WESH 2’s award-winning First Warning Weather team is monitoring Hurricane Melissa and will continue to provide updates. Melissa has strengthened into a Category 5 storm according to the National Hurricane Center. Rapid intensification is expected to continue over the next few days. The National Hurricane Center expects Melissa to rapidly intensify into a major hurricane by the end of the weekend.Melissa has 160 mph winds and is moving west at about 3 mph as the storm’s center is about 130 miles south-southwest of Kingston, Jamaica.The storm has a minimum central pressure of 917 mb as of the 5 a.m. NHC update.Watches and warnings in effect:Hurricane Warning in effect for JamaicaHurricane Warning in effect for Cuban provinces of Granma, Guantanamo and Holguin, Santiago de Cuba. Hurricane Watch in effect for southeastern and central Bahamas, Turks & Caicos Island. Tropical Storm Warning in effect for Haiti and the Cuban province of Las TunasRainMelissa is expected to bring rainfall of 15 to 30 inches to portions of Jamaica and additional rainfall of 8 to 16 inches for southern Hispaniola through Wednesday.Catastrophic flash flooding and numerous landslides are likely. For eastern Cuba, storm total rainfall of 10 to 15 inches, with local amounts of 20 inches, is expected by Monday into Wednesday resulting in life-threatening and potentially catastrophic flash flooding with numerous landslides. Over the Southeast Bahamas, total rainfall of 4 to 8 inches is expected Tuesday into Wednesday resulting in areas of flash flooding.Hurricane season 2025The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through Nov. 30. Stay with WESH 2 online and on-air for the most accurate Central Florida weather forecast.>> More: 2025 Hurricane Survival GuideThe First Warning Weather team includes First Warning Chief Meteorologist Tony Mainolfi, Eric Burris, Marquise Meda and Cam Tran.>> 2025 hurricane season | WESH long-range forecast>> Download Very Local | Stream Central Florida news and weather from WESH 2
ORLANDO, Fla. —
WESH 2’s award-winning First Warning Weather team is monitoring Hurricane Melissa and will continue to provide updates.
Melissa has strengthened into a Category 5 storm according to the National Hurricane Center. Rapid intensification is expected to continue over the next few days.
The National Hurricane Center expects Melissa to rapidly intensify into a major hurricane by the end of the weekend.
Melissa has 160 mph winds and is moving west at about 3 mph as the storm’s center is about 130 miles south-southwest of Kingston, Jamaica.
The storm has a minimum central pressure of 917 mb as of the 5 a.m. NHC update.
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Watches and warnings in effect:
Hurricane Warning in effect for Jamaica
Hurricane Warning in effect for Cuban provinces of Granma, Guantanamo and Holguin, Santiago de Cuba.
Hurricane Watch in effect for southeastern and central Bahamas, Turks & Caicos Island.
Tropical Storm Warning in effect for Haiti and the Cuban province of Las Tunas
Rain
Melissa is expected to bring rainfall of 15 to 30 inches to portions of Jamaica and additional rainfall of 8 to 16 inches for southern Hispaniola through Wednesday.
Catastrophic flash flooding and numerous landslides are likely.
For eastern Cuba, storm total rainfall of 10 to 15 inches, with local amounts of 20 inches, is expected by Monday into Wednesday resulting in life-threatening and potentially catastrophic flash flooding with numerous landslides.
Over the Southeast Bahamas, total rainfall of 4 to 8 inches is expected Tuesday into Wednesday resulting in areas of flash flooding.
Hurricane season 2025
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through Nov. 30. Stay with WESH 2 online and on-air for the most accurate Central Florida weather forecast.
Hurricane Melissa strengthened into a major Category 4 hurricane, unleashing torrential rain and threatening to cause catastrophic flooding in the northern Caribbean, including Haiti and Jamaica, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.The weather agency added Melissa is likely to reach the southern coast of Jamaica as a major hurricane late Monday or Tuesday morning, and urged people on the island to seek shelter immediately.As of 11 p.m. Sunday, Melissa was producing maximum sustained winds of 145 mph, making it a category 4 hurricane. The storm was located 125 miles south of Kingston, Jamaica and inching west at 5 mph. The latest satellite images show a well-defined eye wall.”Conditions (in Jamaica) are going to go down rapidly today,” Jamie Rhome, the center’s deputy director, said on Sunday. “Be ready to ride this out for several days.” Related video above: Tropical Storm Melissa lumbers through the CaribbeanMelissa was centered about 110 miles (180 kilometers) south-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, and about 285 miles (460 kilometers) south-southwest of Guantánamo, Cuba, on Sunday morning. It had maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (220 kph) and was moving west at 5 mph (7 kph), the hurricane center said.Melissa was expected to drop torrential rains of up to 30 inches (760 millimeters) on Jamaica and southern Hispaniola — Haiti and the Dominican Republic — according to the hurricane center. Some areas may see as much as 40 inches (1,010 millimeters) of rain.It also warned that extensive damage to infrastructure, power and communication outages, and the isolation of communities in Jamaica were to be expected.Melissa should be near or over Cuba by late Tuesday, where it could bring up to 12 inches (300 millimeters) of rain, before moving toward the Bahamas later Wednesday.The U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Sunday that the hurricane watch for Cuba could be upgraded to a warning later on Sunday.Airports closed and shelters activatedThe erratic and slow-moving storm has killed at least three people in Haiti and a fourth person in the Dominican Republic, where another person remains missing.Jamaica’s government said the main airport in Montego Bay, Sangster International Airport, will shut down at midday local time on Sunday as the island’s national emergency agency activated its level 3 emergency protocol ahead of Melissa.The biggest airport on the island, Norman Manley International Airport in the capital, Kingston, closed at 9 p.m. on Saturday.”With the slow movement of this system, it doesn’t allow you to recover. It’s going to sit there, pouring water while it’s barely moving and that is a significant challenge that we have to be aware of,” warned Evan Thompson, principal director of the Meteorological Service of Jamaica.”There is nowhere that will escape the wrath of this hurricane,” Richard Thompson, acting director general of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management said.He said all members of the National Response Team are now on full alert.More than 650 shelters were activated in Jamaica. Officials said warehouses across the island were well-stocked and thousands of food packages pre-positioned for quick distribution if needed.Communities cut off by rising watersHaitian authorities said three people had died as a consequence of the hurricane and another five were injured due to a collapsed wall. There were also reports of rising river levels, flooding and a bridge destroyed due to breached riverbanks in Sainte-Suzanne, in the northeast.Many residents are still reluctant to leave their homes, Haitian officials said.The storm damaged nearly 200 homes in the Dominican Republic and knocked out water supply systems, affecting more than half a million customers. It also downed trees and traffic lights, unleashed a couple of small landslides and left more than two dozen communities isolated by floodwaters.The Bahamas Department of Meteorology said Melissa could bring tropical storm or hurricane conditions to islands in the southeastern and central Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands by early next week.Melissa is the 13th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had predicted an above-normal season with 13 to 18 named storms.———Savarese reported from Sao Paulo.
Hurricane Melissa strengthened into a major Category 4 hurricane, unleashing torrential rain and threatening to cause catastrophic flooding in the northern Caribbean, including Haiti and Jamaica, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
The weather agency added Melissa is likely to reach the southern coast of Jamaica as a major hurricane late Monday or Tuesday morning, and urged people on the island to seek shelter immediately.
As of 11 p.m. Sunday, Melissa was producing maximum sustained winds of 145 mph, making it a category 4 hurricane. The storm was located 125 miles south of Kingston, Jamaica and inching west at 5 mph. The latest satellite images show a well-defined eye wall.
“Conditions (in Jamaica) are going to go down rapidly today,” Jamie Rhome, the center’s deputy director, said on Sunday. “Be ready to ride this out for several days.”
Related video above: Tropical Storm Melissa lumbers through the Caribbean
Melissa was centered about 110 miles (180 kilometers) south-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, and about 285 miles (460 kilometers) south-southwest of Guantánamo, Cuba, on Sunday morning. It had maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (220 kph) and was moving west at 5 mph (7 kph), the hurricane center said.
Melissa was expected to drop torrential rains of up to 30 inches (760 millimeters) on Jamaica and southern Hispaniola — Haiti and the Dominican Republic — according to the hurricane center. Some areas may see as much as 40 inches (1,010 millimeters) of rain.
It also warned that extensive damage to infrastructure, power and communication outages, and the isolation of communities in Jamaica were to be expected.
Melissa should be near or over Cuba by late Tuesday, where it could bring up to 12 inches (300 millimeters) of rain, before moving toward the Bahamas later Wednesday.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Sunday that the hurricane watch for Cuba could be upgraded to a warning later on Sunday.
Airports closed and shelters activated
The erratic and slow-moving storm has killed at least three people in Haiti and a fourth person in the Dominican Republic, where another person remains missing.
Jamaica’s government said the main airport in Montego Bay, Sangster International Airport, will shut down at midday local time on Sunday as the island’s national emergency agency activated its level 3 emergency protocol ahead of Melissa.
The biggest airport on the island, Norman Manley International Airport in the capital, Kingston, closed at 9 p.m. on Saturday.
“With the slow movement of this system, it doesn’t allow you to recover. It’s going to sit there, pouring water while it’s barely moving and that is a significant challenge that we have to be aware of,” warned Evan Thompson, principal director of the Meteorological Service of Jamaica.
“There is nowhere that will escape the wrath of this hurricane,” Richard Thompson, acting director general of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management said.
He said all members of the National Response Team are now on full alert.
More than 650 shelters were activated in Jamaica. Officials said warehouses across the island were well-stocked and thousands of food packages pre-positioned for quick distribution if needed.
