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BORDER PATROL
Arrests of Bangladeshi nationals soar Number of apprehensions has surpassed last fiscal year’s By César G. Rodriguez ZA PATA T I ME S
The number of apprehensions of Bangladeshi nationals in this area has
soared, federal authorities said. “The Laredo Sector Border Patrol continues to have the highest apprehension of Bangladeshi
Nationals compared to other Border Patrol Sectors. Currently, the Laredo Sector Border Patrol has apprehended 224 Bangladeshi Nationals since the
U.S. CONGRESS
start of fiscal year 2018,” the agency said in a statement. Recent apprehensions occurred between April 29 and May 3 in south Laredo, where agents arrested a total of 15 Bangladeshi nationals in four enforcement actions. Their intentions are not known, said Jason D.
look at an unaccompanied child who is 8 years old and discern his or her intention because they are coming to reunite with their family. “When you have somebody that makes the trek from a country like Bangladesh and they go through all the things they
Owens, acting chief patrol agent for Laredo Sector Border Patrol, which includes Zapata. “This year, of all of the Bangladeshi nationals apprehended in the United States Border Patrol, Laredo Sector accounts for roughly 60 percent of those,” he said. Owens said it is easy to
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TAMAULIPAS
$1.7 billion secured for border security Henry Cuellar: Measures should be cost-effective S P ECIAL T O T HE T I ME S
Congressman Henry Cuellar announced the inclusion of over $1.7 billion in funding for border security provisions, along with many other measures he helped secure, in the fiscal year 2018 Omnibus Appropriations Bill, which recently became law. “As a longtime advocate for tighter border security, I support 21st century border security investments that represent the most cost-effective use of taxpayer money, such as unmanned aerial systems, aerostats, fixed and mobile video surveillance systems, and ground sensors,” Cuellar said. “It is absolutely necessary that we make these investments in order to make our borders, and the surrounding communities, safer.” The legislation also includes: 1 Language hiring at least 100 new immigration judge teams, which includes judges, support staff, technology and work space, Cuellar along with many other security measures to help process immigration cases and increase efficiency at the border 1 Language setting a goal for immigration cases to be processed in 60 days if the individual is detained, and in 365 days if the individual is not detained 1 Language instructing the National Guard to implement public-private partnerships with state and local governments to construct facilities along our southwestern border that can support border security Border security measures – Texas’ 28th District As part of his work on the Appropriations Committee, Cuellar said he fought for necessary border security projects and programs that will improve the 28th district. Highlights include: 1 Directive language requiring CBP to provide an update on its integrated strategy for controlling Carrizo cane along the Rio Grande in Texas Border security measures – nationwide The omnibus bill also reflects, according to a news release, Cuellar’s longtime advocacy for smart, proven-effective security tools and technologies across the entire southern border. Highlights of the provisions include: 1 $49,738,000 for border road construction 1 Language to improve CBP Air and Marine support for CBP 1 $55 million for law enforcement canines and inspection technology to assist in the detection and seizure of controlled substances and other contraband along the border 1 Language to streamline hiring for Homeland Security 1 Language to adequately staff land ports of entry to facilitate legitimate trade 1 Language to ensure family unity is a primary factor in CBP and ICE processing decision 1 $177,700,000 for Alternatives to Detention; 1 $240,000,000 for State Criminal Alien Assistance Program Funding continues on A10
Tamir Kalifa / For the San Antonio Express-News
Martha Castillo Olmedo, who lost five children and two grandchildren during the drug war, is pictured at her hotel in Miguel Alemán in Tamaulipas, Mexico on May 2.
BRINGING CLOSURE Hundreds killed in drug war to be exhumed
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By Aaron Nelsen SAN ANTONIO EXPRE SS-NEWS
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IGUEL ALEMÁN, Mexico — As a bloody drug war engulfed this hardscrabble border city in 2010, unclaimed dead were buried in a mass grave at the edge of town, week after week, month after month. In the first project of its kind in the state of Tamaulipas, archaeologists and forensic anthropologists are now exhuming the remains of an estimated 350 people buried in the grave in an effort to identify them and bring closure to some families. In a state dotted with mass graves and the highest number of disappearances in Mexico — officially 5,989, though many say the actual number is far higher — the project has rekindled hope and stirred traumatic memories. “My daughter probably isn’t here,” said Graciela Pérez Rodriguez, whose 13-year-old daughter, brother and three nephews disappeared in a distant corner of Tamaulipas in 2012. “What’s important is that the exhumations continue.” For years, families searching for their missing in Tamaulipas have done so amid warring drug cartels and authorities indifferent to their plight and sometimes complicit in the disappearances. As the victim totals mounted, local authorities often buried unidentified victims in municipal cemeteries. But under the administration of Gov. Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca, authorities in January 2017 quietly broke ground in Miguel Alemán, a town of around 30,000 residents across the border from
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Roma, and built 50 storage units in the ground, each with the capacity of 10 sets of remains. “It’s work that has no precedent (in Tamaulipas) and has only been done a few times in the country,” Irving Barrios Mojica, the Tamaulipas attorney general, said in an interview this year. “You have to remember the history of Tamaulipas, above all in 2010, 2011 and 2012. It obliges us to address the matter of bodies and common graves in the most diligent manner, following the recommendations of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.” The exhumations began in mid-April at the Vanished continues on A6