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MEXICO CITY (AP) — More than 25,000 Mexican workers at dozens of factories south of Brownsville, Texas, went on strike Friday after owners of the plants that assemble for export refused union demands for a 20 percent pay hike and an annual bonus. The Union of Maquiladora Industry Industrial Workers of Matamoros, the SJOIIM, said that by late Saturday nine companies had agreed to meet the salary and bonus demands. Union leader Juan Villafuerte thanked union members who had stood outside in the rain and cold, noting "we hope to soon conclude this labor ." The government of Tamaulipas state...

There was considerable mention of a border fence between Mexico and Guatemala a few years back. Did Mexico make good on their stance and build that wall on their southern border?

WASHINGTON - A south Texas rancher, Texas sheriffs, an Arizona district attorney and other law enforcement representatives urged Senate committee members Wednesday to heed their warning: The porous southern border of the United States is a national security risk. Witnesses told Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, chairman of the Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship subcommittee, at a hearing on border violence that without cooperation from Mexico, combined with federal support from the United States, the situation at the border will continue to deteriorate. Cornyn focused the hearing on recent reports of Mexican military incursions into the United States, increasing border violence...

Illegal aliens robbed trying to cross into U.S. FROM STAFF REPORTS Feb 21, 2006, 9:23 pm Forty-four illegal aliens were robbed twice Tuesday morning, first on their way into the United States and again once they crossed the border. The Yuma County Sheriff's Office responded at 8 a.m. to County 18-1/2 Street and the Colorado River near Gadsden for the group who had been apprehended by the Border Patrol. Those in the group said they had been robbed in Mexico and then robbed again after they crossed the border. "I don't know of anything they could have had left," said...

Democratic U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona has criticized Gov. Janet Napolitano's steps to crack down on illegal immigration, saying her border plans are an insult to Mexican-Americans. The governor has taken steps for state authorities to confront Arizona's immigration problems and has proposed a $100 million plan that includes new state police squads focused on border security and millions of dollars for communities to tackle border-related woes. The governor also is asking the military to pay for stationing an unspecified number of National Guard troops at Arizona-Mexico border. The state already has about 170 National Guard troops stationed at...

Can workers from Thailand be imported in enough numbers to harvest the Central Valley orange crop? California Citrus Mutual, an organization of growers, is studying a proposal from a labor contractor to bring in enough Asian workers on a temporary basis to get the fruit off the trees. Orange growers are the latest Central Valley farmers to complain that traditional sources of field labor are producing fewer and fewer workers. Blamed are tougher controls of the border with Mexico and higher paying jobs in Central Valley construction luring what workers there are. A final deal has not been worked out...

Lawsuits seeking millions in damages have been filed in federal court in Victoria by survivors of seven illegal immigrants who died in Victoria County's infamous 2003 human-smuggling case. The suits allege that the Savanna, Ga.-based Great Dane trailers, manufacturer of the trailer in which the immigrants rode during their ill-fated journey from the Mexican border, failed to install escape latches inside the fully insulated refrigerator trailer, which had no ventilation system. The oversight left the trapped occupants with no access to fresh air, no means of escape, and placed them in danger of suffocation and death, the suits claim. The...

MEXICO CITY, May 18 - Five days after President Vicente Fox provoked a storm of outrage in the United States by saying that Mexican migrants do work that "not even blacks want to do," the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson said in a visit to Mexico on Wednesday that he welcomed the remarks, in a backhand sort of way. Perhaps the greatest denial has been here in Mexico, where there is usually very little public examination of race, much less racism. Here, too, Mr. Fox seems to have opened a door, and this week the country seems engrossed by it. Mexicans...

Casey Nethercott is the leader of a militia group dubbed the Arizona Guard and said during a TV interview broadcast on Friday, "When this Minuteman thing is over, if it doesn't work, we're going to come out here and close the border with machine guns." KVOA TV-4 in Tucson carried a report on Friday by reporter Nancy Perla that toured the group's compound that sits along the Arizona/Mexico border near Douglas, Arizona. The camera showed two older model American made SUV's, both painted black, that Nethercott claims are "armored vehicles" with "quarter-inch steel in them." Pointing again to the vehicles,...

