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In November last year, a caravan of hundreds of migrants approached the U.S.-Mexico border near San Diego and faced old landing-mat border barriers erected decades ago. Border agents say the migrants simply trampled over it as they sought entry into the United States to claim asylum as part of migrant waves that would overwhelm authorities. The situation on the ground is much different now. As part of President Trump’s campaign promise to build a wall along the southern border, 14 miles of 18-foot primary steel bollard fencing has been built in San Diego, with a secondary 30-foot steel bollard barrier...

On October 7, United States Customs and Border Protection agents discovered that the two men in a truck at an immigration checkpoint were Hondurans. A border patrol agent was hurt when “the driver accelerated” while agents sought to remove the men from the truck. The men drove away in the truck but were later captured. From the CBP press release: Agents referred the vehicle for a more extensive inspection, during which agents determined the two occupants were citizens of Honduras. As agents attempted to extract the subjects from the vehicle, the driver accelerated, injuring an agent. The driver and passenger...

A caravan of roughly 2,000 migrants bound for the United States early Saturday was halted by Mexican authorities only a few hours into their journey, according to officials. The caravan, which consisted of migrants from Africa, the Caribbean, and Central America, left before dawn from Tapachula, a town in southern Mexico near the Guatemalan border, Reuters reported. Many of the migrants who departed from Tapachula early in the morning had been held up there for weeks or months, awaiting residency or transit papers from Mexican authorities. About 24 miles into their journey, federal police and national guardsmen blocked their path....

Issued on: October 11, 2019 It is extremely disappointing that yet another judicial ruling has blocked—on a nationwide basis—this Administration’s efforts to restore integrity to the immigration system, consistent with the plain meaning and clear intent of the law.  The public charge ground of inadmissibility has been a part of United States immigration law for more than 100 years, and is explicitly authorized by Section 212(a)(4) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.  Congress has also made clear that aliens should “not depend on public resources to meet their needs.”  But the rulings today prevent our Nation’s immigration officers from ensuring...

President Donald Trump said in a tweet Friday that acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan is stepping down. Trump in his tweet congratulated McAleenan on a “job well done” and said he would be announcing a new acting secretary next week. He added that there were “many wonderful candidates.” “Kevin McAleenan has done an outstanding job as Acting Secretary of Homeland Security. We have worked well together with Border Crossings being way down. Kevin now, after many years in Government, wants to spend more time with his family and go to the private sector,” Trump tweeted.

There's heavy construction south of Donna. It’s the second project of its kind in the Rio Grande Valley. This is the ground preparation for the construction of a new border wall. CHANNEL 5 NEWS asked Border Patrol about the contractors, agents and equipment we're seeing at this location. They referred us to an April memo announcing $145 million and a contract with SLSCO to build 13 miles of border wall in the Valley.

Protesters forced acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan to end his speech at a recent event in Washington, D.C. On Monday, McAleenan was invited to give remarks and then participate in a discussion session at an annual immigration policy meeting hosted by Georgetown Law. However, protesters kept standing up, holding banners and shouting to prevent the acting secretary from being heard by other attendees.

Senators voted Wednesday to rebuke President Trump and cancel his border emergency, saying he overstepped his powers in grabbing $3.6 billion Congress approved for military construction projects and instead spending it on his campaign promise to build a border wall. The 54-41 vote is unlikely to stop the president, though. While the measure is likely to pass the House, a veto is expected — and Wednesday’s tally showed there are more than enough Republicans ready to sustain Mr. Trump... The vote was a do-over. Congress held a similar vote in March, after Mr. Trump, furious that Congress approved only $1.375...

I grew up during the Reagan years, and I remember them well. To me, the war and social upheavals of the 60s were history I’d never experienced and the country had thankfully moved past, and I was too young to remember the Carter malaise. So, the sense of national unity, patriotism, and optimism under the Gipper seemed like the norm, not an eight-year aberration, for a child of the 80s like myself. In hindsight, President Reagan was exactly what the country needed at the time. His inspiring speeches, calming demeanor, and even strident anti-communism were the perfect tonic for a...

