COWBOYS COACH PONDERS RETURN DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR ROD MARINELLI
SATURDAY JANUARY 6, 2018
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MAY NOT BE BACK FOR 2018 SEASON, A7
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LAW ENFORCEMENT
CBP
2 arrested in maquinita bust
Border reviews of tech rising Record number of inspections recorded at border crossings By Jill Colvin ASSOCIATED PRE SS
Courtesy
District Attorney’s Office executed simultaneous search warrants at multiple locations suspected of illegal gambling and money laundering,” said District Attorney Isidro R. “Chilo” Alaniz in a statement. Alaniz further stated, “These raids were conducted in Zapata and Laredo … of multiple gaming establishments belonging to Zapata resident Hilda Villarreal and her family. These raids are a result of a six-month long term investigation. Arrests are ongoing and pending as the investigation continues.” In Laredo, authorities raided the Magic Spin and Wild Spin, 220 W. Calton Road; Good Fortune, 2300 E. Saunders St.; Village of Fortune, 200 W. Village Blvd.; and a home in
WASHINGTON — The government inspected a record number of international travelers' electronic devices last year, expanding a practice that has drawn alarm from privacy advocates. U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced Friday that its border agents inspected 30,200 phones and other electronic devices in fiscal year 2017, which ended in September — a nearly 60 percent spike from 2016, when 19,051 devices were searched. But the agency stressed the searches represent just a tiny fraction — 0.007 percent of arriving international travelers — out of more than 397 million. "In this digital age, border searches of electronic devices are essential to enforcing the law at the U.S. border and to protecting the American people," CBP's deputy executive assistant commissioner John Wagner said in a statement. The searches are aimed at combatting terrorism, child pornography and other crimes. But the practice has drawn fire from privacy advocates who
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A maquinita location in Zapata was raided, along with others in Laredo and Falcon Heights, in a crackdown known as Operation One Arm Banded on Friday. Two individuals were arrested on charges of gambling promotion and organized criminal activity.
Raids took place across three cities on Friday By César G. Rodriguez LAREDO MORNING TIME S
The Magic Spin and Wild Spin, located on the 200 block of Calton Road, were raided on Friday by authorities.
Local and state authorities raided multiple locations Friday in Laredo, Zapata and Falcon Heights as part of a crackdown on maquinitas. As of Friday afternoon, police records showed two people arrested: Rebecca Lopez-Villarreal, 49, and Lucio Saldivar, 76. Each was charged with gambling promotion, a misdemeanor, and engaging in organized criminal activity, a felony. Lopez-Villarreal was also charged with keeping a gambling place, a misdemeanor. “The Texas Department of Public Safety in conjunction with the Laredo Police Department and the Border Prosecution Unit of the Webb-Zapata
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS
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Trump seeks $18 billion to extend border wall By Elliot Spagat A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
SAN DIEGO — The Trump administration has proposed spending $18 billion over 10 years to significantly extend the border wall with Mexico, providing one of its most detailed blueprints of how the president hopes to carry out a signature campaign pledge. The proposal by Customs and Border Protection calls for 316 miles (505 kilometers) of additional barrier by September 2027, bringing total coverage to 970 miles (1,552 kilometers), or nearly half the border, according to a U.S. official with direct knowledge of the matter. It also calls for 407 miles (651 kilometers) of replacement or secondary fencing, said the official, who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because the plan has not been made public. Trump has promised to “a big, beautiful wall” with Mexico as a centerpiece of his presi-
dency but offered few details of where it would be built, when and at what cost. His administration asked for $1.6 billion this year to build or replace 74 miles (118 kilometers) of fencing in Texas and California, and officials have said they also will seek $1.6 billion next year. The 10-year plan, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, resulted from discussions with senators who asked the agency what it would take to secure the border, the official said. It comes as the administration intensifies negotiations in Congress on a package that may include granting legal status to about 800,000 people who were temporarily shielded from deportation under an Obama-era program, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. Trump said last year that he was ending DACA but gave Congress until March to deliver a legislative fix. The plan on border security came in response to a request by U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake, said Wall continues on A10
Nathan Lambrecht/The Monitor
U.S. Border Patrol Agent Enrique Rodriguez looks up a trail recently used by human traffickers while patrolling the Rio Grande Wednesday in Hidalgo, Texas. A Border Patrol agent was shot while on a river patrol Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2017, near Brownsville. The unidentified agent sustained non-life threatening injuries in the shooting.
Shooting highlights dangers for agents on river patrol By Mitchell Ferman THE MONITOR
HIDALGO — Past the pig farm, beyond the landfill and among several deflated rafts along the banks of the Rio
Grande, a Border Patrol boat hummed slowly upstream. A loud bang sounded off in the distance, and three agents turned toward what’s known as Rock Alley, a steep bluff where the river bends sharply and the
water between Mexico and the United States narrows. Scouts mask as fisherman, some without bait on the end of their rods, along the edges of the alley. This, agents say, is the Patrols continues on A10