Communities cut off by rising waters
Haitian authorities said three people had died as a consequence of the hurricane and another five were injured due to a collapsed wall. There were also reports of rising river levels, flooding and a bridge destroyed due to breached riverbanks in Sainte-Suzanne, in the northeast.
Many residents are still reluctant to leave their homes, Haitian officials said.
The storm damaged nearly 200 homes in the Dominican Republic and knocked out water supply systems, affecting more than half a million customers. It also downed trees and traffic lights, unleashed a couple of small landslides and left more than two dozen communities isolated by floodwaters.
The Bahamas Department of Meteorology said Melissa could bring tropical storm or hurricane conditions to islands in the southeastern and central Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands by early next week.
Melissa is the 13th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had predicted an above-normal season with 13 to 18 named storms.
Hurricane Melissa strengthened into a major Category 4 hurricane, unleashing torrential rain and threatening to cause catastrophic flooding in the northern Caribbean, including Haiti and Jamaica, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.The weather agency added Melissa is likely to reach the southern coast of Jamaica as a major hurricane late Monday or Tuesday morning, and urged people on the island to seek shelter immediately.As of 11 p.m. Sunday, Melissa was producing maximum sustained winds of 145 mph, making it a category 4 hurricane. The storm was located 125 miles south of Kingston, Jamaica and inching west at 5 mph. The latest satellite images show a well-defined eye wall.”Conditions (in Jamaica) are going to go down rapidly today,” Jamie Rhome, the center’s deputy director, said on Sunday. “Be ready to ride this out for several days.” Related video above: Tropical Storm Melissa lumbers through the CaribbeanMelissa was centered about 110 miles (180 kilometers) south-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, and about 285 miles (460 kilometers) south-southwest of Guantánamo, Cuba, on Sunday morning. It had maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (220 kph) and was moving west at 5 mph (7 kph), the hurricane center said.Melissa was expected to drop torrential rains of up to 30 inches (760 millimeters) on Jamaica and southern Hispaniola — Haiti and the Dominican Republic — according to the hurricane center. Some areas may see as much as 40 inches (1,010 millimeters) of rain.It also warned that extensive damage to infrastructure, power and communication outages, and the isolation of communities in Jamaica were to be expected.Melissa should be near or over Cuba by late Tuesday, where it could bring up to 12 inches (300 millimeters) of rain, before moving toward the Bahamas later Wednesday.The U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Sunday that the hurricane watch for Cuba could be upgraded to a warning later on Sunday.Airports closed and shelters activatedThe erratic and slow-moving storm has killed at least three people in Haiti and a fourth person in the Dominican Republic, where another person remains missing.Jamaica’s government said the main airport in Montego Bay, Sangster International Airport, will shut down at midday local time on Sunday as the island’s national emergency agency activated its level 3 emergency protocol ahead of Melissa.The biggest airport on the island, Norman Manley International Airport in the capital, Kingston, closed at 9 p.m. on Saturday.”With the slow movement of this system, it doesn’t allow you to recover. It’s going to sit there, pouring water while it’s barely moving and that is a significant challenge that we have to be aware of,” warned Evan Thompson, principal director of the Meteorological Service of Jamaica.”There is nowhere that will escape the wrath of this hurricane,” Richard Thompson, acting director general of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management said.He said all members of the National Response Team are now on full alert.More than 650 shelters were activated in Jamaica. Officials said warehouses across the island were well-stocked and thousands of food packages pre-positioned for quick distribution if needed.Communities cut off by rising watersHaitian authorities said three people had died as a consequence of the hurricane and another five were injured due to a collapsed wall. There were also reports of rising river levels, flooding and a bridge destroyed due to breached riverbanks in Sainte-Suzanne, in the northeast.Many residents are still reluctant to leave their homes, Haitian officials said.The storm damaged nearly 200 homes in the Dominican Republic and knocked out water supply systems, affecting more than half a million customers. It also downed trees and traffic lights, unleashed a couple of small landslides and left more than two dozen communities isolated by floodwaters.The Bahamas Department of Meteorology said Melissa could bring tropical storm or hurricane conditions to islands in the southeastern and central Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands by early next week.Melissa is the 13th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had predicted an above-normal season with 13 to 18 named storms.———Savarese reported from Sao Paulo.
Hurricane Melissa strengthened into a major Category 4 hurricane, unleashing torrential rain and threatening to cause catastrophic flooding in the northern Caribbean, including Haiti and Jamaica, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
The weather agency added Melissa is likely to reach the southern coast of Jamaica as a major hurricane late Monday or Tuesday morning, and urged people on the island to seek shelter immediately.
As of 11 p.m. Sunday, Melissa was producing maximum sustained winds of 145 mph, making it a category 4 hurricane. The storm was located 125 miles south of Kingston, Jamaica and inching west at 5 mph. The latest satellite images show a well-defined eye wall.
“Conditions (in Jamaica) are going to go down rapidly today,” Jamie Rhome, the center’s deputy director, said on Sunday. “Be ready to ride this out for several days.”
Related video above: Tropical Storm Melissa lumbers through the Caribbean
Melissa was centered about 110 miles (180 kilometers) south-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, and about 285 miles (460 kilometers) south-southwest of Guantánamo, Cuba, on Sunday morning. It had maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (220 kph) and was moving west at 5 mph (7 kph), the hurricane center said.
Melissa was expected to drop torrential rains of up to 30 inches (760 millimeters) on Jamaica and southern Hispaniola — Haiti and the Dominican Republic — according to the hurricane center. Some areas may see as much as 40 inches (1,010 millimeters) of rain.
It also warned that extensive damage to infrastructure, power and communication outages, and the isolation of communities in Jamaica were to be expected.
Melissa should be near or over Cuba by late Tuesday, where it could bring up to 12 inches (300 millimeters) of rain, before moving toward the Bahamas later Wednesday.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Sunday that the hurricane watch for Cuba could be upgraded to a warning later on Sunday.
Airports closed and shelters activated
The erratic and slow-moving storm has killed at least three people in Haiti and a fourth person in the Dominican Republic, where another person remains missing.
Jamaica’s government said the main airport in Montego Bay, Sangster International Airport, will shut down at midday local time on Sunday as the island’s national emergency agency activated its level 3 emergency protocol ahead of Melissa.
The biggest airport on the island, Norman Manley International Airport in the capital, Kingston, closed at 9 p.m. on Saturday.
“With the slow movement of this system, it doesn’t allow you to recover. It’s going to sit there, pouring water while it’s barely moving and that is a significant challenge that we have to be aware of,” warned Evan Thompson, principal director of the Meteorological Service of Jamaica.
“There is nowhere that will escape the wrath of this hurricane,” Richard Thompson, acting director general of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management said.
He said all members of the National Response Team are now on full alert.
More than 650 shelters were activated in Jamaica. Officials said warehouses across the island were well-stocked and thousands of food packages pre-positioned for quick distribution if needed.
Communities cut off by rising waters
Haitian authorities said three people had died as a consequence of the hurricane and another five were injured due to a collapsed wall. There were also reports of rising river levels, flooding and a bridge destroyed due to breached riverbanks in Sainte-Suzanne, in the northeast.
Many residents are still reluctant to leave their homes, Haitian officials said.
The storm damaged nearly 200 homes in the Dominican Republic and knocked out water supply systems, affecting more than half a million customers. It also downed trees and traffic lights, unleashed a couple of small landslides and left more than two dozen communities isolated by floodwaters.
The Bahamas Department of Meteorology said Melissa could bring tropical storm or hurricane conditions to islands in the southeastern and central Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands by early next week.
Melissa is the 13th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had predicted an above-normal season with 13 to 18 named storms.
Afghanistan and Pakistan have agreed to an immediate ceasefire, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said Sunday. It follows more than a week of fighting that has killed dozens of people and injured hundreds.Related video above: After historic hostage release, experts say lasting peace for Israel, Gaza is far from certainThe two sides agreed to establish mechanisms to consolidate lasting peace and stability, as well as hold follow-up talks in the coming days to ensure the ceasefire’s sustainability, the Qatari statement said.Delegations from Afghanistan and Pakistan were in Doha for talks to resolve the deadliest crisis between them in several years. The talks were mediated by Qatar and Turkey.Both governments had sent their defense ministers to lead the talks, which Pakistan said would focus on “immediate measures to end cross-border terrorism emanating from Afghanistan and restore peace and stability along the border.”Each country has said it was responding to aggression from the other. Afghanistan denies harboring militants who carry out attacks in border areas.Regional powers, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have called for calm, as the violence threatened to further destabilize a region where groups, including the Islamic State group and al-Qaida, are trying to resurface.A 48-hour ceasefire intended to pause hostilities expired Friday evening. Hours later, Pakistan struck across the border.Pakistani security officials confirmed to The Associated Press Saturday that there were strikes on two districts in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika province.The targets were hideouts of the militant Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, according to the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. One said the operation was a direct response to the suicide bombing of a security forces compound in Mir Ali, in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province a day earlier.The Pakistani Air Force raids killed dozens of armed fighters and there were no civilian deaths, they said.But Afghan officials said the aerial assaults killed at least 10 civilians, including women, children and local cricketers. The attacks prompted the national cricket board to boycott an upcoming series in Pakistan.On Saturday, several thousand people attended funeral prayers in Paktika. They sat in the open air as loudspeakers broadcast sermons and condemnation.Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban government’s chief spokesman, in a statement, criticized the “repeated crimes of Pakistani forces and the violation of Afghanistan’s sovereignty.”Such acts were deemed provocative and viewed as “deliberate attempts” to prolong the conflict, he added.The two countries share a 2,611-kilometer (1,622-mile) border known as the Durand Line, but Afghanistan has never recognized it.Pakistan is grappling with surging militancy, especially in areas bordering Afghanistan. It also accuses its nuclear-armed neighbor and rival India of backing armed groups, without providing any evidence.Pakistan’s army chief, Asim Munir, urged Afghans to choose “mutual security over perpetual violence and progress over hardline obscurantism.””The Taliban must rein in the proxies who have sanctuaries in Afghanistan,” he told an audience on Saturday at the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.___Associated Press writers Abdul Qahar Afghan in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, Sajjad Tarakzai in Islamabad, and Riaz Khan, in Peshawar, Pakistan, contributed to this report.
