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IMMIGRATION
PRIMARY RUNOFF ELECTION
Too many people
Low numbers locally, in Zapata
Detainees overwhelm Border Patrol in the Valley By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
LAREDO — The surge of immigrants into southernmost Texas has so overwhelmed the Border Patrol there that it’s run out of room for detainees even in a neighboring sector. Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley have made nearly 160,000 arrests in less than eight months, a more than 70 percent increase on
last year. Last week, the agency shipped hundreds of those recent detainees to Laredo for processing. By the weekend, the overcrowding in that neighboring sector’s stations had become serious, said Laredo Fire Chief Steve Landin, who sent a fire marshal to inspect one station. “Every single one of the holding cells was over capacity,” Landin said Friday. It became a safety issue and “it was uncomfortable for those
people.” Cells intended for 17 to 25 people held as many as 44, he said. Landin discussed the issue with the Border Patrol and by Tuesday, a followup inspection showed the overcrowding had been alleviated.
Berin Salas, a supervisory Border Patrol agent, said that after the fire marshal’s visit the Rio Grande Valley sector stopped bringing additional immigrants to Laredo, he said. Hector Garza, a Border Patrol union representative who made the complaint to the fire marshal and accompanied him on his inspection, said the sector was getting 400 transfers a day last week.
Not even 9 percent of voters turned out locally By ALDO AMATO THE ZAPATA TIMES
See BORDER PATROL PAGE 11A
ROCKET LAUNCH SITE
CLOSER TO A LAUNCHING
The state’s low voter turnout for the primary runoff election was once again evident across South Texas counties. According to the Texas secretary of state’s office, the statewide turnout for Tuesday’s runoffs was about 951,000 voters. The number was far less than the 1.8 million turnout in the March Primary Election and the 1.3 million turnout in the July 2012 runoffs. Texas has 13.6 million registered voters. Zapata County reported that 631, or 8.5 percent of the county’s 7,387 registered voters, cast ballots. About 2 percent of Hidalgo County’s 307,426 registered voters participated while approximately 8 percent of Maverick County’s 29,000 voters cast ballots. The Webb County Elections office reported 12,525, or about 11 percent of the 112,400 registered voters, cast ballots in the May runoff elections. While Elections Ad-
See VOTING
PAGE 11A
MEXICO
Mexico growth sluggish By TIM JOHNSON MCCLATCHY FOREIGN STAFF
Photo by Christopher Sherman | AP
High-rises of South Padre Island are visible in the distance, north of a site being considered as a commercial spaceport for California-based SpaceX, in this Dec. 6, 2012, photo. The private land is surrounded by property managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Local lawmakers hope to find money in the state budget to entice the company.
Launch site in Valley clears environmental hurdle By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
M
cALLEN — Building and operating a private rocket launch site along the coast in the southernmost tip of Texas is unlikely to jeopardize the existence of protected animal species and create few unavoidable impacts, according to a final federal environmental review. The Federal Aviation Administration released the environmental impact state-
ment for California-based SpaceX on Thursday. It does not guarantee that the FAA would issue launch licenses there, but it is an essential step in that direction. SpaceX has proposed launching 12 rockets per year from the site east of Brownsville and 3 miles north of the U.S.Mexico border called Boca Chica Beach, but did not make any promises Thursday. If built, it would be the first commercial orbital launch site. “Though Brownsville remains a final-
ist for the development of a commercial orbital launch complex, the decision will not be made until all technical and regulatory due diligence is complete,” SpaceX spokeswoman Hannah Post said in an email. She noted several more steps have to be cleared, and that, “While the timing of some of these critical steps is not within SpaceX’s control, we are hopeful that these will be complete in the near fu-
See ROCKETS
PAGE 11A
MEXICO CITY — The central bank chief calls it a “temporary pothole.” Whatever the term, Mexico’s economy has hit some turbulence — despite the most ambitious overhaul to its business structure in decades. Tax hikes have dampened consumer confidence, retail sales remain stagnant, and low U.S. demand for Mexican-made cars and televisions slowed the economy earlier this year to its lowest point in four years. Mexico grew at a sluggish 1.8 percent rate in the first quarter of 2014, forcing the government to ratchet down its forecast to 2.7 percent growth for the year. Bankers and economists still voice hope that Mexico is on the threshold of faster growth because of the opening of the energy, banking and telecommunications sectors. “We know that the reforms don’t have
See ECONOMY
PAGE 11A