Senate votes to put the ‘illegal’ in illegal migration, make it a state crime
PHOENIX - The Senate voted Wednesday to make it a state crime to illegally enter Arizona by crossing the border between ports of entry - a proposal that Democratic opponents called both racially motivated and unconstitutional.
House panel advances GOP plan to check citizenship of welfare recipients
PHOENIX - A House committee, on a party-line vote, gave preliminary approval Monday to a ballot measure that would require cities, towns and agencies to check the citizenship status of anyone applying for public welfare benefits or a license of any kind.
January sees sharp drop in border numbers after record-setting December
WASHINGTON - Border encounters plunged from record highs of more than 300,000 in December to 176,205 in January, a 42% drop that border officials attributed to enforcement efforts and a traditional seasonal drop - but few were confident that numbers will stay at this level.
Border bill includes funds for local communities, along with Ukraine, Israel
WASHINGTON - The bipartisan immigration reform bill unveiled in the Senate late Sunday includes $1.4 billion to help border communities grappling with the migrant surge, in addition to funding for Ukraine and Israel. But it faces an uphill battle to approval in Congress.
Lawmakers approve $8 million to continue busing asylum seekers from border
PHOENIX - Legislators approved an additional $8 million for a Department of Emergency and Military Affairs program that buses migrants away from border communities. More than 81,000 people have been transported since the program launched in 2022.
Brnovich says states can take border action; Democrats pan ‘crackpot’ theory
WASHINGTON - Former Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich told a House panel that states have a constitutional right to secure their borders if the federal government - an argument that critics at the hearing derided as an unconstitutional "crackpot legal theory."
As immigration debate heats up, migrant encounters in December set record
WASHINGTON - Border officials said they encountered more than 300,000 migrants at the southern border in December, a one-month record that pushed the total for the first quarter of fiscal 2024 to 785,422. It comes as debate on immigration heats up in Washington.
Asylum seekers face new requirement to find their own interpreters
PHOENIX – USCIS is reverting to pre-pandemic requirements that ordered asylum seekers to find and bring their own English interpreters to U.S. immigration interviews.
For immigrants in the Dominican Republic, access to HIV treatment is difficult to obtain
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – AIDS Healthcare Foundation works to provide treatment for people living in the Dominican Republic. But for Haitian migrants, access to care can be difficult.
Alzheimer’s impacts border communities in Texas at a higher rate than the rest of the state
LAREDO, Texas – Laredo and El Paso, two border communities, are tied for the highest rate of Alzheimer’s cases in Texas. According to a study released by the Alzheimer's Association, Laredo and El Paso have the highest Alzheimer's rate in Texas – and ninth in the nation – at 15%.
Tucson sees most border encounters, as migrants turn away from other sectors
WASHINGTON - Migrant encounters in the Tucson sector of the border have steadily increased in recent years until the sector became busier last year than any other on the southern border, replacing the Rio Grande Valley as the busiest.
Americans cross the US-Mexico border for more affordable IVF treatment
YUMA – Cristina Yanez and her husband, Alex, spent eight years trying to conceive a child, but they were always met with disappointment. That’s when the Yuma couple turned to IVF options in Mexico. Now, they’re parents of three boys.