Afghanistan and Pakistan have agreed to an immediate ceasefire, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said Sunday. It follows more than a week of fighting that has killed dozens of people and injured hundreds.
Related video above: After historic hostage release, experts say lasting peace for Israel, Gaza is far from certain
The two sides agreed to establish mechanisms to consolidate lasting peace and stability, as well as hold follow-up talks in the coming days to ensure the ceasefire’s sustainability, the Qatari statement said.
Delegations from Afghanistan and Pakistan were in Doha for talks to resolve the deadliest crisis between them in several years. The talks were mediated by Qatar and Turkey.
Both governments had sent their defense ministers to lead the talks, which Pakistan said would focus on “immediate measures to end cross-border terrorism emanating from Afghanistan and restore peace and stability along the border.”
Each country has said it was responding to aggression from the other. Afghanistan denies harboring militants who carry out attacks in border areas.
Regional powers, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have called for calm, as the violence threatened to further destabilize a region where groups, including the Islamic State group and al-Qaida, are trying to resurface.
A 48-hour ceasefire intended to pause hostilities expired Friday evening. Hours later, Pakistan struck across the border.
Pakistani security officials confirmed to The Associated Press Saturday that there were strikes on two districts in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika province.
The targets were hideouts of the militant Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, according to the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. One said the operation was a direct response to the suicide bombing of a security forces compound in Mir Ali, in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province a day earlier.
The Pakistani Air Force raids killed dozens of armed fighters and there were no civilian deaths, they said.
But Afghan officials said the aerial assaults killed at least 10 civilians, including women, children and local cricketers. The attacks prompted the national cricket board to boycott an upcoming series in Pakistan.
On Saturday, several thousand people attended funeral prayers in Paktika. They sat in the open air as loudspeakers broadcast sermons and condemnation.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban government’s chief spokesman, in a statement, criticized the “repeated crimes of Pakistani forces and the violation of Afghanistan’s sovereignty.”
Such acts were deemed provocative and viewed as “deliberate attempts” to prolong the conflict, he added.
The two countries share a 2,611-kilometer (1,622-mile) border known as the Durand Line, but Afghanistan has never recognized it.
Pakistan is grappling with surging militancy, especially in areas bordering Afghanistan. It also accuses its nuclear-armed neighbor and rival India of backing armed groups, without providing any evidence.
Pakistan’s army chief, Asim Munir, urged Afghans to choose “mutual security over perpetual violence and progress over hardline obscurantism.”
“The Taliban must rein in the proxies who have sanctuaries in Afghanistan,” he told an audience on Saturday at the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
___
Associated Press writers Abdul Qahar Afghan in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, Sajjad Tarakzai in Islamabad, and Riaz Khan, in Peshawar, Pakistan, contributed to this report.
CONCERNING HER FIRING. THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCED IT’S PLANNING TO BUILD NEW SECTIONS OF THE SOUTHERN BORDER WALL. THE NEW BARRIERS WOULD EXTEND NEARLY TEN MILES ALONG THE SAN DIEGO MEXICO BORDER. KCRA 3’S ANDREA FLORES HAS BEEN COVERING THE SOUTHERN BORDER FOR MORE THAN THREE YEARS. UNDER THE BIDEN AND TRUMP ADMINISTRATION. SHE JOINS US WITH WHAT THIS MEANS FOR BORDER SAFETY AND HOW IT’S GETTING FUNDED. SO THE NEW WALL SYSTEM IS BEING FUNDED BY THE SO-CALLED BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL ACT, AND IT GIVES CBP MORE THAN $46 BILLION THROUGH 2029 FOR CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE COSTS. SO THIS IS VIDEO FROM KCRA 3’S TIME AT THE BORDER. THIS WAS BACK IN APRIL OF THIS YEAR WHEN THOUSANDS OF MILITARY TROOPS WERE SENT TO THE AREA TO ASSIST CBP WITH SURVEILLANCE AND INFRASTRUCTURE. NOW, THE PROPOSED BARRIERS WOULD BE BUILT NEAR THE TECATE AND OTAY MESA PORTS OF ENTRY. CBP SAYS IT PLANS TO BUILD AND MAINTAIN NEARLY TEN MILES OF BORDER WALL. IT ALSO PLANS TO ADD NEARLY 52 MILES OF IMPROVED INFRASTRUCTURE ALONG EXISTING BARRIERS, INCLUDING SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS, ACCESS PATROL ROADS AND ARTIFICIAL LIGHTS. BUT IMMIGRATION ADVOCATES LIKE AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE, WHO WE SPOKE WITH BACK IN APRIL, OPPOSES THE PLAN, SAYING THIS WOULD DIVERT MIGRATION FLOWS INTO MORE DANGEROUS AREAS WITH POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS CONSEQUENCES. U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION SAYS APPREHENSIONS ARE DOWN IN THE SAN DIEGO SECTOR. LAST MONTH, THEY RECORDED 715 ENCOUNTERS. THAT’S A 95% DECREASE FROM AUGUST OF 2024. WE DID REACH OUT TO CBP FOR AN INTERVIEW ON WHEN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THIS NEW AREA OF THE BORDER WALL WOULD BEGIN
Nearly $1.1B to be spent on ‘Smart Wall’ at California border under ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’
The Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection have awarded $4.5 billion in new contracts under the “One Big Beautiful Bill” for Smart Wall construction along the southwest border.At least 10 new construction contracts will add 230 miles of barriers and nearly 400 miles of technology, delivering on the Trump Administration’s promise to secure the border.(Video Above: Trump administration announces plans to build new sections of southern border wall)“For years, Washington talked about border security but failed to deliver. This president changed that,” said CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott. “The Smart Wall means more miles of barriers, more technology, and more capability for our agents on the ground. This is how you take control of the border.”The Smart Wall is a border security system that combines steel barriers, waterborne barriers, patrol roads, lights, cameras, and advanced detection technology to give Border Patrol agents the best tools in the world to stop illegal traffic. The technology additions will further secure the existing wall in areas where the Biden administration’s policies canceled contracts to do so, according to a joint statement by DHS and CBP.The 10 contracts, awarded between Sept. 15 and 30, are the very first to be funded by President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill. They also include minimal prior year funding from fiscal year 2021 wall appropriations. That funding was on hold during the Biden administration, according to the release.To expedite the construction of the Smart Wall, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem also issued two new waivers for approximately nine miles of Smart Wall in CBP’s San Diego sector and approximately 30 miles of new Smart Wall in New Mexico within the El Paso sector.Contracts in California include:San Diego 1 Project – Awarded to BCCG Joint Venture for $483,486,600 for the construction of approximately nine miles of new Smart Wall and approximately 52 miles of system attributes in USBP’s San Diego Sector in California.El Centro 1 Project – Awarded to Fisher Sand & Gravel Co. for $574,000,000 for the construction of approximately eight miles of new primary Smart Wall and the installation of approximately 63 miles of system attributes in USBP’s El Centro and San Diego Sectors in California.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel
The Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection have awarded $4.5 billion in new contracts under the “One Big Beautiful Bill” for Smart Wall construction along the southwest border.
At least 10 new construction contracts will add 230 miles of barriers and nearly 400 miles of technology, delivering on the Trump Administration’s promise to secure the border.
“For years, Washington talked about border security but failed to deliver. This president changed that,” said CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott. “The Smart Wall means more miles of barriers, more technology, and more capability for our agents on the ground. This is how you take control of the border.”
The Smart Wall is a border security system that combines steel barriers, waterborne barriers, patrol roads, lights, cameras, and advanced detection technology to give Border Patrol agents the best tools in the world to stop illegal traffic. The technology additions will further secure the existing wall in areas where the Biden administration’s policies canceled contracts to do so, according to a joint statement by DHS and CBP.
The 10 contracts, awarded between Sept. 15 and 30, are the very first to be funded by President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill. They also include minimal prior year funding from fiscal year 2021 wall appropriations. That funding was on hold during the Biden administration, according to the release.
To expedite the construction of the Smart Wall, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem also issued two new waivers for approximately nine miles of Smart Wall in CBP’s San Diego sector and approximately 30 miles of new Smart Wall in New Mexico within the El Paso sector.
Contracts in California include:
San Diego 1 Project – Awarded to BCCG Joint Venture for $483,486,600 for the construction of approximately nine miles of new Smart Wall and approximately 52 miles of system attributes in USBP’s San Diego Sector in California.
El Centro 1 Project – Awarded to Fisher Sand & Gravel Co. for $574,000,000 for the construction of approximately eight miles of new primary Smart Wall and the installation of approximately 63 miles of system attributes in USBP’s El Centro and San Diego Sectors in California.
FT. HUACHUCA, Ariz. — When MQ-9 Predator drones flew over anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles this summer, it was the first time they had been dispatched to monitor demonstrations on U.S. soil since 2020, and their use reflects a change in how the government is choosing to deploy the aircraft once reserved for surveilling the border and war zones.
Previous news reports said the drones sent by the Department of Homeland Security conducted surveillance on the weekend of June 7 over thousands of protesters demonstrating against raids conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Predators flew over Los Angeles for at least four more days, according to tracking experts who identified the flights through air traffic control tower communications and images of a Predator in flight.
Those amateur sleuths, who monitor flight traffic and identified the first flight, which was confirmed by Customs and Border Protection, shared their findings on social media.
