Advocates vow Supreme Court ruling not last word on border wall funds
WASHINGTON - Immigration advocates are vowing to continue to fight the use of Defense Department funds for construction of a border wall, after the Supreme Court late Friday lifted lower courts' injunction on the funds transfer.
Lawmakers spar over family separations, detention center conditions
WASHINGTON - A House panel grilled administration officials over migrant family separations and conditions at border detention facilities, but the hearing produced more partisan sparks than answers - although both sides agreed that the situation at the border has reached crisis levels.
Puerto Ricans in Valley demand island governor’s resignation over offensive messages
PHOENIX – The publication of offensive messages from Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló’s private chats has sparked protests in Phoenix and across the U.S.
21st-century druids: No animal sacrifices, but connected to community, history
PHOENIX – Mark Bailey is a 21st century druid, a member of Arizona’s Grove of the Rising Phoenix. He doesn’t sacrifice animals or worship nature, and he has nuanced beliefs about an afterlife. Druids are steeped in more than two millennia of Indo-European history.
New Trump administration rule makes asylum harder for Central Americans
PHOENIX – Migrants heading to the U.S. southern border now face additional hurdles to gain asylum protection from the federal government.
Migrant shelter in Tucson may move to former juvenile detention facility
TUCSON – Leaders of a short-term shelter for migrants seeking asylum are asking Pima County to lease three units of an old juvenile detention facility. The dormitory-style space for about 300 migrants would include a commercial kitchen and laundry.
With ICE sweeps looming, immigration rhetoric heats up on Capitol Hill
WASHINGTON - Immigration rhetoric heated up on Capitol Hill, with.deportation sweeps expected to start in major cities this weekend and footage of migrant families held in what critics call "deplorable" conditions at the border sparking outrage from both sides of the aisle.
Trump vows Census will ask citizenship; critics decry ‘scare tactics’
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump vowed that his administration is "absolutely moving forward" with a push to include a citizenship question on the 2020 Census, just hours after the Census Bureau said it would not do so, a reversal advocates dismissed as a "scare tactic" by the president.
Protesters gather across Arizona to demand officials close immigrant detention centers
EL PASO, Texas – A group including Arizona Congressman Greg Stanton, D-Phoenix, recently visited immigration detention facilities in Texas. Stanton said the facilities don’t meet American values.
Emergency border funds get final OK, after some odd political turns
WASHINGTON – Congress gave a final OK, and the president is expected to sign, a border funding bill that does not include many migrant protections the House wanted - but it does send $4.59 billion to border agencies that said they could run out of funds to handle the surge of migrants at the border.
Supreme Court rejects – for now – citizenship question on 2020 Census
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court handed a temporary victory to opponents of a citizenship question on the 2020 Census, saying the government will have to go back and make a better case in court if it wants to include the question that critics say will suppress minority participation.
