'Just News' Blog

"Two years after arriving with his son at a U.S. border crossing at Antelope Wells, N.M. to seek asylum in the U.S., Gutiérrez still waits for an immigration judge to rule on his application and his residency status. The pre-dawn drive that led him to the border crossing — where he was handcuffed and whisked away by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents — marked the beginning of his exile, one that continues today. His plight, his attorney says, underscores a problem with U.S. reluctance to grant asylum to Mexicans for fear of alienating the Mexican government."

JULIAN AGUILAR in the Texas Tribune, Sept. 2, 2010.

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"Deaths of illegal immigrants in Arizona have soared this summer toward their highest levels since 2005 - a fact that has surprised many who thought that the furor over the state's new immigration law and the 100-plus degree heat would draw them elsewhere along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border."

AMANDA LEE MYERS and JULIE WATSON for the Associated Press, Sept. 1, 2010.

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"Traveling from New York City to Buffalo on Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited last month, I wondered what I would say if Border Patrol agents showed up on the train at Syracuse or Rochester and asked, “Are you a U.S. citizen?”

My plan was to politely decline to answer, and see what happened next."

NINA BERNSTEIN in the New York Times, Aug. 30, 2010.

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"Some American-born passengers welcome the patrol. “It makes me feel safe,” volunteered Katie Miller, 34, who was riding Amtrak to New York from Ohio. “I don’t mind being monitored.”

To others, it evokes travel through the old Communist bloc. “I was actually woken up with a flashlight in my face,” recalled Mike Santomauro, 27, a law student who encountered the patrol in April, at 2 a.m. on a train in Rochester.

Across the aisle, he said, six agents grilled a student with a computer who had only an electronic version of his immigration documents. Through the window, Mr. Santomauro said, he could see three black passengers, standing with arms raised beside a Border Patrol van.

“As a citizen I’m offended,” he said. But he added, “To say I didn’t want to answer didn’t seem a viable option.”"

NINA BERNSTEIN in the New York Times, Aug. 30, 2010.

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A 4-part multi-media package reported by ELIZABETH BAIER for Minnesota Public Radio.

Part 1: The strike the changed Austin

Part 2: Newcomers settle in Austin

Part 3. Fear and nostalgia in a changing community

Part 4: Bridging the gap

Broadcast editor: Kate Smith
Web editor: Jennifer Ehrlich
Photographer: Jeffrey Thompson
Web producers: Nathaniel Minor, Elliot deBruyn, Than Tibbetts

Audio Archivists: Sylvia Mohn and Jenel Farrell

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"The detention of illegal immigrants brings in millions of dollars for counties in the state. Jobs, jails and upkeep are funded by dollars generated through federal contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement."

VALLERY BROWN in The Oklahoman, Aug. 29, 2010.

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"We're kind of looking at a record-breaking year this year," Peters said."

NICOLE SANTA CRUZ in the Los Angeles Times, Aug. 24, 2010.

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