Defenders of using drones to monitor protests say the aircraft, with their high-tech capabilities, can provide authorities useful and detailed information in real time. Human rights advocates fear the new policy will impinge on civil rights.
The drones, which fly at around 20,000 feet to conduct surveillance, can beam a live video feed to various government agencies — ICE, the military and more . The MQ designation refers to the drone’s abilities and function. In military parlance, M means multi-use and Q indicates it’s an unmanned aerial vehicle.
When asked about the additional days of flights over Los Angeles, Homeland Security did not directly address the questions but said the flights were meant to protect police and military.
“CBP’s Air and Marine Operations (AMO) has provided both Manned and Unmanned aerial support to federal law enforcement partners conducting operations in the Greater Los Angeles area,” the department said in a statement.
“Both platforms provide an unparalleled ability with Electro-optical/infrared sensors and video downlink capabilities that provide situational awareness and communications support that enhance officer safety,” the statement added.
Protesters march against immigration crackdowns in Los Angeles on June 10, the same day the Department of Homeland Security on X posted video of protests taken by a drone.
(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
Homeland Security touted information obtained through drones in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on June 10. The post included footage of vehicles on fire and protesters squaring off with law enforcement personnel, apparently to show why it was necessary for the Trump administration to deploy the National Guard in Los Angeles.
“WATCH: DHS drone footage of LA rioters,” the post read. “This is not calm. This is not peaceful. California politicians must call off their rioting mob.”
The post was dated June 10, but it was not clear if the video was from a Predator drone.
Supporters of civil liberties are asking why this equipment, which has been used to drop laser-guided bombs on targets in countries like Afghanistan, is being used for domestic issues.
The deployment of Predators over protesters is a significant departure from the U.S. government’s policy not to fly the drones over demonstrations, to avoid the perception they are spying on 1st Amendment rights activity, U.S. officials said.
The last time Homeland Security sent a Predator to fly over protesters, according to U.S. government officials, was in Minneapolis during the 2020 protests against the killing of George Floyd by a police officer later convicted of his murder.
Five Democrats on the House Oversight Committee called the deployment a “gross abuse of authority” and asked Homeland Security to explain what had occurred.
At times the drones are requested by law enforcement or other authorities to fly over a region, say, to help monitor forest fires, or to provide surveillance for the Super Bowl, officials said.
The Predators come equipped with cutting-edge infrared heat sensors and high-definition video cameras, and can track scores of individuals within a 15-nautical-mile radius.
In a file photo, an unmanned Predator drone is being guided from a flight operations center at Ft. Huachuca in Arizona in 2013.
(John Moore / Getty Images)
The drone uses an artificial intelligence program, called Vehicle and Dismount Exploitation Radar, or VaDER, to detect small objects — a human being, a rabbit, even a bird in flight. The infrared sensors can identify heat signatures even inside some buildings.
In response to the drone flights over Los Angeles, Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Los Angeles) introduced a bill in July that would restrict Predator drones and other unmanned aircraft from being deployed by the U.S. government over demonstrators.
“My bill to ban military surveillance drones over our cities puts Trump and his administration in check,” said Gomez. “This is not just about Los Angeles, this affects the entire country. I refuse to allow Trump to use these weapons of war, capable of carrying bombs, as tools for law enforcement against civilians.”
On Sept. 16, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved a resolution endorsing Gomez’s Ban Military Drones Spying on Civilians Act.
“Los Angeles will not stand by while the federal government turns weapons of war against our residents,” said Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, who introduced the resolution. “Spying on people engaged in peaceful protest is unconstitutional, dangerous and a direct attack on democracy.”
The drones were first brought to the U.S. southern border in 2005 and retrofitted for surveillance operations. Homeland Security deployed the drones to fly the length of the 2,000-mile, U.S.-Mexico border, searching for drug traffickers and groups of undocumented migrants.
Just an hour south of Tucson lies Ft. Huachuca, one of four MQ-9 drone bases from which the drones deploy along the southern border and into the interior of the U.S.
As with the MQ-9, military-grade technology often finds its way into the interior of the country, experts say.
“It is tested in war zones, the border, tested in cities along the border and tested in the interior of the country,” said Dave Maass, director of investigations at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a privacy rights organization. “That tends to be the trajectory we see.”
With a drop in migrant crossings into the United States, experts anticipate drones will be deployed more often over demonstrations in the coming years.
“If somebody in the Trump administration decides there’s a need to use drones in the interior over U.S. citizens, resources won’t be an issue,” said Adam Isaacson, who covers national security for the Washington Office of Latin America, a human rights research group. “Because there’s just not that much to monitor at the border.”
Fisher is a special correspondent. This story was co-published with Puente News Collaborative, a bilingual nonprofit newsroom dedicated to high-quality news and information from the U.S.-Mexico border.
A wildland fire crew looks on after setting a fire line on Harlow Ridge above the Lick Creek Fire, July 12, 2021, south of Asotin, Wash. (Pete Caster/Lewiston Tribune via AP, File)
SEATTLE (AP) — A U.S. Customs and Border Patrol operation at the site of a wildfire on Washington state’s Olympic Peninsula sparked condemnation by Sen. Patty Murray who said firefighters put their lives at risk to keep communities safe.
It was not immediately clear what the Border Patrol action was about, but several firefighters who witnessed the incident told The Seattle Times on condition of anonymity that federal agents demanded identification from firefighters working for two private contractors before taking two into custody.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not immediately respond Thursday to email messages seeking comment.
Jennifer Risdal, a spokesperson for the U.S. Forest Service’s Incident Management Team overseeing the firefighting efforts, said they were aware of the Border Patrol activities at the fire site but offered no information about what happened.
“The Border Patrol operation is not interfering with firefighting activity and Bear Gulch firefighters continue to make progress on the fire,” Risdal told The Associated Press in an email.
The blaze has burned about 14 square miles (36 square kilometers) on the north side of Lake Cushman in the Olympic National Forest and National Park and was 13 percent contained on Thursday.
Murray responded to the news on Thursday by saying the Trump administration has undercut wildland firefighting by “decimating the Forest Service” and their immigration policy “is fundamentally sick.”
“Here in the Pacific Northwest, wildfires can, and have, burned entire towns to the ground,” the Democrat said in a statement, “This new Republican policy to detain firefighters on the job is as immoral as it is dangerous.”
During the first Trump administration, DHS issued a statement during the 2020 wildfire season saying CBP and Immigration and Customs Enforcement were concerned about the impact the fires could have on Western states and said their highest priority was “the preservation of life and safety.”
“In consideration of these circumstances, there will be no immigration enforcement initiatives associated with evacuations or sheltering related to the wildfires, except in the event of a serious public safety threat,” the statement said.
Washington Department of Natural Resources spokesman Michael Kelly told The Associated Press that they were aware of the Border Patrol’s appearance at the fire, but referred questions to federal officials.
For the first time in more than half a century, immigrants leaving the U.S. outnumber those arriving, a phenomenon that may signal President Trump’s historic mass deportation efforts are having the intended effect.
An analysis of census data released by Pew Research Center on Thursday noted that between January and June, the United States’ foreign-born population had declined by more than a million people.
Millions of people arrived at the border between 2021 and 2023 seeking refuge in America after the COVID-19 pandemic emergency, which ravaged many of their home countries. In 2023, California was home to 11.3 million immigrants, roughly 28.4% of the national total, according to Pew.
In January, 53.3 million immigrants lived in the U.S., the highest number recorded, but in the months that followed, those who left or were deported surpassed those arriving — the first drop since the 1960s. As of June, the number living in the U.S. had dropped to 51.9 million. Pew did not calculate how many immigrants are undocumented.
Trump and his supporters have applauded the exodus, with the president declaring “Promises Made. Promises Kept,” in a social media post this month.
“Seven months into his second term, it’s clear that the president has done what he said he’d do by reestablishing law and order at our southern border and by removing violent illegal immigrants from our nation,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote in a USA Today column on Thursday. “Both actions were necessary for Americans’ peace and prosperity.”
But some experts caution that such declines will have negative economic effects on the United States if they continue, resulting in labor shortages as America’s birth rate continues to drop.
“Looking ahead in the future, we’re going to have to rely on immigrant workers to fulfill a lot of the jobs in this country,” said Victor Narro, project director at UCLA Labor Center. “Like it or not, the demographics are going to be changing in this country. It’s already changing, but it’s going to be more pronounced in the future, especially with the decline in native-born workers.”
The Pew analysis highlights several policy changes that have affected the number of immigrants in the country, beginning during then-President Biden’s term.
In June 2024, Biden signed a proclamation that bars migrants from seeking asylum along the U.S. border with Mexico at times when crossings are high, a change that was designed to make it harder for those who enter the country without prior authorization.
Trump, who campaigned on hard-line immigration policies, signed an executive order on the first day of his second term, declaring an “invasion” at the southern border. The move severely restricted entry into the country by barring people who arrive between ports of entry from seeking asylum or invoking other protections that would allow them to temporarily remain in the U.S.
Widespread immigration enforcement operations across Southern California began in June, prompting pushback from advocates and local leaders. The federal government responded by deploying thousands of Marines and National Guard troops to L.A. after the raids sparked scattered protests.
Homeland Security agents have arrested 4,481 undocumented immigrants in the Los Angeles area since June 6, the agency said this month.
Narro said the decrease in immigrants outlined in the study may not be as severe as the numbers suggest because of a reduction in response rates amid heightened enforcement.
“When you have the climate that you have today with fear of deportation, being arrested or detained by ICE — all the stuff that’s coming out of the Trump administration — people are going to be less willing to participate in the survey and documentation that goes into these reports,” Narro said.
Michael Capuano, research director at Federation for American Immigration Reform, a nonprofit that advocates for a reduction in immigration, said the numbers are trending in the right direction.
