2 National Guard soldiers, 1 Border Patrol agent killed in Texas helicopter crash are identified
A National Guard soldier from New York who was seriously injured in the crash of a helicopter flying over the U.S.-Mexico border remained hospitalized while authorities released the names of the two National Guard soldiers from New York and a Border Patrol agent who were killed.
Supreme Court allows federal agents to cut razor wire Texas installed on US-Mexico border, while lawsuit continues
A divided Supreme Court is allowing Border Patrol agents to cut razor wire that Texas installed on the U.S.-Mexico border, while a lawsuit over the wire continues. The justices, by a 5-4 vote Monday, granted an emergency appeal from the Biden administration, which has been in an escalating standoff at the border with Texas and had objected to an appellate ruling in favor of the state. The concertina wire is part of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's broader fight with the administration over immigration enforcement.
Biden administration settles lawsuit over Trump-era migrant family separation policy
If the settlement is approved, the federal government would be prohibited from adopting a similar policy for the next eight years. Affected immigrants would be allowed to be in the country legally and receive work permits and other benefits.
Texas prepares to deploy Rio Grande buoys in governorโs latest effort to curb border crossings
Texas began rolling out what is set to become a new floating barrier on the Rio Grande on Friday in the latest escalation of Republican Gov. Greg Abbottโs multibillion-dollar effort to secure the U.S. border with Mexico, which already has included bussing migrants to liberal states and authorizing the National Guard to make arrests.
โWhat happened to Ray?โ Family of Native American man killed by Border Patrol in Arizona wants to know why he was shot
A relative of a Native American man who was killed by Border Patrol agents near the Arizona-Mexico border two weeks ago said she was talking to him moments before he was shot and he told her he had contacted the Border Patrol earlier in the evening to ask for help.
Death of 8-year-old girl in Border Patrol custody highlights challenges providing medical care
The death in Border Patrol custody of an 8-year-old Panamanian girl is the second child migrant fatality in two weeks under government supervision, raising questions about how prepared authorities are to address medical emergencies of people arriving after an often-exhausting journey.
Mother of 8-year-old girl who died in Border Patrol custody says pleas for hospital care were denied
The mother of an 8-year-old girl who died in Border Patrol custody says agents repeatedly ignored pleas to hospitalize her medically fragile daughter as she felt pain in her bones, struggled to breathe and was unable to walk.
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn eyes the seemingly impossible: a bipartisan deal on immigration
Riding the success of his historic congressional session last year where he helped pass the first gun safety bill signed into law in a generation, Cornyn is hopeful that his ability to strike deals across the aisle will help Congress achieve another elusive legislative goal: an immigration deal.
Arizona refuses US demand to remove containers along border
Arizona is refusing the federal governmentโs demand to take down double-stacked shipping containers it placed to fill gaps in the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, saying it wonโt do so until the U.S. moves to construct a permanent barrier.
A look into US Customs and Border Protection Operations from KPRC 2โฒs Zach Lashway
With more than 60,000 employees, U.S. Customs and Border Protection is one of the worldโs largest law enforcement organizations. Its main goal is to keep us safe. The agency has three components-- Office of Field Operations, Border Patrol and Air and Marine Operations.
Investigation of journalists by Customs unit is under review
An internal review has been launched into the actions of a special Customs and Border Protection unit that used sensitive government databases intended to track terrorists to investigate as many as 20 U.S.-based journalists, including an Associated Press reporter.
Some Haitian migrants remain determined to stay in US, while others reconsider
KPRC 2 Investigates spoke with several Haitian immigrants who remain at an encampment just across from Del Rio in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Acuna. Many there said they were aware of the US Governmentโs plans for mass expulsions of Haitian immigrants, but are still determined to stay in the US.
Texas border communities grapple with dueling crises, COVID-19 pandemic and migrant surge
Several border leaders continue to call on President Joe Biden to pause the release of asylum-seeking migrants into the United States. These calls for help come as many border communities are struggling under the weight of the COVID-19 pandemic.
US urging Central America to tackle poverty, corruption
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is trying to entice Central American nations to tackle the corruption and poverty that have helped drive a surge of migrants to the U.S.-Mexico border and presented an early challenge for the Biden administration.
Harris planning first trip abroad to Mexico, Guatemala
Vice President Kamala Harris has announced plans to visit Mexico and Guatemala on what would be her first official trip abroad, as she pushes ahead on leading the White Houseโs diplomatic efforts on the migration challenge at the southern border.
White House says itโs working on access to migrant centers
The fate of thousands of migrant families who have recently arrived at the Mexico border is being decided by a mysterious new system under President Joe Biden. Republican officials are also blaming the Biden administration for actions they say are leading more people from Central America to seek entry into the United States. AdGraham recently visited the border and said he saw a facility designed to hold 80 children with about 1,000 in it. โIt does not mean that they get to stay in the United States. AdPsaki said the administration is committed to transparency and providing access to those temporary Border Patrol facilities as soon as it can.
