Man who smuggled cousins in flag-draped coffin gets 8 months in prison
A federal judge on Friday sentenced a 33-year-old man who admitted to trying to smuggle two cousins from Mexico in a flag-draped “pseudo hearse” through the Falfurrias checkpoint to eight months in prison, court records indicate.
myrgv.comSanctioned: Mexico opts to punish Texas over its costly border policies
Mexico’s Economic Minister Tatiana Clouthier recently announced that a major international rail project will rerouted to bypass Texas, as a protest to Gov. Greg Abbott’s “enhanced” inspections of freight carriers entering the state from Mexico. The new line will route around Texas, entering the country at Santa Teresa, New Mexico just west of El Paso. Mexico already is Texas’ largest trading partner, with more than $400 billion worth of merchandise crossing our state’s borders every year. Federal officials said that during the inspections, commercial traffic at some Texas bridges fell by up to 60% to 70%.
myrgv.comBig cross-border tunnel found linking Tijuana, San Diego
Authorities have announced the discovery of a major drug smuggling tunnel — running about the length of a six football fields — from Mexico to a warehouse in an industrial area in the U.S. The cross-border tunnel from Tijuana to the San Diego area was built in one of the most fortified stretches of the border, illustrating the limitations of border walls.
Big cross-border tunnel is found linking Tijuana, San Diego
U.S. authorities on Monday announced the discovery of an underground smuggling tunnel on Mexico's border, running the length of a football field on U.S. soil to a warehouse in an industrial area. The cross-border tunnel from Tijuana to the San Diego area was built in one of the most fortified stretches of the border, illustrating the limitations of former President Donald Trump’s border wall. While considered effective against small, crudely built tunnels called “gopher holes,” walls are no match for more sophisticated passages that run deeper underground.
news.yahoo.comCustoms officers find rare and destructive insect at Pharr bridge
Federal agriculture specialists found a rare and invasive pest in a shipment of fruit at the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge last week, possibly being the first occasion in which the insect has been found in the United States. “The insect was submitted for identification to a U.S. Department of Agriculture entomology laboratory and the initial identification was later confirmed as Cochabamba sp.,” CBP said in the release. CBP refused entry to the shipment and returned it back to Mexico. “The interception is an example of the diligent work CBP agriculture specialists do on a daily basis to fulfill CBP’s agriculture mission, which is crucial in preventing foreign pests from establishing in the United States,” CBP stated. “Pests that are not known to occur in the U.S. may be detrimental to the nation’s agriculture industry.”
myrgv.com16,000 rounds of ammunition bound for Mexico seized at Hidalgo bridge
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge stopped thousands of rounds of ammunition from going into Mexico on Tuesday, an agency news release said. CBP officers inspected a white Chevrolet pickup truck traveling into Mexico and, according to the CBP release, found 3,000 rounds of .38 caliber pistol ammunition and 13,000 rounds of 7.62X39 rifle ammunition hidden in the vehicle. In all, CBP officers seized 16,000 rounds during the single inspection. “Our CBP officers prevented this ammunition from landing in the streets of Mexico, helping to save countless lives all thanks to their diligent inspection work,” Port Director Carlos Rodriguez said in the release. “The undeclared exportation of weapons and ammunition into Mexico is illegal.”CBP seized the ammunition and the vehicle, and the case remains under investigation by special agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations.
myrgv.comAustralian woman missing in Mexico after child found alone
Authorities on Mexico’s Caribbean coast have issued an alert for a missing Australian woman whose 2-year-old daughter was found wandering alone in the resort city of Cancun. Prosecutors in the coastal state of Quintana Roo said Tahnee Shanks, 32, was last seen on Monday in Cancun. Aguirre Astudillo is also 32 and was also last heard from Monday.
news.yahoo.comUS quietly expands asylum limits while preparing to end them
SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Biden administration has begun expelling Cubans and Nicaraguans to Mexico under pandemic-related powers to deny migrants a chance to seek asylum, expanding use of the rule even as[San Marcos, TX] [Hays County news] News San Marcos News, San Marcos Record [Texas State]
sanmarcosrecord.comMexican officials force airlines to use new, distant airport
Transportation officials in Mexico said Wednesday they will effectively force airlines to use a new, more distant airport that was one of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s pet projects. López Obrador inaugurated the new Felipe Angeles airport, 27 miles (43 kilometers) north of Mexico City, in March.
news.yahoo.comUS quietly expands asylum limits while preparing to end them
Officials say the Biden administration has begun expelling Cubans and Nicaraguans to Mexico under pandemic-related powers that deny migrants a chance to seek asylum, expanding use of the rule even as it publicly says it has been trying to unwind it.
Mexico will take back more Cubans and Nicaraguans expelled by U.S.
