Latest news with #U.S.BorderPatrol
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Drop in fentanyl seizures at border suggests enforcement working
(NewsNation) — For years, a rise in border trafficking of illegal drugs, including fentanyl, led to one of the most dangerous epidemics in U.S. history, but new data suggests the worst may be behind. Last year, the U.S. Border Patrol seized more than 1,700 pounds of fentanyl per month compared to only 746 pounds a month so far this year. That's a drop of more than one half, if the pace holds. U.S. seizures have decreased by 30% at the border compared with the same period last year, the Washington Post reported. A source in Mexico tells NewsNation the drop in fentanyl seizures indicates the U.S. government has been successful in putting pressure on its neighbor to the south to crack down on fentanyl production. Mexican president asks China for help in fight against fentanyl The Trump administration has made fentanyl trafficking a national security issue and has threatened Mexico with tariffs. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum responded by deploying 10,000 troops to her country's northern border. The two countries are also cooperating in the field. U.S. authorities worked alongside Mexican federal agencies to dismantle three large-scale synthetic drug production labs in Sinaloa, Mexico, a stronghold for the Sinaloa Cartel. The cooperation adds new pressure on cartels to produce less of the synthetic opioid so that they can avoid the attention of the U.S. government. U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, recently praised Mexico for busting a fentanyl super lab that was producing 2 tons of the drug each week. The lab was dismantled, and authorities seized $80 million in product. Another factor in the drop in fentanyl seizures: The Sinaloa Cartel is involved in a civil war between two factions. Even with the tide turning at the border, fentanyl remains cheap and widely available in the United States. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
‘Honestly, I just miss my wife': Alpharetta newlyweds separated after ICE arrests wife
An immigrant from Colombia, just married in February and with no criminal record, is now separated from her husband after agents arrested her outside the couple's Alpharetta apartment. Daniela Joly Landin, 24, entered the United States last May, turned herself in to the U.S. Border Patrol and applied for asylum. Channel 2's Bryan Mims talked to her husband, Richard Landin. He said she was threatened by violent paramilitary groups because of her work with charities promoting civil rights and helping people get off drugs. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] But in September, an immigration judge in Georgia denied her asylum request. She filed an appeal with the Board of Immigration Appeals, and a decision is pending. For months, Daniela Landin had been wearing an ankle monitor. On the morning of May 12, three Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents knocked on her apartment door. Richard Landin said the agents initially told them they were here to check her ankle monitor, but after she stepped outside, they announced she had an order for deportation because of her asylum denial. 'She looked over to me, and I saw her eyes all teary,' Richard Landin said. 'She looked terrified, she looked scared, her eyes were watering.' Daniela Landin spent nearly two weeks at the Stewart Detention Center near Columbus but was moved to the El Paso Service Processing Center in Texas on May 25. 'For someone that has a flawless record, it kind of just doesn't make sense,' he said. He said she's among 80 women in a pod at the facility, and they talk by phone every day. 'There are times she sounds anxious and defeated,' he said. 'She tries to have a brave face.' The two met online and soon went out to dinner, where they talked for hours and hit it off. TRENDING STORIES: Braves starting pitcher likely out for rest of season A trip to a GA Burger King's drive-thru led to a high school graduate's dream he never saw coming 'The Wire' actor says his son was 'thrown 300 feet' from their home in Henry County tornado 'We just kind of talked about our lives, our hopes and dreams,' he said. On Feb. 8, they were married in Alpharetta. Richard Landin is now living with his mother in Marietta, too upset to return to his apartment. 'It's painful being there without her,' he said. 'We moved into that apartment together.' Jameel Manji, Daniela Landin's immigration attorney, said ICE detentions have spiked 'across the board' since President Donald Trump took office. 'Generally speaking, she's not high on the priority list of individuals they need to worry about,' he said. But he said the Trump administration has zeroed in on undocumented immigrants who have been in the country for less than two years, whether they have committed crimes or not. 'Two years is kind of an arbitrary marker that this administration is using, but basically when someone's been in here for less than two years, they consider them prime candidates for expedited removals,' he said. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] In previous administrations, he said, someone appealing an asylum ruling would not be detained while a decision was still pending. 'The way generally individuals will get into detention if they have a pending case is if they break the law,' Manji said. As for why Daniela Landin was denied asylum, he said applicants have a high threshold to meet. 'Asylum is very difficult to win, in particular in Georgia,' he said. The couple has hired other attorneys who are trying to get her released from detention on bond. 'Honestly, I just miss my wife,' he said. 'That's really just it, I miss my wife. I miss being able to hug her, I miss being able to see her face to face.'