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) Two Texas residents have been arraigned here on a charge of conspiring to import illegal aliens. Shan Wei Yu, 51, of McKinney, Texas, and An Dong Cen, 35, of Houston, are accused of conspiring with the help of others to recruit more than 50 illegal aliens in Texas to work in Asian restaurants in the Dakotas, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio, U.S. Attorney Drew Wrigley said Monday. Yu also is charged with money laundering conspiracy. ``Local (immigration) agents uncovered what appears to be a criminal employment organization that was based in Texas but reached all the...

CHICAGO -- A federal judge Tuesday sentenced a Jordanian woman to 15 months in prison for illegally entering the United States, despite her tearful explanation she believed her family in her native country wanted to kill her. In handing down the sentence for Wafa Mustafa, 35, U.S. District Judge David H. Coar said he was troubled by the defendant's long history of felony convictions in the years she spent in the United States. "Every country has the right to protect itself and its citizens," Coar said. "You have shown a flagrant disregard for the laws of our nation." Mustafa last...

Mayor comes home a hero Times staff reports Laredo Mayor Betty Flores arrived Friday from her three-day trip to Washington D.C. and brought with her $4 million in federal appropriations. Mayor Flores headed home on a high note, bearing news that over $4 million in federal appropriations for Laredo were approved Thursday night by Congress via a congressional bill that contained Laredo earmarks. The $373 billion spending measure contains an Omnibus Bill, which includes federal earmarks for the Gateway City specifically for transportation and mass transit projects. "I want to thank our congressional leadership that continues to support Laredo and...

Conservatives wage war with governor, RINOs March 30, 2003 What’s the difference between Eddie Farnsworth and Trent Lott? Eddie’s the one with the spine. And he’s willing to use it to stand up to tyrants in state government, namely Gov. Janet Napolitano and RINO senator Linda Binder. Rep. Farnsworth (R-D22), the House majority leader, and other conservative legislators are unhappy with liberal Republicans for killing good Republican bills. Informed consent, a taxpayer’s bill of rights and fetal manslaughter legislation all went down to defeat, thanks to liberal Democrats and Republicans. Farnsworth met recently with Sen. Binder (R-D3) and laid down...

<p>TUCSON - Mexican customs officials closed down commercial port facilities just south of the Mariposa Port of Entry near Nogales, Mexico, for about 3 ½ hours after two reports of a tractor-trailer carrying explosives.</p> <p>A Mexican Customs official said all activity at the port was halted shortly after noon Wednesday because of a telephoned bomb threat.</p>

<p>In the desert southwest, reality and mirage are often one in the same. A gust of wind, and facts disappear. A downpour in a nearby mountain, and roads fade to memories. Were they ever there? You remember them, don't you?</p>

Arizona has become a fertile ground for outside vigilantes who are using national security concerns as an excuse to push their racist and anti-immigrant agenda and break numerous state laws, a human rights group warns in a report to be released today. "There's more than enough evidence, besides a moral imperative, to stop these groups," said Jennifer Allen, co-director of the Border Action Network. "People have already been killed, and it's only going to get worse." The Tucson-based group will unveil the report at a news conference in Phoenix and deliver it to Gov.-elect Janet Napolitano. The group hopes she...

        ON THE NEXT UNSPUN... TUESDAY, December 10, 20029:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m. EST / 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. PST... BORDER-LINE INSANITY Our troops are sent overseas to battle those who invaded us.New laws have been passed and American citizensare under closer scrutiny and greater suspicionthan ever before by our government.Meanwhile, back at the ranch...landowners are forced to take measures for defenseof themselves and of their property being invaded.Is "diversity our strength"providing positive outcome for our nationas it provides opportunity for the down-and-outof other nations?Or is it simply a ploy for cheap labor,easy votes...and dissolving our sovereignty?  MICHELLE MALKINcolumnist and...