US authorities find major cross-border ‘narco-tunnel’ to Mexico

Tunnel from Tijuana to San Diego had rail and ventilation systems, electricity and reinforced walls, authorities say.

Date: May 17th, 2022

Source: Al Jazeera English

Authorities in the United States have announced the discovery of a major drug smuggling tunnel that extends from Mexico to a warehouse in an industrial area in the US state of California.

The secret passage from Tijuana to San Diego featured rail and ventilation systems, electricity and reinforced walls, authorities said on Tuesday.

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Foreign minister accuses Texas governor of extortion

‘The migration problem is not Mexico’s problem,’ Ebrard said

Date: May 2nd, 2022

Source: Mexico News Daily

The foreign minister has accused the governor of Texas of extortion for his negotiation methods with Mexican governors, who wanted U.S. officials to lift stringent border checks on vehicles.

The inspection program on vehicles was introduced by Governor Greg Abbott at Texas’ almost 2,000-kilometer border with Mexico in early April, for authorities to conduct more thorough checks to detect drugs and migrants trying to enter the U.S. illegally.

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Mexico’s foreign minister accuses Texas governor of ‘extortion’

Texas upped inspections of commercial trucks entering the US from Mexico in a bid to pressure Mexican states increase security.

Date: May 2nd, 2022

Source: Al Jazeera

The Mexican foreign minister has accused the governor of Texas of “extortion” following an imbroglio over long wait times for commercial trucks at the Unites States-Mexico border.

In an interview on Sunday, Marcelo Ebrard accused Texas Governor Greg Abbott of increasing state police inspections of commercial trucks entering the US from Mexico in April to pressure the governors of several Mexican states to increase security on their side of the border.

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Mexico detains almost 6,000 foreign migrants in four days

MEXICO CITY, April 25 (Reuters) – Mexico detained almost 6,000 foreign migrants in a four-day span, the country’s National Migration Institute (INM) said on Monday.

Date: April 25th, 2022

Source: Reuters

The majority of the 5,688 migrants detained from April 21 to 24 were found in safe houses, trailers, or hidden in bus compartments or truck cabins, the INM said in a statement.

By far the largest group by nationality detained over the weekend were Hondurans, with 1,060 detained, followed by 942 Cubans and 906 Guatemalans.

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Latinos should not vote for U.S. politicians who ‘mistreated’ them, Mexico president says

MEXICO CITY, April 25 (Reuters) – Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Monday urged Latinos in the United States not to vote in November’s midterm elections for politicians who have “mistreated” them, in response to a comment by former U.S. President Donald Trump.

Date: April 25th, 2022

Source: Reuters

Trump boasted at a rally in Ohio at the weekend that while in office, he had forced Lopez Obrador to deploy 28,000 soldiers along the U.S.-Mexico border to keep out migrants after threatening to slap tariffs on Mexican goods.

Asked about Trump’s comments, Lopez Obrador said no U.S. political party should “use Mexico as a pinata” and that those with the right to vote should exercise it carefully.

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Supreme Court examines Biden’s power to set US immigration policy in ‘Remain in Mexico’ challenge

(CNN)The Biden administration will ask the Supreme Court on Tuesday to allow it to terminate a Trump-era border policy known as “Remain in Mexico,” a case that will be a test of the White House’s ability to set immigration policy.

Date: April 26th, 2022

Source: CNN

Under the unprecedented program launched in 2019, the Department of Homeland Security sent certain non-Mexican citizens who entered the US back to Mexico — instead of detaining them or releasing them into the United States — while their immigration proceedings played out. 

Critics call the policy inhumane and say it exposes asylum seekers with credible claims to dangerous and squalid conditions. Migrants subject to the program — formally known as Migrant Protection Protocols — have resided in makeshift camps along Mexico’s northern border.

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‘Despicable’: Mexico’s president slams Texas’ enhanced border truck inspections

President López Obrador’s criticism comes after Texas’ governor, who’s facing re-election, touts his tough border policies, which snarled traffic and got criticized by business groups.

Date: April 18th, 2022

Source: ABC News

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Monday criticized the Texas government over its imposition of enhanced commercial truck inspections earlier this month, which disrupted trade at the Mexico-U.S. border.

“Legally they can do it, but it’s a very despicable way to act,” Lopez Obrador said at a regular news conference.

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Mexican truck drivers block major US-Mexico point of entry in protest of Texas border inspections

Mexican truck drivers on Monday block the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge connecting Reynosa to McAllen, Texas

Date: April 12th, 2022

Source: CNN

(CNN)Commercial traffic at a major US-Mexico land entry port is “halted temporarily” due to an ongoing protest on the Mexican side of the border, with “no southbound movements by US carriers,” a US Customs and Border Protection official confirmed Monday to CNN.

The protest at the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge follows a move by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s office to enhance safety inspections at state border ports in response to Biden administration plans to end pandemic-related restrictions at the border.

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A New Surge of Ukrainians at U.S. Border

Date: April 6, 2022

Source: New York Times

TIJUANA, Mexico — More than 2,000 Ukrainians have made their way to the U.S. border from Mexico over the past 10 days, joining desperate migrants from around the world in what officials expect could become a major border surge as pandemic restrictions are lifted and the continuing fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine reaches America’s shores.

The sudden arrivals in Tijuana present an immediate challenge to U.S. border officials, who are already bracing for a flood of unauthorized migration from countries such as Honduras and Haiti when the United States eases its emergency Covid-19 border rules next month. Now, the United States must also find a way to accommodate thousands of people fleeing a murderous Russian invasion halfway around the world.

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Migrant misses U.S. court date after being kidnapped in Mexico, putting future in limbo

Migrants placed in the Remain in Mexico program under Trump languish in uncertainty, after circumstances force them to miss court.

Date: March 28th, 2022

Source: Kens5

In south Texas’ Kenedy County, just two sheriff’s deputies per shift are assigned to patrol a region of nearly 2,000 square miles at any given time. And that’s on a good day. 

A captain with the department tells KENS 5 that isn’t enough to deal with the number of suspected migrants dying in Kenedy County fields.

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