Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter

NEWS ABOUT: Border Patrol

Border Patrol stories: 15 news summaries

  Massive Drug Tunnel
  Found Under Mexico Border

Elaborate smuggling tunnel to Arizona has electricity, ventilation system

Jun 12, 09 1:46 AM CDT
(Newser) - The US Border Patrol has uncovered one of the biggest and most sophisticated smuggling tunnels under the Mexican border it has ever seen, CNN reports. The 83-foot tunnel to Arizona from Nogales, Mexico, was still under construction when it was found after a tipoff from somebody who heard construction sounds.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Mexico • Mexican border • Border Patrol • drug cartel • tunnel • Nogales • smuggling • drug smuggling

 Boy Scouts Train to Fight Terror, Patrol Borders
 

Program trains kids in terror threats, border protection

May 14, 09 7:02 AM CDT
(Newser) - Think of it as Extreme Boy Scouting: the co-ed Explorers program has trained kids across the country in law enforcement techniques for decades. But lately “our emphasis is on terrorism, illegal entry, drugs, and human smuggling,” says a Border Patrol agent of the program. That means charging around... More »

MORE ABOUT:
FBI • counterterrorism • Border Patrol • training • police department • Boy Scouts of America • Explorers

Border Patrol Destroys Foliage With Chemicals

Killing plants will cut hiding places for immigrants, smugglers

Mar 25, 09 10:10 AM CDT
(Newser) - In an effort to keep smugglers and illegal immigrants from hiding in heavy vegetation as they attempt to cross the Mexican border, the US Border Patrol is looking to Agent Orange for inspiration. One plan for cutting down on possible hiding places on riverbanks is to use an herbicide that... More »

MORE ABOUT:
illegal immigrant • border control • Mexican border • Border Patrol • smuggler • herbicide • border crossing • Agent Orange • Laredo, Texas • Rio Grande

 Drug Cartels' Latest Ploy: 
 Ultralight Planes 

Ultralight aircraft are the Mexican cartels' newest tactic

Mar 6, 09 3:56 PM CST
(Newser) - Mexican pot smugglers have come up with a new tool in their never-ending quest to outsmart US border patrols: ultralight aircraft, USA Today reports. An ultralight is a small plane resembling a scooter with a hang glider attached, and authorities have found several crashed or in mid-flight over the border... More »

MORE ABOUT:
War on Drugs • Mexico • Mexican border • marijuana • Mexican drug war • Border Patrol • smuggler • aircraft • Bill Maher • Bill Maher Grid

Bush Commutes Sentences of Former US Border Agents

Pair was convicted of shooting drug dealer

Jan 19, 09 12:56 PM CST
(AP) - In his final acts of clemency, President Bush today commuted the prison sentences of two former US Border Patrol agents whose convictions for shooting a Mexican drug dealer ignited fierce debate about illegal immigration. Bush's decision to commute the sentences of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who tried to cover... More »

MORE ABOUT:
presidential pardon • commutation • Border Patrol • Ignacio Ramos • George W. Bush • Jose Compean

Mexican Border 
Arrests Hit 30-Year Low 

Recession, enforcement keep Mexicans at home

Dec 29, 08 3:54 PM CST
(Newser) - The number of people trying to sneak into the US appears to be plummeting, thanks to tougher enforcement and the beleaguered US economy, USA Today reports. Just 705,000 people were caught trying to sneak in from Mexico in fiscal 2008, the lowest total since 1976. “We're definitely... More »

MORE ABOUT:
illegal immigrant • Mexico • Mexican border • Department of Homeland Security • Border Patrol • illegal immigration • border • economy

Work Begins on Controversial San Diego Border Fence

Critics charge $57M fence isn't worth cost or  environmental damage

Aug 16, 08 4:58 AM CDT
(Newser) - Construction crews have launched work on a controversial section of the US-Mexico border fence near San Diego, AP reports. The Smuggler's Gulch canyon will be filled with dirt and a fence built at a cost of $16 million a mile. Critics charge the fence is no longer vital and the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Mexican border • San Diego • Border Patrol • illegal immigration • Tijuana • border security • border fence

