El Paso Archives - The Virginia Star

Violent Venezuelan Gang Reportedly Attacked Border Crossings as Concerns Mount About More Possible Violence

January 2, 2025 Daily Caller News Foundation

Tren de Aragua gang members armed with weapons attacked crossings along the Texas-Mexico border, according to an internal memo obtained by the New York Post.

Earlier in December, 20 members of the notorious Venezuelan prison gang attempted to force their way into the country at a border checkpoint near El Paso, Texas, while armed with blades, broken liquor bottles and tire irons, according to a leaked Texas Department of Public Safety memo obtained by the Post. Another attempt to bust into the U.S. is expected on New Year’s Day.

Texas Sees 51 Percent Drop in Border Apprehensions After Operation Lone Star Expands

November 2, 2024 The Center Square

Border Patrol apprehensions of illegal border crossers in Texas dropped 51% in one year, according to federal data. The stark decline comes after Gov. Greg Abbott expanded Operation Lone Star border security efforts in the state.

In fiscal 2023, Border Patrol agents reported 1,045,655 apprehensions of illegal border crossers in five U.S. Customs and Border Protection sectors in Texas, excluding those apprehended in New Mexico which fall into one of these sectors, in fiscal 2023. In fiscal 2024, the number dropped to 534,333, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data and exclusive data obtained by The Center Square.

New York City Residents on Edge as Tren De Aragua Gangsters Terrorize City

October 14, 2024 Daily Caller News Foundation

New York Coty Mayor Eric Adams with NYPD officers

Tren de Aragua (TdA)-associated gangsters as young as 11-years-old are wreaking havoc on Times Square out of a migrant shelter in New York City, and they’re getting away with it, sources told the New York Post.

Around 20 migrants in the TdA-associated gang called “Los Diablos de la 42” are robbing residents and tourists in New York City neighborhoods while avoiding jail time due to their young age, sources in the New York Police Department (NYPD) told the New York Post Monday. TdA has gained notoriety in the United States after multiple reports emerged this year of their activities in major U.S. cities such as Aurora, Colorado, and El Paso, Texas.

CBP Officials Stop Another Way to Smuggle in Fentanyl: Hamburgers

April 9, 2024 The Center Square

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers working at El Paso area ports of entry seized a large amount of drugs being smuggled into the country in novel ways. One female was caught hiding fentanyl inside her body, another in a hamburger.

In the past two weeks, CBP El Paso POE agents seized more than 62 pounds of methamphetamine, more than 25 pounds of fentanyl, and more than 158 pounds of marijuana.

Video Shows Illegal Migrants Overwhelming Texas National Guard, Storming Border Wall

March 21, 2024 Admin

Video taken near El Paso, Texas, shows illegal immigrants tearing down a barrier and overwhelming members of the Texas National Guard as they stormed across the border.

Texas Transports over 100,000 Foreign Nationals to ‘Sanctuary Cities’

January 15, 2024 The Center Square

Since April 2022, more than 100,000 foreign nationals who have illegally crossed the border have been bused or flown from Texas to six sanctuary cities. This equates to roughly 5 percent of those who illegally entered Texas in fiscal 2023 alone, the highest number on record, The Center Square exclusively reported.

Biden’s Security Policies Raise Fears of Global Economic Meltdown as Commerce Halted by Unrest

December 25, 2023 Just the News

The Biden administration’s security policies are raising the risk of a global economic crisis as Iran’s backing of the Houthi rebels threatens to shut down international shipping while closures at the U.S.-Mexico border prompted by illegal immigration are costing billions of dollars in trade.

The Biden administration “continues to try to make nice with this regime that has been chanting ‘Death to America’ and ‘Death to Israel’ for more than 40 years,” former Deputy National Security Adviser Victoria Coates, currently a Heritage Foundation national security expert, told the Just the News, No Noise television show last week about the White House’s relationship with Iran.

Officials Suspend Railroad Crossings at Two Key International Ports of Entry in Texas

December 18, 2023December 18, 2023 Virginia Star Staff

On Sunday night, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced it was closing international railroad bridges at two major ports of entry in Eagle Pass and El Paso, Texas, after a surge of over 4,000 people illegally entered over the last 48 hours.

CBP reported that agents apprehended nearly 3,000 illegal foreign nationals on Saturday and Sunday in the Eagle Pass area alone. Groups of 400 came through at a time, undeterred by border barriers erected by Gov. Greg Abbott through Operation Lone Star. Without OLS, little to no law enforcement presence would exist in the region, officials have explained, because Border Patrol agents have been tasked with processing people to release them into the country.

U.S. Officials Admit Losing ‘Operational Control’ of Border, Drug Cartels Poised to Seize it

May 14, 2023 Just the News

With just two words, the top uniformed officer in the Customs and Border Protection agency sent shockwaves across official Washington two months ago when asked whether his agency has operational control of the southern U.S. border.