President Trump made a whirlwind tour through San Diego, exuding optimism, vim and vigor.He was in full command at his press conference at the border wall, and the local press coverage, at least as seen on television, was strikingly positive. I watched the live coverage on the local stations here in San Diego. They just let him talk - a fairly long version is here and a shortened shareable form is here: A local Fox News affiliate has a great second segment: ABC's KGTV local affiliate's television coverage, including the post-visit analysis, was even better, but it's not on the web, so...

The Defense Department is no longer moving forward with three border barrier projects in California and Arizona, according to a court filing Monday. The move is a reversal of an earlier Pentagon authorization for about 20 miles of fencing, lighting and other border infrastructure that would have used $2.5 billion in funds redirected from a counter-drug fund. That authorization, announced Aug. 27, was based on what was then determined to be "lower-than-expected contract costs." But the Defense Department revealed in the Monday filing that the department would not be able to cover the costs of the project. The Defense Department...

JUAREZ, Mexico — A United Nations agency, with funding from the U.S. State Department, is transporting thousands of immigrants from the U.S.-Mexico border back to Central America in a program that has drawn the ire of migrant legal advocates. The advocates question whether migrants fully understand their rights when they accept free plane and bus tickets home.

The US Defense Department said Tuesday that it would keep up to 5,500 troops deployed at the Mexican border for the coming year to help combat illegal immigration. A week after announcing it would divert $3.6 billion in funds for the construction of an anti-migrant wall on the frontier, the Pentagon said it had also approved a request from the Department of Homeland Security to maintain a troop presence as well. The Defense Department "will provide up to 5,500 personnel to provide infrastructure support; operational support; detection and monitoring support; and air support," said Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Chris Mitchell....

The late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez in the mid-2000s attempted to coordinate with Colombian guerrillas to flood the United States with cocaine, according to federal prosecutors' documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal. According to the documents, former Venezuelan Supreme Court Magistrate Eladio Aponte took part in a meeting where Chávez in 2005 convened his closest advisers to draw up plans to ship cocaine to the United States with the help of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). SNIP “During the meeting, Chávez urged the group, in substance and in part, to promote his policy objectives, including to combat...

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke wants to tear down existing border walls between the United States and Mexico. The candidate responded “yes,” when asked about ripping down the border barriers during an interview with Latino USA’s Maria Hinojosa, which was released on Friday.

To listen to most Democrats, they’ve got President Trump on the run when it comes to immigration... But anyone who believes sanctuary-movement backers and Dems seeking to decriminalize illegal immigration are beating the president needs a reality check. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court ruled to permit the administration to go on refusing to accept applications for asylum from migrants who have passed through another country without being denied asylum there... That comes on the heels of the court’s decision in July to allow Trump to use money from the defense budget to build the border wall... a sign that the...

The United States Border Patrol Chief Carla Provost released data regarding the number of gang members apprehended by her men and women in her agency during the 2019 fiscal year through August. According to Provost, BP has arrested at least 445 individuals from the notorious Mara Salvatruchaa gang. "This fiscal year through August, Border Patrol agents have encountered & arrested 933 criminal gang members. Some smuggling, some being smuggled, some sneaking in, and some already here," Provost tweeted. These numbers include the following gangs: MS-13: 445 18th Street: 165 Paisas: 82 Surenos: 68 Latin Kings: 21 Tango Blast: 19 USBPChief...

Police in Minneapolis have arrested more than a dozen suspected gang members, some as young as 13, accused of preying on drunk people and robbing them of their cellphones and valuables in a series of violent attacks.

“Build the wall" became the unofficial rallying cry of then-candidate Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. Three years later, amid a series of legal and political setbacks that have raised questions about the project's future, the Trump administration is making a renewed effort to show voters the U.S.-Mexico border wall remains a top priority — touting recent construction and vowing to pick up the pace going into 2020. The purchase of critical strips of private land has cleared the way, they argue, for a new phase. The plan, officials told reporters at a briefing this week, is to construct upwards of 450-500...

The Supreme Court issued an unsigned order on Wednesday evening that effectively closes the United States’ southern border to nearly all Central American asylum seekers. The decision stays a lower court decision blocking a Trump administration policy that seeks to halt nearly all asylum applications from these migrants and allow the US government to require them to seek asylum in countries they travel through. The government will now be allowed to enforce the policy while legal challenges move ahead. The administration’s rule, issued on July 16, says that almost any foreign national who arrives at the southern border may not...