“We see it as a positive start,” Capuano said. “Obviously enforcement at the border is now working. The population is beginning to decrease. We’d like to see that trend continue because, ultimately, we think the policy of the last four years has been proven to be unsustainable.”
Capuano disagrees that the decrease in immigrants will cause problems for the country’s workforce.
“We don’t believe that ultimately there’s going to be this huge disruption,” he said. “There is no field that Americans won’t work in. Pew notes in its own study that American-born workers are the majority in every job field.”
In 2023, the last year with complete data, 33 million immigrants were part of the country’s workforce, including about 10 million undocumented individuals. Roughly 19% of workers were immigrants in 2023, up from 15% two decades earlier, according to Pew.
“Immigrants are a huge part of American society,” said Toby Higbie, a professor of history and labor studies at UCLA. “Those who are running the federal government right now imagine that they can remove all immigrants from this society, but it’s just not going to happen. It’s not going to happen because the children of immigrants will fight against it and because our country needs immigrant workers to make the economy work.”
The United States experienced a negative net immigration in the 1930s during the Great Depression when at least 400,000 Mexicans and Mexican Americans left the country, often as a result of government pressure and repatriation programs. Not long after, the U.S. implemented the bracero program in 1942 in which the U.S. allowed millions of Mexican citizens to work in the country to address labor shortages during World War II.
Higbie predicts the decline in immigration won’t last long, particularly if prices on goods rise amid labor shortages.
“You could say that there’s a cycle here where we invite immigrants to work in our economy, and then there’s a political reaction by some in our country, and they kick them out, and then we invite them back,” he said. “I suspect that the Trump administration, after going through this process of brutally deporting people, will turn around and propose a guest worker program in order to maintain a docile immigrant workforce.”
Increased immigration enforcement in Sacramento is causing fear among Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, with many worried about deportation and its impact on their daily lives. Sydney Fang from AAPI FORCE-EF said, “We’re feeling the impacts of ICE terror, and that’s because all of our families all migrate to the United States, to California, under many different circumstances.”Asian Americans make up about 19% of Sacramento County’s population, and this year marks 50 years since Southeast Asian refugees first arrived in the U.S. Many now live in fear, worried that deportation could come without warning. Fang said, “We are getting stopped at the border and getting detained at the border. We’re getting detained in interactions with law enforcement and ICE check-ins.”According to a report by the Asian American and Pacific Islander Policy Initiative, ICE arrests of Asians tripled from 2024 to 2025, sparking alarm across the country, including in Sacramento. Fang added, “Our families are afraid to go to work, afraid to go to school, afraid to even go to their health appointments. People are canceling their doctor visits.”Fang added that refugees and Asian American and Pacific Islander immigrants are being targeted with less visible, smaller raids in garment and fashion wholesale shops, shopping centers, massage parlors, nail salons, nightclubs, restaurants and grocery stores across California. In the Sacramento region, advocates say, the arrests have been more targeted.Sacramento City Council Member Mai Vang highlighted the challenges faced by the Asian American community, noting that issues impacting communities of color and immigrants often overlook Asian Americans. “Oftentimes when there are issues that are impacting our communities of color, our immigrant community, you often don’t hear the harm or the issues impacting our Asian-American community, and a large part of that has to do with the model minority myth that Asian-Americans, immigrant and refugee communities are doing well,” Vang said. In response to the crackdown, more than 100 people gathered on Tuesday night for a candlelight vigil, showing solidarity and resistance. Vang, whose family came to the U.S. as Hmong refugees, said, “This fight is really personal for me as a daughter of Hmong refugees. I have family and loved ones who came here as refugees and got their Green Card revoked because of some poor decisions they made when they were very young.”In a climate of fear, communities are turning to trusted messengers for critical information rather than relying on social media or officials. “Recently, our office worked to actually host a Know Your Rights workshop. We didn’t put that on social media. We didn’t post it up. What we did was share that with our elders, share that with our community, and we had over 100 people show up without it being marketed through the social media mediums,” Vang said.The AAPI community has relaunched the “Pardon Refugees” campaign to fight for pardons for Southeast Asian refugees and immigrants facing deportation. A rally and press conference will be held tomorrow at L and 14th streets in downtown Sacramento.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. —
Increased immigration enforcement in Sacramento is causing fear among Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, with many worried about deportation and its impact on their daily lives.
Sydney Fang from AAPI FORCE-EF said, “We’re feeling the impacts of ICE terror, and that’s because all of our families all migrate to the United States, to California, under many different circumstances.”
Fang said, “We are getting stopped at the border and getting detained at the border. We’re getting detained in interactions with law enforcement and ICE check-ins.”
According to a report by the Asian American and Pacific Islander Policy Initiative, ICE arrests of Asians tripled from 2024 to 2025, sparking alarm across the country, including in Sacramento. Fang added, “Our families are afraid to go to work, afraid to go to school, afraid to even go to their health appointments. People are canceling their doctor visits.”
Fang added that refugees and Asian American and Pacific Islander immigrants are being targeted with less visible, smaller raids in garment and fashion wholesale shops, shopping centers, massage parlors, nail salons, nightclubs, restaurants and grocery stores across California. In the Sacramento region, advocates say, the arrests have been more targeted.
Sacramento City Council Member Mai Vang highlighted the challenges faced by the Asian American community, noting that issues impacting communities of color and immigrants often overlook Asian Americans.
“Oftentimes when there are issues that are impacting our communities of color, our immigrant community, you often don’t hear the harm or the issues impacting our Asian-American community, and a large part of that has to do with the model minority myth that Asian-Americans, immigrant and refugee communities are doing well,” Vang said.
In response to the crackdown, more than 100 people gathered on Tuesday night for a candlelight vigil, showing solidarity and resistance.
Vang, whose family came to the U.S. as Hmong refugees, said, “This fight is really personal for me as a daughter of Hmong refugees. I have family and loved ones who came here as refugees and got their Green Card revoked because of some poor decisions they made when they were very young.”
In a climate of fear, communities are turning to trusted messengers for critical information rather than relying on social media or officials.
“Recently, our office worked to actually host a Know Your Rights workshop. We didn’t put that on social media. We didn’t post it up. What we did was share that with our elders, share that with our community, and we had over 100 people show up without it being marketed through the social media mediums,” Vang said.
The AAPI community has relaunched the “Pardon Refugees” campaign to fight for pardons for Southeast Asian refugees and immigrants facing deportation. A rally and press conference will be held tomorrow at L and 14th streets in downtown Sacramento.
José Antonio Rodríguez held a bouquet of flowers in his trembling hands.
It had been nearly a quarter of a century since he had left his family behind in Mexico to seek work in California. In all those years, he hadn’t seen his parents once.
They kept in touch as best they could, but letters took months to cross the border, and his father never was one for phone calls. Visits were impossible: José was undocumented, and his parents lacked visas to come to the U.S.
Now, after years of separation, they were about to be reunited. And José’s stomach was in knots.
He had been a young man of 20 when he left home, skinny and full of ambition. Now he was 44, thicker around the middle, his hair thinning at the temples.
Would his parents recognize him? Would he recognize them? What would they think of his life?
José had spent weeks preparing for this moment, cleaning his trailer in the Inland Empire from top to bottom and clearing the weeds from his yard. He bought new pillows to set on his bed, which he would give to his parents, taking the couch.
Finally, the moment was almost here.
Gerardo Villarreal Salazar, 70, left, is reunited with his grandson Alejandro Rojas, 17.
Leobardo Arellano, 39, left, and his father, José Manuel Arellano Cardona, 70, are reunited after 24 years.
Officials in Mexico’s Zacatecas state had helped his mother and father apply for documents that allow Mexican citizens to enter the U.S. for temporary visits as part of a novel program that brings elderly parents of undocumented workers to the United States. Many others had their visa applications rejected, but theirs were approved.
They had packed their suitcases to the brim with local sweets and traveled 24 hours by bus along with four other parents of U.S. immigrants. Any minute now, they would be pulling up at the East Los Angeles event hall where José waited along with other immigrants who hadn’t seen their families in decades.
José, who wore a gray polo shirt and new jeans, thought about all the time that had passed. The lonely nights during Christmas season, when he longed for the taste of his mother’s cooking. All the times he could have used his father’s advice.
His plan had been to stay in the U.S. a few years, save up some money and return home to begin his life.
But life doesn’t wait. Before he knew it, decades had passed and José had built community and a career in carpentry in California.
Juan Mascorro sings for the reunited families.
He sent tens of thousands of dollars to Mexico: to fund improvements on his parents’ house, to buy machines for the family butcher shop. He sent his contractor brother money to build a two-bedroom house where José hopes to retire one day.
His mother, who likes talking on the phone, kept him informed on all the doings in town. The construction of a new bridge. The marriages, births, deaths and divorces. The creep of violence as drug cartels brought their wars to Zacatecas.
And then one day, a near-tragedy. José’s father, jovial, strong, always cracking jokes, landed in the hospital with a heart that doctors said was failing. He languished there six months on the brink of death.
But he lived. And when he got out, he declared that he wanted to see his eldest son.
A framed artwork depicting the states of California and Zacatecas is a gift for families being reunited.
A full third of people born in Zacatecas live in the U.S. Migration is so common, the state has an agency tasked with attending to the needs of Zacatecanos living abroad. It has been helping elderly Mexicans get visas to visit family north of the border for years.
The state tried to get some 25 people visas this year. But the United States, now led by a president who has vilified immigrants, approved only six.
José had a childhood friend, Horacio Zapata, who also migrated to the U.S. and who hasn’t seen his father in 30 years. Horacio’s father also applied for a visa, but he didn’t make the cut.