The deal is potentially significant because the Mexican government has more latitude to carry out deportation flights to Cuba and Nicaragua, nations whose frosty relations with Washington severely limit the United States’ ability to return their citizens.
washingtonpost.comFeds: Texan tried to return from Mexico with 71,500-plus pills
BROWNSVILLE — A traveler from Magnolia, Texas, was stopped at the border while trying to return from Mexico with a lot of pills this weekend, federal authorities announced Tuesday. “This seizure of undeclared prescription medication was composed of sedatives and other medications that are classified as controlled substances by the Drug Enforcement Administration,” said Port Director Tater Ortiz, Brownsville Port of Entry. While in the secondary inspection area, with the aid of a canine unit and a non-intrusive inspection system, CBP officers discovered pills hidden within the vehicle. CBP officers removed the prescription medication, which contained a total of 71,590 pills, including 58,038 Xanax pills. Authorities seized the undeclared medication and the vehicle, arrested the traveler and turned him over to the custody of Cameron County Sheriff’s Department for further investigation.
myrgv.comProminent murder cases often remain mysteries in Mexico
As Mexican investigators struggle with the so-far inexplicable death of an 18 year-old woman, the odds of an answer are slim: The large majority of homicides in Mexico go unsolved and even nationally notorious cases tend to wind up as mysteries
washingtonpost.comCanada issues fines for pandemic party on flight to Mexico
Transport Canada says a group of 37 passengers who were shown on video drinking and partying amid the pandemic on a chartered Sunwing flight from Montreal to Mexico in late December have been fined a total of CDN$59,500 (US$46,480)
washingtonpost.comArrest made in speed board smuggling case near Mission
A man who authorities say used a speed boat to smuggle people into the country illegally, crossing them through the Rio Grande near Mission, was arrested by border agents Sunday. Jose Luna, a United States citizen, was arrested Sunday afternoon after agents recognized Luna’s vehicle, which was hauling a speed boat that was used to smuggle six people from Mexico. Among those vehicles was a GMC Sierra registered to Luna that was towing a speed boat, a white Dodge Ram flatbed truck and a red Chevrolet Silverado. Troopers stopped the driver of the Dodge Ram for speeding. Border Patrol boat units witnessed the same speed boat being docked in Mexico, loaded onto a trailer and taken into Mexico.
myrgv.comCBP seizes over $114k in undeclared cash at Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers arrested a woman carrying over $114,000 in undeclared cash as she tried to cross into Mexico by taxi at the Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge on Sunday, according to a news release from the federal agency. Officers conducting outbound enforcement operations selected a blue Ford SUV for inspection. At the second inspection area, officers found three bulk currency packages sealed in plastic bags and wrapped with black tape inside of Zuniga’s jacket and purse, the release said. Because she was physically holding the packages, officers believe she knowingly concealed the cash, according to the complaint. Officers counted a total of twelve packages with a total of $114,294 on Zuniga’s person.
myrgv.comImmigration laws causing unnecessary pain
Holding her baby, a 15-year-old girl, traveling north through Mexico, noticed her “coyote” was now driving southward. Fearful she might be coerced into sex slavery, she dumped her purse onto a front seat, including $100. According to the Brookings Institute, U.S. population growth has stalled to the lowest pace since 1900, primarily due to young women postponing childbirth and restrictive immigration laws. And we’re doing better than other “developed countries.” No matter what, our future population will be more racially and ethnically diverse. Are they condemned to be sex slaves?”Our immigration laws are bad morality, bad policy, and causing unnecessary pain.
myrgv.comSevere weather poised to hit Valley this evening
Thunderstorms from two different directions are bearing down on the Rio Grande Valley today, with the possibility of severe weather coming from both systems. To the north, a slow-moving cold front was working its way through Central Texas at around noon today. “And as these two features slowly move toward South Texas, we’ll start to see the potential for some severe thunderstorms,” she added. “But we’re more concerned about the potential for flooding.”Farris said today’s severe weather could begin around dinnertime. Severe weather is already affecting North and Central Texas, where Abilene and Dallas were hit hard Sunday night.
myrgv.comWhat did Greg Abbott’s border inspections turn up? Oil leaks, flat tires and zero drugs
The governor ordered troopers to thoroughly inspect every commercial truck coming from Mexico in what he described as an effort to stop illegal drugs and migrants from being smuggled into Texas. His order for increased state inspections led to snarling delays in trade between the two countries.
Under Texas’ strict abortion law, McAllen clinic sees patients seeking medication across the border
The law went into effect in September, a week before Mexico’s Supreme Court dissolved a Coahuila state law that made abortion a crime. Now some Texans further along in their pregnancies are going there for abortion-inducing drugs.
Biden administration, Mexican governors urge Abbott to end inspections that have bogged down border trade
Gov. Greg Abbott is slated to have a meeting and press event with Samuel Alejandro García Sepúlveda — the Mexican governor of Nuevo León, the state that includes a section of the border near Laredo — later Wednesday afternoon.
Man who skipped murder trial last year arrested in Mexico, extradited to Bexar County, DA’s office says
Investigators with the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office assigned to the U.S. Marshals Service Lone Star Fugitive Task Force have located and extradited a man charged with murder to Bexar County, according to the DA’s office.
Will the U.S. men blow their chance for a World Cup spot, like they did for the 2018 event?
Nearly five years after the United States men’s national soccer team famously blew a spot in the 2018 World Cup by losing to a vastly inferior Trinidad and Tobago squad in October of 2017 in the final game of qualifying, the moment of redemption has finally arrived for the Americans.