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Whitefish Police officer cited immigration violations as reason for contacting federal authorities during traffic stop
May 30—A Whitefish police officer cited recent immigration violations as a reason for contacting federal immigration authorities during an April 24 traffic stop that ended in the detainment of a Venezuelan man in the U.S. legally. According to the case report, obtained by the Daily Inter Lake, officer Michael Hingiss called the regional dispatch line for U.S. Border Patrol to request "a person check," even though Beker Rengifo del Castillo had already provided identifying documents, including a driver's license, vehicle registration and proof of current insurance. "Immigration violations have been an ongoing issue in Flathead County," Hingiss wrote in his account. "Spokane Dispatch did not provide any details on [Rengifo del Castillo] to officer Hingiss and stated they had an agent responding to officer Hingiss. The intent of the call was to check the individual stopped to see if any federal contacts were needed." Rengifo del Castillo was held in federal custody for about a week following the traffic stop. He was released on April 30 without charge. Andrea Sweeney, an attorney representing Rengifo del Castillo at the time of the incident, said the reason for the detainment was unclear. Rengifo del Castillo reportedly moved to the Flathead Valley from Venezuela in July 2024 under a two-year humanitarian parole program. The Trump administration has made repeated efforts to end the program, but a federal court order blocked the termination of participants' parole status at the time of Rengifo del Castillo's detainment. Local law enforcement agencies lack the authority to enforce federal immigration policies, but area police departments confirmed that they do cooperate with Border Patrol officials in some instances, such as verifying the identity of unknown individuals. In the case report, Hingiss stated that he noticed a car with a broken taillight at about 5:17 p.m. on April 24. The car's registration was not linked to a specific driver's license number. While not illegal, Hingiss suggested that the lack of an operator license number was unusual. The two cars traveled for about two blocks after Hingiss activated his patrol lights, reportedly passing "a safe area to stop on the shoulder" of the road to come to a final stop near the corner of 5th Street and Spokane Avenue. Hingiss stated that Rengifo del Castillo did not roll his window down all the way and "appeared nervous" throughout the traffic stop. A language barrier was also noted several times in the case report. Rengifo del Castillo provided Hingiss with proof of insurance, a car registration issued in October 2024, and a driver's license issued in March 2025. John Skinner, Rengifo del Castillo's parole sponsor, said he believed Rengifo del Castillo purchased the car last year with the expectation of receiving a U.S. driver's license in the coming months. After reviewing the documents, Hingiss made the call to U.S. Border Patrol. An agent from the Whitefish office arrived on the scene as Hingiss was printing a written warning for the broken taillight on Rengifo del Castillo's car. The case report states that the Border Patrol agent aided Hingiss in communicating with Rengifo del Castillo. WHITEFISH POLICE Chief Bridger Kelch declined to answer questions about the case report. The chief has previously said that he did not believe that either explicit or implicit bias played a role in the outcome of the traffic stop and said the department would not be looking into the incident further. The department's bias policy states that "any alleged or observed violations" of bias-based policing are subject to investigation by the department supervisor. City officials have largely supported Kelch's interpretation of the event and spurned allegations of unfair policing practices. "The Whitefish Police Department has no record of being racist at all," said Whitefish City Councilor Steve Qunell. Qunell initially seemed to suggest that Hingiss' decision to involve Border Patrol in the traffic stop may have involved some level of bias. "I've been pulled over before and nobody asks me my immigration status," he stated at a May 5 City Council meeting that involved discussion of the traffic stop. But in a later interview with the Inter Lake, Qunell deemed criticisms of the Whitefish Police Department unfair. While he said that Rengifo del Castillo's detainment was unjust, Qunell argued that the blame for the incident lies with the federal government, not local law enforcement. "I don't know what happened," he said. "We need to be transparent. I think that every law enforcement agency has been put in an untenable situation." Qunell