 Texas Defies UN,
 Executes Killer

World Court had ordered hearing

Aug 6, 08 2:33 AM CDT
(Newser) - A Mexican national convicted of raping and murdering two girls was executed in Texas yesterday in defiance of an international court. Attorneys for Jose Medellin, 33, had argued that authorities violated an international treaty when Medellin was denied access to Mexican consular officials after his arrest, reports the Houston Chronicle.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
death penalty • United Nations • Mexico • murder • lethal injection • execution • rape • Border Patrol • Jose Medellin • Mexican consulate • Jennifer Ertman • Elizabeth Pena

Glitches Delay 'Virtual' Border Fence 3 Years

Unmanned "fence' failed to perform in 28-mile pilot program

Feb 28, 08 8:12 AM CST
(Newser) - Plans to build a high-tech "virtual fence" along the US-Mexico border have been set back at least 3 years after serious problems emerged in the pilot project, the Washington Post reports. The 28-mile fence south of Tuscon, which included unmanned surveillance towers equipped with radar linked to computers, didn't... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Mexican border • Border Patrol • radar • border security • border fence • virtual fence

'Virtual Fence' Cleared For Arizona Border

Troubled system already operational

Feb 22, 08 12:14 PM CST
(Newser) - The government has just given the green light to a 28-mile “virtual fence” along the Arizona/Mexico border, the AP reports. The system, which uses cameras, radar, and other sensor devices to detect border jumpers, is already partially constructed, and working. Last week Border Patrol caught 38 would-be illegal immigrants... More »

MORE ABOUT:
illegal immigrant • border control • Boeing • Mexican border • Department of Homeland Security • Michael Chertoff • Border Patrol • border fence • virtual fence

Border Strife Escalating
in Tijuana

Neighborhood residents complain about US agents' tactics

Dec 14, 07 4:18 PM CST
(Newser) - Areas of Tijuana that abut the American border have turned into battlegrounds, as Mexican smugglers lob rocks from rooftops at US Border Patrol agents, who have begun retaliating by firing pepper spray and tear gas into densely populated neighborhoods, the Los Angeles Times reports. The tactics have caused evacuations and... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Mexico • Border Patrol • Tijuana • border security • border fence • pepper spray • border dispute

Texas Cracks Down on Illegals

In Laredo, no more 'catch and release'—everyone gets jail time

Nov 25, 07 7:05 PM CST
(Newser) - In Laredo, Texas, the border patrol is getting serious about illegal immigration. The longstanding “catch-and-release” policy was scrapped this month, in favor of a zero tolerance program that has clogged jails and strained courts. The Houston Chronicle looked in on a federal courthouse recently, as judges tried and sentenced... More »

MORE ABOUT:
illegal immigrant • Mexican border • Border Patrol

Mexican Border Fence Grows

US is quickly expanding the barrier to include rural areas

Sep 30, 07 12:32 PM CDT
(Newser) - After a slow start, the federal government has ramped up construction of the fence along the Mexican border in recent weeks. The steel barrier now reaches far into rural areas for the first time, in response to a shift in smugglers' strategy, the Los Angeles Times reports. Workers have finished... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Mexico • Mexican border • Border Patrol

Canada-US Border Insecure

Investigators find it easy to transport 'radioactive' material to and fro

Sep 27, 07 7:01 PM CDT
(Newser) - It is easy to smuggle radioactive material across the border between Canada and the US, CNN reports. Investigators from the Government Accountability Office testified before Congress today that they were able to pass from one country to the other with a duffle bag containing what looked like radioactive components, and... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Border Patrol • border security

Border Patrol: OK to Shoot
Fleeing Subjects?

Congress probes case
of jailed agents

Jul 18, 07 4:25 PM CDT
(Newser) - Now that the president is in the business of commuting sentences, some lawmakers would like to see him turn his attention to two border patrol agents who drew more than 10 years in prison for shooting a fleeing, unarmed drug trafficker in the back. By federal law, agents are allowed... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Mexican border • deadly force • Border Patrol • Ignacio Ramos • Alonso Compean

15 Stories


from our news partners