“No, sir,” Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz told Congress in a shocking admission that exposed just how badly border security has deteriorated under President Joe Biden.

Caravan of More than 1,000 Migrants Crosses into El Paso Illegally as Chaos Erupts in Mexico

March 31, 2023March 30, 2023 Virginia Star Staff

A caravan of more than 1,000 migrants crossed illegally into El Paso, Texas, Wednesday as chaos erupted in recent days on the Mexican side in Juarez.

Agents apprehended the group, which was mostly comprised of Venezuelans, Wednesday, El Paso Border Patrol Chief Anthony Good said late Thursday. The incident follows chaos in Juarez, where nearly 40 migrants died Monday in a shelter fire.

During Visit to the Southern Border, New York City Mayor Says His City Has ‘No Room’ for Illegal Migrants

January 17, 2023January 16, 2023 Admin

Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams said his city is at capacity and has “no room” for illegal migrants during a visit to El Paso, Texas, over the weekend.

Adams stressed that there’s misinformation going around that New York City is where illegal migrants can obtain housing and jobs, during a news conference Sunday in the border city. The Big Apple mayor has previously complained about the surges of illegal migrants coming to New York City on transports sent by Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Democratic El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser and Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis.

El Paso Opens Tent-Like Intake Center to House 1,000 Immigrants

January 13, 2023January 12, 2023 ADN America

The United States Border Patrol inaugurated this Wednesday in El Paso, Texas, a huge tent in the desert with capacity for 1,000 migrants, in order to help process the record number of people who cross the border between the United States and Mexico .

Located on the outskirts of the city, the temporary facility is the size of 23 football fields or 153,000 square feet and can hold 1,000 people. The facilities are weather resistant, air-conditioned and have spacious areas for eating, sleeping and washing.

Senators Cruz, Hagerty, and More Slam Biden’s First-Ever Border Visit as ‘Too Late,’ ‘Propaganda’

January 9, 2023January 8, 2023 Just the News

President Joe Biden on Sunday landed in the border town of El Paso, Texas, and his visit is being criticized as “too late” and a “propaganda event,” as record numbers of illegal migrants have entered the United States since he entered office.

“Biden’s promise to secure the border is too little, and two years late. Irreversible damage has been done,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) tweeted. “Over 313,000 illegal aliens flooded the border last month. 5.3M illegal aliens since Biden took office.”

DHS Chief Mayorkas Insists Border is Closed as Biden Tours El Paso

January 9, 2023January 8, 2023 The Center Square

Ahead of President Biden’s first trip to the southern border on Sunday in El Paso, Texas, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas again said the U.S. southern border is closed.

His comments came despite thousands of illegal border crossers pouring into the city, filling the airport, sidewalks, homeless shelters. Over the past few days, many were bused out of town and otherwise cleared out ahead of the president’s visit.

State of Emergency in El Paso as Border Patrol Reports Record Illegal Entries

December 21, 2022December 20, 2022 The Center Square

Blanketed babies in car seats on the sidewalk. People laying in blankets and sleeping bags on the ground. Hundreds pouring into downtown El Paso at a time. In November alone, more than 53,500 illegal foreign nationals were apprehended, and an additional 24,000 who evaded capture by law enforcement in the Customs and Border Patrol sector that includes El Paso.

FBI: El Paso Is a Major Human Smuggling, Kidnapping Destination

July 19, 2022July 18, 2022 The Center Square

El Paso, Texas, is a central destination for human smuggling and extortion, the FBI El Paso Field Office warns. The FBI has been issuing warnings and alerts nearly every month this year about kidnapping and extortion crimes occurring in the border town.

Judge Ruling Prevents Abbott from Closing Planned Entry Points Along Southern Border

September 18, 2021September 17, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

A ruling from a federal judge on Thursday led Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to abandon his plan to close six entry points on the southern border amid a surge of migrants, the El Paso Times reported.

The U.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia blocked President Joe Biden from turning away migrant families with children under 18, citing a health order related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the El Paso Times reported. The order will take effect in 14 days.

Abbott announced Thursday he had directed the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas National Guard to close six entry points along the southern border in a statement obtained by Fox News.

Critics: VP Harris Is Going to Wrong Part of Border

June 27, 2021June 26, 2021 The Center Square

Vice President Kamala Harris is so out of touch with the illegal immigration crisis, Republicans argue, that she’s visiting the wrong part of the Texas border.

Ahead of Harris’ Friday tour of the El Paso Border Patrol Central Processing Center, Texas U.S. senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz implied that she didn’t know what she was doing.

Cornyn said Harris was going to the wrong place, posting a map on Twitter of where she should be going – the areas where the flow of illegal immigration is the heaviest – the Rio Grande Valley Sector.