declined to comment on whether he had reviewed the case report or other internal documentation of the traffic stop, such as body camera footage. The Inter Lake also contacted Whitefish City Councilors Rebecca Norton and Giuseppe Caltabiano for comment on the case report. Norton declined to comment. Caltabiano did not respond by deadline, but he expressed support for the Whitefish Police Department in an opinion piece published by the Inter Lake earlier this month. "It is both troubling and unjust that some in our community are quick to vilify our officers without access to all the facts or regard for due process ... Our police department has clearly stated — and I fully support — that it does not engage in biased-based policing," wrote Caltabiano. Officer Hingiss has not been accused of a crime, so he is not subject to due process at this time. Images of the case report are available in the online version of this story. Reporter Hailey Smalley may be reached at 758-4433 or hsmalley@ The first page of the police report filed on the April 24 traffic stop. The second page of the police report filed on the April 24 traffic stop.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Legal clash over military trespassing at New Mexico border heats up
May 29—An Uzbekistan national is at the center of an expanding legal battle over whether migrants illegally entering from Mexico can also be convicted of trespassing on New Mexico's new military border zone. On Wednesday, the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Mexico focused on the case of Dishoda Rozlkova in appealing the dismissal of the misdemeanor military trespass charges filed against her and hundreds of other defendants earlier this month. The issue now goes to a U.S. district judge for consideration. The U.S. Border Patrol encountered Rozlkova in Doña Ana County on May 4, about 7 miles east of the Santa Teresa Port of Entry, court records show. Court records reveal little else about her except that she speaks Uzbek. That meant she couldn't proceed in English or Spanish when she appeared in court May 8 in Las Cruces on charges of illegal entry, violating security regulations and entering military property. While maintaining the illegal entry charge, Gregory Wormuth, the state's chief U.S. magistrate judge, ruled May 19 that the government lacked probable cause to charge Rozlkova with knowing she was entering the restricted 60-foot-wide strip adjacent to the international border while she unlawfully entered the U.S. The area, which stretches an estimated 180 miles, became military property in mid-April after President Donald Trump directed the U.S. Department of Defense to incorporate it, as the New Mexico National Defense Area, into the U.S. Army Fort Huachuca installation based in Arizona. The White House wanted the military to take a more direct role in securing the border, the appeal states. But the action effectively increased the potential punishment for those charged with the misdemeanor of illegal entry into the U.S. The added offenses carry up to 18 months in prison combined. Often times, misdemeanor illegal entry results in brief jail time awaiting resolution of the case, followed by deportation. Rozlkova "argues that she did not violate these laws because she was not aware of the (national defense zone's) reassignment to the Department of Defense or the area's resulting status. That claim should have been rejected," states the appeal. "Virtually all aliens who enter the District of New Mexico from Mexico through an area that is not a designated port of entry — and thereby enter the ... restricted military area without authorization — are not 'engaged in apparently innocent conduct' but are instead aware of the unlawfulness of that conduct," the appeal states. Government prosecutors say Wormuth erred in requiring an "additional element of knowledge that the defendant has entered the NMNDA (defense zone)." Federal signs warning of the restricted military area reportedly have been posted in Spanish and English about every 100 yards in the zone, but some defense attorneys have contended their clients never saw the signs, couldn't read them, or spoke a different dialect or language and weren't aware they were trespassing. Rozlkova's attorney couldn't be reached for comment Thursday, but Rozlkova is believed to be in federal custody awaiting a translator. U.S. Attorney for New Mexico Ryan Ellison is asking the district court to overrule Wormuth's order and reinstate the dismissed charges. To date, nearly 700 people have been charged with the military trespass-related misdemeanor charges, along with illegal entry.
The Herald Scotland
26-05-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Trump's border crackdown already delivering results. Will it last?
