Audit: As border cases go up, staffing stays the same and morale falls

WASHINGTON - Staffing shortages and a surging workload at the southwest border have depleted morale among customs and border officials, who feel overworked and misused, leaving many ready to quit, a Homeland Security official testified Tuesday.


Doctors, shelters stitch medical care help for El Paso migrants

EL PASO, Texas – A humanitarian matchup of medical, shelter and government workers reach out to try to help some of the thousands of migrants who cross into El Paso from its municipal twin, Ciudad Juárez in Chihuahua, Mexico. El Paso city officials estimate that an average 250 people daily – up to 1,000 daily during surges – make their way from half a dozen countries, mainly from South America.

A migrant waits in the intake room before being taken into an exam room at a clinic in El Paso. Advocates say hope and faith is a common denominator among migrants who leave home and make their way through hardships on their journey to the U.S. (Photo by Paula Soria/Cronkite News)

Supreme Court dismisses Arizona’s last-ditch attempt to preserve Title 42

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court has formally dismissed an Arizona-led effort to preserve Title 42, the pandemic-era immigration restriction that the Biden administration officially ended last week, saying Arizona v. Mayorkas was now moot.


Dominican Republic border wall deepens tensions over Haitian immigration

DAJABÓN, Dominican Republic - Regulating immigration has become a hot-button political issue in the Dominican Republic and, as in the U.S., the Dominican government decided that a partial solution to this problem was to build a border wall.

A group of Haitians, including a young girl, are deported to Haiti at the border gates in Dajabón, Dominican Republic, on March 4, 2023. (Photo by Roxanne De La Rosa/Cronkite Borderlands Project)

Latinos continue to fight to play crucial roles in Hollywood

LOS ANGELES – Even as Hollywood execs talk of a changing industry that embraces a diverse landscape of filmmakers and artists, data show Latino acting roles in film and entertainment at large have steadily declined.

Ben Dejesus working with a camera for a shoot. (Photo courtesy of Espada PR)

Map of border surveillance towers shows growing ‘virtual wall’ along US southern border

PHOENIX – The Electronic Frontier Foundation created a map of more than 300 surveillance towers on the United States-Mexico border. EFF questions the implications of surveillance on citizens in border communities and the expansion of surveillance technology.

Two remote video surveillance systems are shown on hills across from the border wall in Nogales, Ariz. (Photo courtesy of Electronic Frontier Foundation)

Border towns see ‘disaster’ without federal help as end to Title 42 looms

WASHINGTON - Arizona border communities face a "humanitarian disaster" in two weeks if the federal government does not step in to help with the crush of migrants expected when Title 42 ends, local officials told a Senate panel Wednesday.


Explosives training brings military and law enforcement from around the world to Marana

MARANA – The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives hosts improvised explosive device exercises for public safety bomb squads and military explosive ordnance disposal units. The most recent, called Raven’s Challenge, was at Pinal County Airpark in Marana earlier this month.

Raven’s Challenge subject matter expert David Bebout (not pictured) demonstrates a type of explosion commonly used in Hollywood films at Pinal County Airpark on March 2, 2023. Three pounds of explosive make up the charge. (Photo by Jack Wu/Cronkite News)

Pinal, Yuma officials tell House migration surge is overwhelming them

WASHINGTON - Arizona officials told a House panel that local law enforcement and health care workers are ill-equipped to handle the recent surge of immigration at the southern border, the latest in a string of GOP hearings attacking the White House over the border.


Both sides pan administration plan to tighten rules for asylum seekers

WASHINGTON - The White House unveiled a plan Thursday to deny asylum to migrants who try to cross the southwest border illegally or who do not first seek asylum in countries they cross on their way to the U.S. as they flee their home countries.


States’ challenge to fed border policy pulled from Supreme Court calendar

WASHINGTON - Arizona was already edging away from a legal challenge by states trying to keep the Title 42 border policy in place when the Supreme Court on Thursday took the case off its calendar.


Republicans, Democrats offer differing visions during respective Arizona border visits

DOUGLAS – House Speaker Kevin McCarthy toured the border Thursday with a delegation of Republican freshmen and demanded border security from the Biden administration for an area where McCarthy said Mexican "cartels are the biggest employer." Democrats brushed the tour off as just another photo op along the border.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., visited the U.S.-Mexico border on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023. McCarthy had made securing the border a key issue during the midterm elections. (Photo by James Powel/Cronkite News)