VP to focus on border diplomacy; no immediate plans to visit
Harris has no plans to visit the U.S.-Mexico border region โin the near future,โ spokeswoman Symone Sanders said Friday. Sanders said Harris will go to the border at some point but emphasized the diplomatic nature of the vice president's role. โThe vice president is not doing the border,โ Sanders told reporters on a flight to Connecticut, where Harris was promoting the administration's COVID-19 relief package. He tweeted out photos of dozens of minors, wrapped in foil-like space blankets, lying on the floor of crowded Border Patrol facilities. It is not unusual to see increases in migrants coming across the border at this time of year and the Border Patrol has faced similar situations in the past, the official said.
As senators head to border, debates continues on how to deal with surge of illegal crossings
Every border patrol sector from Texas to California is reporting increases in apprehensions. โThis many people coming into our country illegally does put a burden on our system,โ said border patrol agent Jesse Moreno. Moreno said Texasโ Rio Grande Valley has been hit particularly hard by large groups of immigrants crossing at once. Pimentel has long helped immigrants released from border patrol custody by providing a respite center with food, medical care, and assistance in understanding immigration court documents. Catholic Charities of the RGV has also started testing immigrants released in McAllen for COVID-19.
Migrants, including children, face cramped conditions at South Texas Border Patrol facility
The photographs, provided by the office of Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, give a rare glimpse of the conditions many migrants are facing in Border Patrol detention centers. The Biden administration continues to block press access to Border Patrol facilities and shelters that house some of the migrants that have crossed the border. The increase in apprehensions began during the final months of the Trump administration. Mayorkas has said that Border Patrol stations are no place for children, and that the administration is "working around the clock" to get the children into Department of Health and Human Services facilities. โThe increased number of people crossing the border is something that border experts have predicted for some time now.
Child border crossings surging, straining US facilities
FILE - In this Aug. 23, 2019 file photo, immigrants seeking asylum walk at the ICE South Texas Family Residential Center, in Dilley, Texas. The number of children crossing by themselves, mostly from Central America, appears to be surging in particular in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. AdThe total of 561 unaccompanied minors from Monday offers a snapshot of how quickly conditions have changed along the border. โTheyโre all coming across the border, theyโre coming fast, and theyโre wearing Biden T-shirts,โ said the Oklahoma Republican. The Biden administration last week ended a Trump policy that made relatives reluctant to contact HHS to retrieve children for fear of being deported themselves.
FEMA to help manage unaccompanied minors at US-Mexico border
FILE - In this Thursday, May 2, 2019 file photo, Border Patrol agents hold a news conference prior to a media tour of a new U.S. Customs and Border Protection temporary facility near the Donna International Bridge in Donna, Texas. President Joe Bidens administration is refusing to allow lawyers who inspect facilities where immigrant children are detained to enter a Border Patrol tent in Texas where agents are holding hundreds of youths. โ The Biden administration is turning to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for help managing and caring for record numbers of unaccompanied immigrant children who are streaming into the United States by illegally crossing the border with Mexico. During an record influx of unaccompanied minors in 2014, the Obama administration also turned to FEMA for help coordinating the governmentwide response. AdPresident Joe Biden has ended the Trump-era practice of expelling immigrant children who cross the border alone, but maintained expulsions of immigrant families and single adults.
Immigrant teens to be housed at Dallas convention center
A tent facility operated by the Border Patrol in Donna, some 500 miles (804 kilometers) south of Dallas, is holding more than 1,000 children and teenagers, some as young as 4. โThis crisis is created by the presidential policies of this new administration,โ House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Monday while leading a large congressional delegation to El Paso, Texas. โThereโs no other way to claim it than a Biden border crisis.โTexas Gov. Dallas previously offered space to HHS during the 2014 surge of crossings of immigrant children. HHS also has said it will house immigrant youths in Midland.
Children packed into Border Patrol tent for days on end
The lawyers interviewed more than a dozen children Thursday in Donna, Texas, where the Border Patrol is holding more than 1,000 people. The Border Patrol currently has a record high of more than 3,000 children in detention, according to government data obtained by AP. More children are waiting longer in Border Patrol custody because long-term facilities operated by U.S. Health and Human Services have next to no capacity. AdMost Border Patrol stations were designed for short-term detention of adults, with cold, concrete cells with the lights always on. One died of the flu at the Border Patrol station in Weslaco, Texas, where minors are currently being held.
9 in SUV have major injuries in border crash that killed 13
(AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)EL CENTRO, Calif. โ Nine migrants in an SUV packed with 25 people that drove through an opening in a border wall suffered major injuries after their vehicle slammed into a tractor-trailer and killed 13 others inside, the California Highway Patrol said Thursday. The driver was among the 13 killed in the SUV, from Tuesdayโs collision in Californiaโs Imperial Valley, a farming region that produces many of the winter vegetables sold in U.S. supermarkets. The oldest was a 46-year-old woman from Guatemala City, also with major injuries. The Border Patrol said surveillance video showed the Expedition and a Chevrolet Suburban drive through an opening in the border wall about 30 miles (48 kilometers) east of the crash. The Expedition soon struck the tractor-trailer, whose driver, a 68-year-old man from El Centro, suffered major injuries.
