Free Republic

The first migrants from a caravan that sparked the ire of President Donald Trump have started arriving at the US-Mexico border and asking for asylum, advocates say. About 50 Central Americans have arrived in Tijuana, Mexico, according to Juventud 2000, an organization that assists migrants in that border city. Of those, about 10 have turned themselves in to US authorities at the border. Others are waiting for a larger contingent from the caravan to arrive before they head north, Juventud 2000 Director Jose Maria Garcia Lara said.

A caravan of more than 1,500 families including men, women, and children are making their way from Central America through Mexico and are expected to arrive at the US-Mexico Border in the coming days to request refugee status. Known as the Viacrucis Migrante 2018, the caravan began on March 25 in the state of Chiapas and is expected to reach Tijuana within a month where the members of the group are expected to request refugee status from the U.S. government. The caravan is organized by the immigrant rights group Pueblo Sin Fronteras who have been posting updates about the caravan’s...

Headaches, rashes, infections, breathing problems. An increasing number of U.S. Border Patrol agents at the Imperial Beach station have reported a host of health problems since February, when an estimated 143 million gallons of Mexican sewage spilled into the Tijuana River Valley they patrol.

Officials with the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission, or IBWC, said they received word from the agency’s Mexican counterpart, the Comision Internacional de Limites y Aguas, or CILA, there was no report of a spill. “We did speak with Mexico, and we got through to CILA, and they said there’s no information regarding a spill,” said Lori Kuczmanski, spokeswoman for IBWC... Spearheaded by Dedina, an effort is building throughout the county to take the IBWC to court to force the federal agency to ramp up pressure on Mexico to stop the sewage spills. Imperial Beach and Chula Vista, as...

The sky had been dark since morning, the Baja sun a rumor behind banks of clouds settled comfortably over Tijuana’s haphazard hills. But that had not deterred hundreds of fans from gathering outside the high concrete walls of Club Tijuana’s Estadio Caliente hours before the Xoloitzcuintles, better known as the Xolos, played the first home game of their winter season.

Rising addiction rates and disputes among street-level drug dealers were key factors in driving up homicides in Tijuana last year, making 2016 the most violent in the city’s history, authorities said Tuesday. The total for the year came to 910 for Tijuana

Mexican police and soldiers have discovered two tunnels in the border city of Tijuana that lead into California. […] Prosecutors said Monday that one of the tunnels reached to San Diego, California, and the other was unfinished. The Attorney General’s Office said the tunnels were apparently used by the Sinaloa drug cartel to move drugs into the United States. …

Herds of African immigrants are being housed in shelters in the Mexican border town of Tijuana while they await entry into the United States under what appears to be a secret accord between the Obama administration, Mexico and the Central American countries the Africans transited on their journey north. - A backlog of African migrants is overwhelming limited shelter space in Tijuana and Mexican officials blame the slow pace of U.S. immigration authorities in the San Isidro port of entry for granting only 50 asylum solicitations daily. The African migrants’ journey begins in Brazil under a South American policy that...

Daniel Torres was an undocumented immigrant when he used a false US birth certificate to join the marine corps. After serving in Iraq, he was found out and discharged. Eventually he returned to Tijuana, where he was born, though he said he was always homesick for the country he had fought for.

But this one led to over a ton of coke and was 800 yards longFederal officials announced today (April 20) that they made arrests related to what is believed to be the longest cross-border drug transportation tunnel (800 yards in length), stretching from a house in Tijuana to a commercial lot in an Otay Mesa industrial park. Following an investigation that began on April 12, authorities seized 2242 pounds of cocaine and more than 14,000 pounds of marijuana. The cocaine stash is believed to be the largest ever seized from a tunnel. Six men (believed to be of Mexican descent,...

