24 hours. Officials also reported a near-record of 1,165 deaths related to Covid-19. The country has now seen about 1.48 million infections and almost 130,000 deaths so far
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EL PASO, Texas — The federal government has completed a total of 131 miles of border wall in the El Paso sector, the acting commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced in a media call on Tuesday. “The border wall system proves its worth every day with every mile,” said Acting Commissioner Mark
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The Trump administration is continuing to award border wall contracts in the waning days of Donald Trump’s presidency, including in areas where private land hasn’t yet been acquired, an unusual move that will complicate President-elect Joe Biden’s pledge to halt construction. Asked by CNN Tuesday whether there are plans to continue to finalize contracts, even
Continue Reading MEXICO CITY, Mexico — Mexico has approved the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine for emergency use, hoping to spur a halting vaccination effort that has only given about 44,000 shots since the third week of December, about 82% of the doses the country has received. As of Tuesday, Mexico has experienced nearly 1.45 million coronavirus cases and
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MEXICO CITY, Mexico — A man has been arrested in northern Mexico for allegedly beating to death his three sons in order to get back at the children’s mother, prosecutors said Monday. The prosecutors’ office in the northern state of Sonora said the boys were aged 3, 7 and 8. The deaths occurred in the north-central state
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