Horacio was crestfallen. A few years back, his mother died in Mexico. He had spent his life working to help get her out of poverty, and then never had a chance to say goodbye. He often thought about what he would give to share one last hug with her. Everything. He would give everything.
He and his wife had come with José to offer moral support. He put his arm around his friend, whose voice shook with nerves.
Horacio Zapata, 48, hoped his father would be able to come to Los Angeles through the reunion program, but his visa request was denied.
East L.A. was normally bustling, filled with vendors hawking fruit, flowers and tacos. But on this hot August afternoon, as a car pulled up outside the event hall to deposit José’s parents and the other elderly travelers, the streets were eerily quiet.
Since federal agents had descended on California, apprehending gardeners, day laborers and car wash workers en masse, residents in immigrant-heavy pockets like this one had mostly stayed inside.
The thought crossed José’s mind: What if immigration agents raided the reunion event? But there was no way he was going to miss it.
Suddenly, the director of the Federation of Zacatecas Hometown Assns. of Southern California, which was hosting the reunion, asked José to rise. Slowly, his parents walked in.
Of course they recognized one another. His first thought: How small they both seemed.
José Antonio Rodríguez and his mother, Juana Contreras Sánchez, wipe tears from their eyes after being reunited.
José gathered his mother in an embrace. He handed her the flowers. And then he gripped his father tightly.
This is a miracle, his father whispered. He’d asked the Virgin for this.
His father, whose heart condition persists, was fatigued from the long journey. They all took seats. His father put his head down on the table and sobbed. José stared at the ground, sniffling, pulling up his shirt to wipe away tears.
A mariachi singer performed a few songs, too loudly. Plates of food appeared. José and his parents picked at it, mostly in silence.
At the next table, José Manuel Arellano Cardona, 70, addressed his middle-aged son as muchachito — little boy.
In the coming days, José and his parents would relax into one another’s company, go shopping, attend church. Most evenings, they would stay up past midnight talking.
José Antonio Rodríguez holds a bouquet of flowers for his mother and father.
Eventually, the parents would head back to Zacatecas because of the limit on their visas.
But for now, they were together, and eager to see José’s home. He took them by the arms as he guided them out into the California sun.
SEOUL — South Korea has begun dismantling loudspeakers that blare anti-North Korean propaganda across the border, as President Lee Jae Myung’s liberal administration seeks to mend fractured relations with Pyongyang.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Defense Ministry said the removal was “a practical measure to ease inter-Korean tensions without impacting the military’s readiness posture.”
The move follows the suspension of propaganda broadcasts in June on orders from Lee, an advocate of reconciliation who has framed warmer relations with North Korea as a matter of economic benefit — a way to minimize a geopolitical liability long blamed for South Korea’s stock market being undervalued.
“Strengthening peace in the border regions will help ease tensions across all of South Korea, and increasing dialogue and exchange will improve the economic situation,” Lee said at a news conference last month.
Elementary school students watch the North Korean side from the Unification Observation Post in Paju, South Korea.
(Ahn Young-joon / Associated Press)
First used by North Korea in 1962, with South Korea following suit a year later, propaganda loudspeakers have long been a defining feature of the hot-and-cold relationship between Seoul and Pyongyang, switched on and off with the waxing and waning of goodwill.
The last major stoppage was during a period of detente in 2004 and lasted until 2015, when two South Korean soldiers stationed by the border were maimed by landmines that military officials said had been covertly installed by North Korean soldiers weeks earlier.
Played by loudspeakers set up in the DMZ, or demilitarized zone, a 2.5-mile-wide stretch of land between the two countries, South Korea’s broadcasts once featured live singing and propagandizing by soldiers stationed along the border. In recent years, however, the speakers have played pre-planned programming that ranges from outright opprobrium to more subtle messaging intended to imbue listeners with pro-South Korea sympathies.
The programming has included K-pop songs with lyrics that double as invitations to defect to South Korea, such as one 2010 love song that goes: “Come on, come on, don’t turn me down and come on and approach me,” or weather reports whose power lies in their accuracy — and have occasionally been accompanied by messages such as, “It’s going to rain this afternoon so make sure you take your laundry in.”
With a maximum range of around 19 miles that makes them unlikely to reach major population centers in North Korea, such broadcasts have come under question by some experts in terms of their effectiveness.
Still, several North Korean defectors have cited the broadcasts as part of the reason they decided to flee to South Korea. One former artillery officer who defected in 2013 recalled being won over, in part, by the weather reports.
“Whenever the South Korean broadcast said it would rain from this time to that time, it would always actually rain,” he told South Korean media last year.
South Korean army K-9 self-propelled howitzers take positions in Paju, near the border with North Korea.
(Ahn Young-joon / Associated Press)
North Korea, however, sees the broadcasts as a provocation and has frequently threatened to retaliate with military action. In 2015, Pyongyang made good on this threat by firing a rocket at a South Korean loudspeaker, leading to an exchange of artillery fire between the two militaries.
Such sensitivities have made the loudspeakers controversial in South Korea, too, with residents of the border villages complaining about the noise, as well as the dangers of military skirmishes breaking out near their homes.
“At night, [North Korea] plays frightening noises like the sound of animals, babies or women crying,” one such resident told Lee when the president visited her village in June, shortly after both sides halted the broadcasts. “It made me ill. Even sleeping pills didn’t work.”
But it is doubtful that the dismantling alone will be enough for a diplomatic breakthrough.
Relations between Seoul and Pyongyang have been in a deep chill after the failure of the denuclearization summits between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in 2018, as well as a separate dialogue between Kim and then-South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
Tensions rose further during the subsequent conservative administration of Yoon Suk Yeol, who was president of South Korea from 2022 until his removal from office this year. Yoon is being investigated by a special counsel on allegations that he ordered South Korean military drones to fly over Pyongyang in October.
Ruling party lawmakers have alleged that the move was intended to provoke a war with North Korea, and in doing so, secure the legal justification for Yoon’s declaration of martial law in December.
During Yoon’s term, Kim formally foreswore any reconciliation with Seoul while expanding his nuclear weapons program.
That stance remains unchanged even under the more pro-reconciliation Lee, according to a statement by Kim Yo Jong, the North Korean leader’s younger sister, published by the state-run Korean Central News Agency last month.
“No matter how desperately the Lee Jae Myung government may try to imitate the fellow countrymen and pretend they do all sorts of righteous things to attract our attention, they cannot turn back the hands of the clock of the history which has radically changed the character of the DPRK-ROK relations,” she said.
The national Border Patrol union made a major endorsement for President.
Paul Perez, the president of the National Border Patrol Council, announced the union endorsed former Republican President Donald Trump over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential election.
The National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) represents Border Patrol agents and support personnel assigned to the U.S. Border Patrol. The union announced its full support of former President Trump during a rally in Prescott Valley, Arizona.
“If we allow border czar Harris to win this election, every city, every community in this great country is going to go to hell,” Perez announced. “The untold millions of people unvetted, who she has allowed into this country that are committing murders, rapes, robberies, burglaries and every other crime will continue to put our country in peril.
“Only one man can fix that. That is Donald J. Trump. He has always stood with the men and women who protect this border, who put their lives on the line for the country. A man who knows about putting his life on the line for what is right.”
Former President Trump called the Border Patrol union endorsement a “great honor,” as he has made illegal immigration and the border crisis a major plank in his campaign. President Trump said he will secure the border and stop catch-and-release, as well as implement a mass deportation program.
“On behalf of the 16,000 men and women represented by the National Border Patrol Council, we strongly support and endorse Donald J. Trump for President of the United States,” Perez concluded.
Republicans are also trying to capitalize on former President Bill Clinton seemingly blaming Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden’s administration – all Democrats – for Laken Riley’s murder by an illegal immigrant.
Amid relentless criticism from former President Trump that she is responsible for out-of-control illegal immigration, Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday made her first visit to the U.S.-Mexico border since 2021, announcing more stringent measures she would take as president to restrict border entry.
“The United States is a sovereign nation, and I believe we have a duty to set rules at our border, and to enforce them,” Harris told a crowd in Douglas, Ariz., gathered in a small auditorium at Cochise College Douglas Campus, where the stage was flanked by large signs that read, “Border security and stability.” “We are also a nation of immigrants. The United States has been enriched by generations of people who have come from every corner of the world to contribute to our country and to become part of the American story.”
Harris said she would go beyond Biden administration policies to further restrict border access outside of official ports of entry.
Earlier in the afternoon, Harris visited a port of entry less than 10 miles from the campaign event. Two Border Patrol agents walked with her along the towering fence, which was built during the Obama administration. Harris later told reporters that she had thanked them for their work.
“They’ve got a tough job and they need, rightly, support to do their job. They are very dedicated,” she said. “And so I’m here to talk with them about what we can continue to do to support them.”
She advocated for hiring more officers and adding more fentanyl detection systems at border entry points.
“I reject the false choice that suggest we must either choose between securing our border or creating a system of immigration that is safe, orderly and humane,” Harris said. “We can and we must do both.”
Immigration reform has bedeviled presidents of both parties for decades.
A bipartisan proposal earlier this year that combined increased funding for border security and foreign aid for Ukraine appeared to be the first breakthrough until it was derailed when Trump urged Republicans to oppose it.
Kamala Harris speaks at Cochise College Douglas Campus in Douglas, Ariz., on Friday.
(Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press)
That deal fell short of comprehensive plans discussed for decades that would revamp the asylum system and the legal immigration process and provide a pathway to citizenship for an estimated 11 million people in the country without legal authorization, including those who arrived as children. Harris on Friday mentioned farm workers and immigrants who arrived as children, known as “Dreamers.”
“As president, I will put politics aside to fix our immigration system and find solutions to problems which have persisted for far too long,” Harris said.