Among the several dozen Pakistani and Afghan men who have entered the U.S. illegally, coming into San Diego from Tijuana, two were found to have ties to terrorist groups, according to a letter sent by U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter to the Department of Homeland Security. Muhammad Azeem and Muktar Ahmad, both in their 20s, surrendered to U.S. Border Patrol agents in September, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. One was listed on the Terrorist Screening Database for “associations with a known or suspected terrorist. The other was a positive match for derogatory information in an alternative database,� according to Hunter’s...

he Border Patrol nabbed two Pakistani men with ties to terrorism at the U.S.-Mexico border in September in the latest instance of illegal immigrants from so-called “special interest countries� using the southern border as a point of entry to the U.S. Muhammad Azeem and Mukhtar Ahmad, both in their 20s and from Gujrat, were caught Sept. 20 by agents south of San Diego and just over the international border from Tijuana. When agents checked their identities through databases they got hits on both of them: Mr. Ahmad popped up as an associate of a known or suspected terrorist, while Mr....

Ticketed airline passengers crossing between San Diego and Tijuana will soon have a new option. A 390-foot pedestrian bridge linking Tijuana International Airport directly to Otay Mesa in San Diego is set to launch operations on Dec. 9. Users of the privately operated port of entry, called the Cross Border Xpress, will be charged for each crossing. Enrique Valle, chief executive officer of Otay Tijuana Ventures, builder and operator of $120 million facility, said Friday that the toll will be $15 for those who purchase tickets ahead of time on the website for the facility and $18 for those who...

Authorities seized 12 tons of marijuana and arrested 22 people after discovering one of the longest cross-border tunnels ever dug between the U.S. and Mexico, officials said Thursday. The passage connecting warehouses in San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico, was about 2,400 feet long and 30 feet deep. It was lit, ventilated and equipped with a rail system—hallmarks of the most sophisticated tunnels found along the border. …

What to make of the peculiar situation unfolding just across the border in Tijuana, where U.S. Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi languishes in solitary confinement for the crime of mistakenly crossing the border with his personal weapons in his truck on March 31? ADVERTISEMENT Nothing to inspire confidence, for certain. In fact, Tahmooressi’s ordeal might just confirm many of our worst fears about the Obama administration. [Big SNIP] That he refuses to get involved despite so obvious a brief for doing so—not to mention a legal duty—isn’t just a reflection of his incompetence. It looks more sinister than that. Tahmooressi is...

A Mexican federal judge ordered Andrew Tahmooressi back to prison after the U.S. Marine sergeant made his first official courtroom appearance since being locked up March 31 for accidentally crossing the border with guns in his pickup truck. The 26-year-old veteran of two tours in Afghanistan was finally able to tell his story to a judge, after his case had been delayed by both Mexico's unpredictable legal system and his own trouble settling on a lawyer. It was not immediately clear what Tahmooressi said at the evidentiary hearing, which was closed to the public.

Has anyone heard about Sgt Tahmooressi and what went on yesterday at his scheduled court date? I searched and haven't found a word about it. Anyone else?

A drug-smuggling tunnel equipped with electricity, ventilation and a rail system has been found connecting San Diego, California, and Tijuana, Mexico. Authorities seized more than eight tons of marijuana and 325lb (147kg) of cocaine in the discovery. Officials have not revealed the exact length or location of the recently finished tunnel, but Mexican media report it is near Tijuana's airport. More than 75 such secret tunnels have been discovered since 2008.

Sister Antonia Brenner, a Beverly Hills-raised mother of seven who became a Roman Catholic nun and moved into a notorious Tijuana prison where she spent more than three decades mending broken lives, easing tensions and dispensing everything from toothbrushes to bail money, has died. She was 86. Brenner, who had been in declining health, died Thursday of natural causes at the home of her religious order in Tijuana. She was born Mary Clarke in Los Angeles on Dec. 1, 1926, to Irish immigrant parents. Her father grew wealthy running an office supply business, and the family counted Hollywood stars such...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded $25,000 that will go to the construction of benches made of garbage for a park in Tijuana, Mexico. According to an EPA press release, the agency joined the San Diego Center for Civic Engagement in awarding $45,000 to 4Walls International for the construction of park spaces that will use trash pulled from the Tijuana River Valley as building materials. …