SUV in crash where 13 died came through hole in border fence
This photo provided by the US Customs and Border Protection shows a hole cut into Southern California's border fence with Mexico on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. Thirteen people killed in one of the deadliest border crashes on record were among more than 40 migrants who entered the U.S. through the hole cut into Southern California's border fence with Mexico, the Border Patrol said Wednesday. The Suburban carried 19 people, and it caught fire for unknown reasons on a nearby interstate after entering the U.S. All escaped the vehicle and were taken into custody by Border Patrol agents. The Border Patrol said its agents were not pursuing the vehicle before the wreck. AdA pandemic-related measure that allows the Border Patrol to expel people without an opportunity to seek asylum potentially leads some to try to evade authorities instead of surrendering, sometimes with fatal consequences.
Number of arrests along southern border steadily rising
Texasโs border with Mexico is again seeing a rise in the number of people caught illegally crossing into the United States. According to data from Customs and Border Protection, the number of apprehensions began rising in April of 2020. โWe are starting to see large groups come across at one time,โ said Border Patrol agent Jesse Moreno. COVID-19 restrictions currently prevent media from riding with Border Patrol agents. Border Patrol released a statement:CBP has seen a steady increase in border encounters since April 2020, which, aggravated by COVID-19 restrictions and social distancing guidelines, has caused some facilities to reach maximum safe holding capacity.
Donald Trump pardons former Border Patrol agent Gary Brugman, who was convicted of violating a manโs civil rights
Dan Patrick and a slate of Republican congressional members were among the public figures who supported Brugmanโs clemency, according to a statement from the White House press secretary. When Brugman later approached, he struck one of the men, Angel Jimenez-Saldana, with his foot despite Jimenez-Saldana not fighting back, moving or resisting. โI then turned to a second alien and pushed him to the ground too.โBrugman served in the Coast Guard for eight years and as a border patrol agent for four, the release from the White House said. On both the campaign trail and in the White House, Trump has touted hardline immigration policies that have drawn pushback from human rights groups. A day earlier on Tuesday, Trump pardoned Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, two former border patrol agents who were convicted of assault.
Trump officials tout progress on border wall before election
Border Patrol agent Justin Castrejon speaks in front of newly replaced border wall sections Thursday, Sept. 24, 2020, near Tecate, Calif. Top Trump administration officials will visit South Texas five days before Election Day to announce they have completed 400 miles of U.S.-Mexico border wall, attempting to show progress on perhaps the president's best-known campaign promise four years ago. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)HOUSTON โ Top Trump administration officials visited Texas five days before Election Day to announce they have nearly completed 400 miles of U.S.-Mexico border wall, trying to show progress on perhaps the president's best-known campaign promise four years ago. DHS officials have held several events announcing immigration operations this month in states considered competitive in the election. As of last week, 381 miles (613 kilometers) of wall have been completed during the Trump administration. Of the more than 150 miles (241 kilometers) funded by Congress in the last two years, just 5 miles (8 kilometers) have been built.
Migrants quickly expelled by Trump try repeatedly to cross
A rescue helicopter couldn't land in the steep terrain, but authorities dropped water before border agents arrived and whisked them back to Tijuana, Mexico. Lopez quickly recovered and began planning another attempt to reach San Diego, where he hopes to earn a more steady living. The annual figure hasn't topped 14% since the Border Patrol began keeping track seven years ago. โItโs a little bit more of the revolving door than it used to be,โ said Scott, the Border Patrol chief. Border Patrol agents may refer people for screening under the U.N. Convention Against Torture, but the bar is extremely high.
Border authorities use pandemic powers to expel immigrants
FILE - In this March 18, 2020, file photo, a Border Patrol agent walks along a border wall separating Tijuana, Mexico, from San Diego, in San Diego. What happened next illustrates how difficult it has become to seek asylum in the United States during the coronavirus pandemic. Alexy, 32, and his son Samuel were whisked to the border in the wee hours of June 28 and returned to Mexico. Alexy believes hiking in the San Diego mountains precipitated Karina's labor. Together with the American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego & Imperial Counties, the group plans to ask the Homeland Security Department to investigate what happened.
32-year-old US citizen dies in border custody in Texas
HOUSTON โ A 32-year-old U.S. citizen has died after being arrested by Border Patrol agents in South Texas, the U.S. government said Wednesday. U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not identify the man in a statement issued Wednesday, but alleged that he was a suspect in a human smuggling incident. The man was arrested at about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday by agents assigned to the Border Patrol station in Brackettville, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) east of the border with Mexico. The agency did not identify the man's illness, symptoms or cause of death, which was first reported by BuzzFeed News. The Border Patrol does not ordinarily detain U.S. citizens, but it routinely arrests Americans accused of trying to smuggle immigrants who have crossed the border illegally.