In advance of Harris’ visit to the border, Trump pointed to reports that there are more than 425,000 convicted criminals who are in the country illegally but not detained by federal authorities, according to data provided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in response to a lawmaker’s request.
That includes more than 13,000 convicted of homicide and more than 15,800 convicted of sexual assault, according to the ICE data shared on X, formerly Twitter, by Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas).
Trump said Thursday that 21 million people entered the country illegally in just the last four years. He framed the bipartisan effort that he helped defeat as “her atrocious border bill.”
“It was not a border bill. It was an amnesty bill … ,” he said at a news conference in Manhattan. “Fortunately Congress was too smart for it.”
The bill would not have provided a path to citizenship for people who lack legal status.
The GOP nominee’s appearance at Trump Tower was reminiscent of his 2015 campaign announcement there, notably his references to other nations purposefully sending criminals to the United States.
His remarks included multiple falsehoods, such as saying Harris approved a raft of changes to the nation’s immigration policies that as vice president she had no control over, and that she was the Biden administration’s “border czar.” She had been charged with trying to improve conditions in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras to stop those nations’ residents from fleeing their homelands.
That assignment has been a political headache for Harris — drawing criticism from the left and right.
In a 2021 visit to Central America, Harris told would-be migrants that they would be deported if they crossed the border, angering allies of immigrants who said they were fleeing poverty, corruption and violence.
“Do not come,” she said at the time. “You will be turned back.”
On the same trip, Harris laughed off questions in a nationally televised interview about why she had not yet visited the border as vice president, inflaming critics on the right.
Border stops hit a record in December, with agents making nearly 250,000 arrests. As the political problem raged, Biden signed an order in June to heavily restrict asylum claims, prompting a sharp drop in border encounters, to fewer than 60,000 in July and August.
Republicans have been hammering the issue, with GOP members of Congress filing a resolution that “strongly condemns the Biden Administration and its Border Czar, Kamala Harris’s, failure to secure the United States border” one day after the president announced he would not seek reelection.
While some of the former president and his allies’ claims are demonstrably false and have been denounced by GOP elected officials, such as allegations that Haitian migrants are eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, concerns among some voters about the impact of an insecure border on the economy, crime and the fentanyl crisis are palpable in many communities.
Friday’s visit was Harris’ second to Arizona since she became the Democratic presidential nominee, according to the Harris-Walz campaign. While Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and others have swung through the southwestern battleground state, Harris has focused much of her in-person campaigning in critical states farther east, such as Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia.
Hours before the vice president landed in Arizona, Republicans held a press call featuring two mothers whose daughters were raped and killed by immigrants who were in the country illegally and the mother of a teenage son who overdosed on fentanyl. The women lambasted Harris for the administration’s immigration policy and for visiting the border so close to the election.
“I’m trying very hard not to cry. We live 1,800 miles away from the border,” said Patty Morin, the mother of Rachel Morin, a mother of five who was brutally attacked while walking a bucolic and well-traveled public trail in Maryland. Her body was discovered in a drain pipe.
“No one is safe in America, no one is safe. If you have a sanctuary city in your state, you’re not safe,” she said. “They have bused, flown, trained illegal immigrants to literally every nook and cranny and every tiny town in the whole of the United States.”
Such fears are among the reasons the Harris campaign released an ad about immigration in Arizona on Friday, and visited the Southern border less than a month and a half before election day. As vice president, she previously visited the region once in 2021, when she toured the port of entry and border operation in El Paso.
Mehta reported from Phoenix and Pinho reported from Douglas. Times staff writers Noah Bierman and Andrea Castillo contributed to this report from Washington, D.C.
In Bollywood, not just the lead stars, but several actors have received immense love for their villainous roles. Let’s dive into the journey of an actor who left the Indian Air Force and saw the highest of the highs in his illustrious career.
We’re talking about none other than Gopal Singh Bedi aka Ranjeet Bedi. His iconic performances in several movies since the 70s and 80s have left an indelible mark in the audiences’ hearts. Before entering the industry, he studied in the science stream and graduated from Hindu College in Delhi.
He was quite a sports enthusiast and represented his college team as the football team’s goalkeeper, which also earned him the title of Goli (misspelled version of Goalie). In an earlier conversation with Film Companion, the veteran actor shared that his mentor thought he was “maaroing line” on his daughter.
This caused an altercation between him and his mentor. Thus, he left IAF and came back to his carefree life. Later, Ranjeet was introduced to Bollywood by a friend’s father, Ranvir Singh, who was connected to the royal family of Kota and had worked with people from the British film industry. When Singh offered him his debut film, Zindagi Ki Raahein (which was shelved), he lied to his family and came to Mumbai as working in films was considered taboo back then.
After interesting twists and turns in his journey, the actor landed his first role in Saawan Bhado which was released in 1970. This was followed by his roles in movies like Sharmeelee, Reshma Aur Shera, Border, Bulandi, and many more. Over the years, the actor is known to have worked in more than 200 films.
While speaking with the publication, the legendary actor went on to reveal that he was one of the busiest actors during the seventies. “I had 80 films on the floor at one point,” he shared with the publication. It was the time he and Rajesh Khanna, Randhir Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan, and more would casually spend time together.
Nevertheless, his love for acting is unstoppable, and he continues to work in films on his terms. Prior to his next release in 2025 with Akshay Kumar’s Housefull 5; he did only Hindi movies in the last ten years-Welcome Back (2015) and Housefull 4 (2019).
In addition to this, the actor remains quite active on his social media handle as well.
Which of Ranjeet’s works is your favorite, do let us know in the comments section. Stay tuned to Pinkvilla for more updates.
Migrants attempted to board San Diego area school buses with children still inside for two days in a row, in one case requiring parents and the bus driver to keep the migrants away. In response, the school district says buses will no longer stop when migrants are present.
Jamul-Dulzura Union School District told Fox 5 that on Tuesday afternoon, a group of three men walked in the middle of the highway tried to stop a school bus, requiring the vehicle to take evasive action. On Wednesday morning, a group of 20 migrants tried to board a school bus at a bus stop where elementary students were waiting with their parents for pickup. Parents and drivers “stepped in, keeping the migrants at bay.”
“He was really confused. He said these adults, they weren’t kids, they had backpacks on and they tried to get on our bus. And there were a lot of them,” said Nicole Cardinale, whose eight year old son was already on the bus, told the TV station.
The presence of backpacks suggests the individuals had recently crossed the border; Jamul is just inland from San Diego and just north of the California-Mexico border.
“Earlier today I notified transportation families about two recent incidents involving our school buses on Highway 94. Both incidents involved people either trying to stop or board a bus at a bus stop,” wrote school district superintendent Liz Bystedt in a letter to parents. “I want to say thank you to our bus drivers for keeping our students safe and to the parents who helped to ensure the bus was not boarded.”
Bystedt wrote that the district had already contacted law enforcement, including border patrol, about the incident. In an email to parents, Bystedt also said that buses would not be stopping at any stops where migrants are present, and that parents should follow the bus to the next migrant-free stop to pick up or drop off their children.
Ever since early 2021, Americans have watched as illegal aliens have flooded across the Southwest border unimpeded. They have read with horror the accounts of innocent Americans victimized by those here unlawfully. They have seen family and friends die after being poisoned by fentanyl coming across the border. And the Biden-Harris administration has largely done nothing.
Yet now, following a few months of somewhat-reduced numbers of apprehensions between ports of entry along the Southwest border, the Biden-Harris administration is taking a victory lap. Such premature celebration, however, ignores the reality of the continuing nature of this crisis.
Before explaining why, Americans must understand that even if not one more inadmissible alien crossed our borders for the remainder of Biden and Harris’ term, the millions they have already allowed into our country have done damage that will take decades to remedy. For many families, like those of Laken Riley, Rachel Morin, and Jocelyn Nungaray, the damage can never be undone.
But if Biden and Harris want to talk about numbers, the president and his “border czar” will find no exoneration. On their watch, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has recorded more than 10 million encounters nationwide, plus another two million known “gotaways” who have crossed our borders uncaught.
Many on the left like to appeal to the history of Ellis Island as an excuse for mass immigration – despite the fact that these individuals arrived in accordance with then-existing law. However, the number of people who came through Ellis Island was also roughly 12 million – in the 62 years between 1892 and 1954.
The number of inadmissible aliens who have been encountered at our borders or crossed uncaught since the start of Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 is unprecedented. Claiming victory now due to temporarily reduced border crossings displays a willful ignorance of the nature of this ongoing crisis, because these numbers alone do not tell the full story of what Americans are experiencing.
First, there are the continuing financial impacts. As of mid-June 2024, more than 205,000 illegal aliens had arrived in New York City since the spring of 2022. Mayor Eric Adams has declared that these arrivals and the resultant costs “will destroy New York City.” Small towns will also be struggling for years with the consequences of unchecked crossings. Springfield, Ohio, home to 60,000 people, has seen roughly 20,000 Haitians arrive since the crisis began, putting major strain on housing and other services. Whitewater, Wisconsin, a town of just 15,000 people, has been overwhelmed by the arrival of 1,000 illegal aliens “often lacking basic English skills.” According to one official in Sanford, Maine last year, “We’re tapped. … We’ve been overrun,” after costs to care for illegal aliens tripled.
DHS has reported that more than 80% of illegal aliens who are “neither expelled or repatriated directly by CBP nor continuously detained by ICE” remain in the United States years later. These communities, and thousands more like them, are going to be dealing with these costs for years.
Second, consider the ongoing public safety implications of what’s happening at the Southwest border. Border Patrol arrests of illegal aliens with criminal histories since FY2021 have more than doubled from FY2017-2020. Worse, criminals and individuals with possible ties to terrorism have been, and continue to be, released into the interior. In fact, news recently broke that the Biden-Harris administration actually released into the interior 99 individuals whom they knew were on the terrorist watchlist. According to one DHS source, ICE officials have been “discouraged from deporting even illegal immigrants who had final deportation orders and were linked to gangs.” Former ICE Field Director John Fabbricatore has said, “I was being forced to release people that should not have been allowed on the street.”