But there was no sign of smugglers or migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border that morning. Only two U.S. soldiers in a pick-up watching a downslope into Mexico littered with water bottles and clothes, the debris of a massive wave of migration that has all but dried up. "We were averaging 2,700 individuals a day," Herrera told USA TODAY, recalling the height of apprehensions in 2023. "Right now, just to give you a comparison, we're averaging between 60 and 70 individuals." President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal migration is evident everywhere at the U.S.-Mexico border, especially in Border Patrol's now-quiet El Paso Sector, which stretches 264 miles from West Texas through New Mexico. This used to be one of the busiest sections. Two years ago, at this hour, Herrera's radio would have crackled with intel as agents tracked migrants through the desert around Sunland Park, New Mexico, just outside El Paso, Texas. Groups were scaling the 30-foot steel border fence with rope ladders, or crawling through gaps sawed into the old steel mesh fencing, hundreds of people a day in a 20-mile stretch starting at the rugged mountainside of Mt. Cristo Rey. But Trump's mix of policies - deploying the military to the border, restricting asylum, publicizing deportations - have all made for powerful messaging. So far, it's held migration at bay. Herrera stopped to survey the landscape, beside an old obelisk monument marking the borderline. There are now 6,800 soldiers working alongside 17,000 Border Patrol agents at the southern border. In El Paso Sector, the soldiers staff half a dozen Stryker vehicles, whose high-tech optics let them surveil the desert terrain for miles. Even the land itself now belongs to the military, after Trump declared nearly 110,000 acres of New Mexico borderland a "national defense area." Sharp decline in border crossings At 6:49 a.m., a voice came through Herrera's radio - a possible migrant sighting at the base of the mountain. He jumped back into the driver's seat. Seconds later, the voice identified the suspect as a local resident. Agents aren't processing asylum-seekers anymore, Herrera said, not since President Joe Biden restricted access to asylum at the border in June 2024. That's when crossings at the border first began their sharp decline, a trend that accelerated after Trump took office. Since then, illegal crossings have plunged to the lowest level since record-keeping began. U.S. Border Patrol reported roughly 8,400 migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border in April, the latest month for which data is available. A year ago, agents were apprehending roughly that many people every two days, and encounters nearly hit 129,000 in April 2024. In the El Paso Sector, where Herrera patrols, migrant encounters fell 93% in April to under 2,000 from more than 30,000 a year ago, he said. "We used to see groups of, you know, 20, 30 individuals just on the other side of the border," Herrera said. All quiet on the southern front Back then, he said, smugglers standing on high ground would "just watch whatever Border Patrol was doing and where our vehicles were deployed, so they can push migrants illegally into the country." Now, some agents are complaining of boredom, Herrera said jokingly - though the quiet radio made his point. He drove the borderline west, hugging the 30-foot fence where it begins at the base of the mountain. A black hen strutted in Mexico south of the steel bollards, in a neighborhood of Ciudad Juarez where some houses are built of plywood and palettes. An elaborate altar to the skeletal icon Santa Muerte faced north. Looking west, the fence climbed a mesa where soldiers in a Stryker vehicle surveilled the border. In good conditions, the vehicle's thermal optics are powerful enough to spot a mouse a mile away. Since Trump took office on Jan. 20, the military deployment at the southern border has cost some $525 million, according to The New York Times. Herrera pulled the Suburban to a stop west of the Santa Teresa port of entry, in a stretch of desert far from the urban footprint of Sunland Park. Soldiers had posted red-and-white warning signs roughly the size of a sheet of notebook paper, in English and Spanish, affixed to metal posts in the sand about 30 yards north of the border fence. "This Department of Defense property has been declared a restricted area," the signs read in tiny print. Migrants who cross illegally here can be charged with trespassing on what is now a military installation. On a stretch of borderline nearby, a rebar-and-rope ladder hung atop the 30-foot steel barrier, unbothered. Too soon to know if it will hold Smugglers and migrants often respond to significant policy shifts by adopting a wait-and-see approach. Migrant traffic dropped early in the first Trump administration, too, though not as dramatically, before climbing again. "It is definitely very, very early to know what's going to happen," Herrera said. "But the fact is," he said, "we need to always have this perfect balance between infrastructure, technology and personnel to address the different challenges we have with illegal immigration and any other illegal activity happening at the border." His radio buzzed again after 9 a.m. There were signs that a group of eight migrants had entered illegally the night before, during a dust storm that swept through El Paso and southern New Mexico. Thirteen hours later, they still hadn't been apprehended. "We're seeing a significant drop in comparison to the previous fiscal year in encounters," Herrera said. "But we haven't gained 100% control of the operations here for the El Paso Sector." Herrera drove past a stretch of southern New Mexico where the 30-foot steel bollards give way to 18-foot steel mesh. The cutouts made the shorter fence look like a patchwork quilt. Criminal organizations have been hurt by the border crackdown, he said. Migration "has become a multi-billion-dollar enterprise for the cartels," he said. "Their inability to cross individuals illegally, it's affecting them every single day." South of the fence, a man with a ski mask and hoodie quietly collected steel mesh squares, the ones that had been sawed out of the wall and discarded in the sand. Herrera said Border Patrol has a contractor whose job it is to repair the border fence all day. Meanwhile, the man loaded the squares onto the seat of his bike. He'd sell them for scrap, he said. Lauren Villagran can be reached at lvillagran@
