Fronteras: A Changing America

SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Texas state law enforcement is beefing up its efforts to fight Mexican drug cartels away from the border and in the state’s larger cities. They say the cartels are using big cities like Dallas-Fort Worth as hubs for cartel activity.

Mexican drug cartels are expanding their reach all across Texas and using their networks to move illegal drugs and people across the nation — and shipments of cash and weapons back into Mexico.

SAN DIEGO — Just a stone’s throw from the international border that separates Tijuana from San Diego, Manuel and Maribel* have just finished a supervised visitation with their three U.S.-citizen children.

The visit took place in a little room in the Department of Homeland Security building that sits right on the border here. The couple is carrying the leftovers of all the goodies they brought with them — pizza, juice, these little chocolate cupcakes the kids love.

SAN DIEGO — On a hot Monday afternoon in Tijuana, Daniel Bribiescas is taking a new client, 24-year-old Tania Velasquez, to the local office of Mexico’s child welfare agency.

Bribiescas is a lawyer who works for the Madre Asunta shelter for migrant women and children. His job is to help deportees piece back together their lives, and often, their families.

We reported last week on a little town in New Mexico where the taps had run dry. Stories like this are going to become more frequent, as an increasing population battles over a decreasing critical resource.

Immigration Reform: Counting Votes

Delays At The Border, Delays For Business

While politicians in Washington debate immigration reform and the need for enhanced border security, many who live and work along the border are concerned with something else: inefficient and costly wait times at ports of entry.

The Department of Homeland Security approved New Mexico's request to extend its border commercial zone Friday.

The new rule means Mexican visitors will soon be able to travel further into the state without having to fill out more paperwork.

Currently Mexicans with border crossing cards, or tourist visas, are only allowed to travel 25 miles into the state. DHS will now extend that travel zone to 55 miles.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — The Obama Administration proposed lifting protections for gray wolves Friday.

Earlier this spring it was the high school baseball umpire who threatened to eject players who spoke Spanish. There was a similar incident at the state high school tennis championships.

Now New Mexico is back in the news for another Spanish-language dust up.

The United States government has granted asylum to a Mexican photojournalist who fled his home state of Veracruz a year ago.

Miguel Angel Lopez Saldana worked as a photographer for the newspaper Notiver in the state's capital, Veracruz. He also shot photos for the Mexico City-based daily, La Jornada.

Friday morning the U.S. Senate as a whole begins to debate a proposal to reform the nation's immigration laws. Senate leadership hope the bipartisan bill will pass by the end of the month.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has set a deadline: he wants the Senate to pass immigration reform before the July 4 recess. That leaves about three weeks for debate.

Federal investigators are reopening the case of a day care fire that killed 49 children four years ago in the Mexican state of Sonora.

On the anniversary of the fire, Wednesday, an official from the Mexican attorney general’s office spoke on national television. He said the fire now is being investigated as a potential criminal case.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — About 650 Americans die each year of heat exposure, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC said that number has remained steady over the last decade.

A small town in central New Mexico has run out of water.

If you turn on a faucet in the town of Magdalena in central New Mexico, nothing will come out.

On Wednesday the water level in the town's only drinking well dropped below the well's pump. The water level in the well has dropped consistently as a result of an unrelenting three-year drought.

Lorie Scholes lives in a ranch just west of town.