I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
After watching businesses in their neighboring states profit for years, businesspeople and officials along the Mexico-New Mexico border impressed it upon their beltway representatives that they, too, finally wanted to cash in on what has not been coming their way.…
New Mexico’s two U.S. senators want to expand the zone within New Mexico in which Mexican nationals who hold Border Crossing Cards, or “laser cards,” can travel inside.
The governors of the four U.S. southern border states will join their counterparts from the northern states of Mexico in a conference to be held in Ensenada, Baja California. Gov. Susana Martinez will serve as vice-chair of the conference,…
Officials from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) say apprehensions of people illegally crossing the New Mexico section of the U.S.-Mexico border have once again declined in fiscal year 2011.
The New York Times reports that the Obama Administration is allowing Mexican forces to stage operations against suspected drug traffickers from the American side of the border.
A poll, released just two days after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced changes to its deportation proceedings, indicates that a majority of likely voters still favors border security.
A Superior Court judge on Friday rejected a challenge filed by Arizona State Senate President Russell Pearce’s attorney, ruling that the recall of Pearce could proceed. Groups cited Pearce’s authorship of the controversial immigration bill SB1070 among its reasons for seeking the recall.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives promoted three supervisors to new management operations after they supervised operation Operation Fast and Furious, which allowed nearly 2,000 guns to “walk” across the U.S./Mexico border over 14 months. Nearly 200 have been recovered at crime scenes in Mexico and two guns were at the scene of the murder of Border Patrolman Brian Terry.
Mexican immigration to the United States has slowed to a trickle, according to the Mexican government. Migration from Mexico peaked in 2006 or 2007, when roughly one percent of the population left the country each year. Today, the number is around one third of one percent per year, says Mexico.
The U.S.-Mexico border is more secure than it’s ever been, according to current and former top border officials who appeared at a panel hosted by the Center for American Progress on Thursday.
The National Rifle Association filed a lawsuit Wednesday in D.C. Federal Court seeking an injunction against a new rule requiring gun dealers in Arizona, New Mexico, California and Texas to inform the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) if a person buys more than one semiautomatic rifle that accepts a detachable magazine and uses ammunition greater than .22 caliber within five days.
An analysis by the Transactional Records Clearinghouse at Syracuse University shows that two immigration judges in El Paso, Tex., have a much higher denial rate than the national average. El Paso borders Juarez, Mexico, a city known for its out-of-control drug violence; there have been about 1,220 homicides this year, while there were 3,100 in 2010.
When journalist Jose Antonio Vargas confessed to being undocumented in a piece for New York Times Magazine, he stated that he had obtained an Oregon driver’s license by using a fake Social Security card and proof of residency. However, his lawyer advised him not to include the fact that he had obtained a Washington state driver’s license after the Oregon one expired. That news broke soon after the story was published. Now, Vargas’ license has been canceled by the Washington State Licensing Department, which cited Vargas’ lack of residence in the state as their reason for revoking his license.
Sari Horwitz of the Washington Post reports on how the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives mishandled a gun-running sting along the U.S.-Mexico border termed Operation Fast and Furious. The agents were instructed not to arrest straw purchasers as they handed over semi-automatic weapons to middlemen. One of those guns ended up killing Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry on December 14, 2010 in Mexico.
The United States deported a record of nearly 393,000 people in the fiscal year ending September 30, according to statistics (pdf) from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). About half were deported for criminal convictions, while the other half were deported for “non-criminal immigration violations.”
Texas Gov. Rick Perry blasted out a statement opposing the new reporting rules for multiple semiautomatic gun purchases in states bordering Mexico. “Singling out border states and targeting legal gun sales and sellers will have little or no impact on the Mexican cartels transporting drugs, guns and cash to and from major cities throughout the U.S.,” he said.
The Obama administration approved a rule requiring gun dealers in Arizona, New Mexico, California and Texas to inform the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives if a person buys more than one semiautomatic rifle that accepts a detachable magazine and uses ammunition greater than .22 caliber within five days.
The first meaningful Republican debate of the 2011-2012 primary was held in New Hampshire yesterday, and the candidates had much to say on how they would handle immigration.
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer is set to tell her side of the SB 1070 drama in a provocatively titled memoir due out in November. “Scorpions For Breakfast: My Fight Against Special Interests, Liberal Media and Cynical Politicos to Secure America’s Border” is scheduled to be published in November by Broadside Books, a conservative imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
Just a day after President Obama’s speech at the U.S./Mexico border on immigration reform, Sen. Jeff Bingaman helped introduce legislation that would provide college students who entered the country before the age of 15 with a path to citizenship.