How many other threats to our safety and security have likewise been unwittingly released or entered as gotaways? How many more, who either did not commit crimes in their home country or were never caught, will do so for the first time against American victims?
Finally, despite a recent decrease in illegal crossings between ports of entry, encounters of inadmissible aliens at ports of entry are at record highs, in large part because the administration has devised numerous, unlawful mass-parole programs encouraging them to enter this way. Consider that in February 2021, Biden and Harris’ first full month in office, CBP recorded just 17,744 encounters at ports nationwide. By July 2024, that number was 110,615. Encouraging would-be border crossers to cross at ports of entry certainly cuts down on the embarrassing optics of overwhelmed Border Patrol agents and facilities, but ultimately leads to the same result – inadmissible aliens being released into the interior. And now, one of these mass-parole programs has been temporarily shut down due to massive fraud.
This border crisis is not over – not by a long shot. It is time for Congress, and the American people, to say enough is enough.
Rep. Mark E. Green, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, represents Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District.
Death Valley National Park set another record in July.
The area dubbed the hottest place on Earth saw an average temperature in July of 108.5 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. That broke the previous record of 108.1 degrees in July 2018.
The average high temperature last month in Death Valley was 121.9 degrees, tying the record set in July 1917.
The National Weather Service keeps a temperature sensor in Furnace Creek in Death Valley.
“It’s a pretty hot one out there,” said Morgan Stessman, a meterologist in the National Weather Service’s Las Vegas office.
Farther south, a California town near the border of Arizona also boasted a new record for the hottest monthly average temperature in the country.
Needles averaged 103.2 degrees in July, surpassing Phoenix’s highest average temperature in July 2023 of 102.7 degrees, according to the Arizona State Climate Office.
More punishing temperatures may be on the way. Meteorologist Stessman said that there is a 50% to 60% chance that Death Valley will see above normal temperatures for the month of August.
A long, narrow basin near the border of Nevada, Death Valley is 282 feet below sea level. The mountains trap hot air and circulate the heat like a convection oven.
The highest temperature ever recorded in Death Valley was 134 degrees on July 10, 1913. The average high temperature that month was 116.5 degrees.
In July, a European tourist in Death Valley melted the skin off his feet when he lost his flip-flops in the sand dunes, park officials said. Also in July, a biker in Death Valley died.
The heat hinders rescue efforts. When temperatures exceed 120 degrees, a medical helicopter cannot access the park. Air expands when it is heated, becoming thinner than cold air and helicopters can’t get the lift needed to fly.
Trees and wildlife also are suffering. One 2022 study found that thousands of the trees have died at Telescope Peak, the highest point in Death Valley, since 2013.
Another study from 2019 found that about a third of Death Valley’s bird species have declined in the last 100 years because of heat stress associated with climate change.
Photojournalist Go Nakamura witnessed desperation and determination in the border deserts of California and Arizona during reporting trips in November, December, and April, and captured how the US-Mexico border has become one site of an ongoing global crisis. The UN’s refugee agency estimates that nearly 40 million refugees and asylum seekers were displaced from their home countries as of April, which would break records set since the organization’s founding in 1950. While most of these people are living in refugee camps or on the margins of society in countries that are often struggling themselves, an increasing number are seeking a new life in America.
Twenty years ago, the typical person crossing the US-Mexico border illegally—the one federal border policy was designed to catch—was a Mexican adult, traveling alone to find under-the-table work. But after the Great Recession, the demographics shifted: more Central Americans, more families, often seeking out border agents to ask for asylum. And in the last half decade, with new smuggling routes and lightning-fast social media word of mouth, it has shifted again. In 2023, the majority of people apprehended by US Border Patrol came from countries other than Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.
President Biden is expected to sign an executive order Tuesday closing the U.S. border with Mexico between official ports of entry while crossings are high, a change designed to make it harder for people who cross illegally to seek asylum.
Under a new interim rule, the president can put the border restrictions into effect when average border arrests surpass 2,500 migrants for seven days in a row — as is the case today. The rule also raises the legal bar for an asylum claim at the border from reasonable possibility they will face torture at home to reasonable probability it will happen.
The heightened restrictions would end two weeks after the number of crossers stopped at the border dips below 1,500 for more than a week. Data shows that for most of the last nine years, border stops have not fallen below 1,500 per day.
“These measures will significantly increase the speed and the scope of consequences for those who cross unlawfully” and will “allow the departments to more quickly remove individuals who do not establish a legal basis to remain in the United States,” said one of several senior administration officials who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity.
The restrictions would not apply to those who enter at official ports of entry or use other legal means, including those who use a relatively new mobile app to request an appointment. It would also exempt certain groups, including unaccompanied children, victims of severe forms of trafficking and people with dire medical emergencies or extreme threats to life and safety.
Administration officials defended their efforts to secure the border, saying they have already returned more migrants in the past 12 months than in any year since 2010. They also sought to blame Republicans for Congress’ failure to pass a bipartisan bill that would have given the administration more money and authority to control the border.
Officials conceded the president’s executive action, which is likely to face legal challenges, is essentially a stopgap.
“There is no lasting solution to the challenges we are facing without Congress doing its job,” one official said.
While Mexico has agreed to take migrants from several Latin American countries, the administration is facing an increase in arrivals from other continents, including Asia. Officials said they were working to strengthen deals to fly people to India, China and other countries of origin, but said it remains a challenge.
Officials have faced a barrage from critics on the right, who blame Biden for what they call an out-of-control border, and on the left, who accuse him of replicating xenophobic policies advanced by former President Trump. Officials took pains to differentiate their policies from Trump’s most well-known practices, including the attempts to ban the entry of people from Muslim-majority countries and to separate children from their families.
“We will not separate children from their families,” said one official. “It is not only inhumane, it’s grossly ineffective.”
Seeking asylum, regardless of how someone arrives on U.S. soil, is a right under the federal Immigration and Nationality Act and international law. That issue proved problematic for the Trump administration’s efforts to limit border crossings, and it could trip up Biden’s latest order as well.
Amy Fischer, director of refugee and migrant rights at Amnesty International USA, said the expected executive action “plays into false narratives about the invasions at the border and advances a policy grounded in white supremacist ideas at the expense of people in search of safety in the U.S.”
“President Biden’s action sets a dangerous international precedent as a first-of-its-kind numerical cap on asylum, limiting the number of people who can claim asylum in the U.S. and effectively shutting down the U.S.-Mexico border, using the same legal authority that the Trump administration used to implement the dangerous and xenophobic Muslim and African travel bans,” Fischer said.
Immigration has been one of Biden’s thorniest problems, practically and politically. He campaigned in large part on reversing Trump’s most hard-line policies and rhetoric, but after Biden assumed office, border crossings and arrests rose dramatically.
Polls show many voters rate immigration and the border as a top issue, often alongside the economy, character, democracy and abortion. It’s also the area where they are most likely to rate Trump ahead of Biden, according to an ABC News poll released last month showing 47% of Americans trust Trump more on the issue, compared with 30% who trust Biden more.
Elon Musk and his brother Kimbal were speaking to a crowd of business leaders in 2013 about creating their first company when the conversation seemed to go off script. Originally from South Africa, Kimbal said the brothers lacked lawful immigration status when they began the business in the U.S.
“In fact, when they did fund us, they realized that we were illegal immigrants,” Kimbal said, according to a recording of the interview from the Milken Institute Global Conference.
“I’d say it was a gray area,” Elon replied with a laugh.
Eleven years later, Elon was back at the Milken Institute last month in Beverly Hills, talking once again about immigration. This time, he described the southern border as a scene out of the zombie apocalypse and said the legal immigration process is long and “Kafkaesque.”
“I’m a big believer in immigration, but to have unvetted immigration at large scale is a recipe for disaster,” Musk said at the conference. “So I’m in favor of greatly expediting legal immigration but having a secure southern border.”
Musk, the most financially successful immigrant in the U.S. and the third-richest person in the world, has frequently repeated his view that it is difficult to immigrate to the U.S. legally but “trivial and fast” to enter illegally. What he leaves out: Seeking asylum is a legal right under national and international law, regardless of how a person arrives on U.S. soil.
But as the election year ramps up and Republicans make border security a major theme of their campaigns, Musk’s comments about immigration have grown increasingly extreme. The chief executive of SpaceX and Tesla, who purchased the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) in 2022, has sometimes used his giant microphone to elevate racist conspiracies and spread misinformation about immigration law.
Musk’s business manager did not respond to a request for comment, nor did representatives for SpaceX and Tesla. X does not have a department that responds to news media inquiries.
While Musk’s views are clear, what’s murkier is his influence. Some see him as an influential opinion maker with the power to shape policy and sway voters, while others dismiss him as a social media bomb thrower mainly heard within a conservative echo chamber.
“If you haven’t heard it already, I’m sure you’re going to see members of Congress citing Elon Musk and pointing to his tweets, and that’s a scary concept,” said Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-San Pedro), who leads the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
She says she believes Musk is influential with her Republican colleagues who are “always looking for new anti-immigrant talking points.”
Polling shows immigration is a top issue for voters. For the third month in a row, it was named by respondents to an open-ended April Gallup poll as the most important problem facing the U.S.
The November election that’s shaping up as a rematch between President Biden and former President Trump will be the first presidential contest since Musk bought X — a site Trump had been banned from for inciting violence before Musk reinstated his account last year.
Musk used the platform to come to Trump’s defense last week after the former president was criminally convicted for falsifying records in a hush money scheme. “Great damage was done today to the public’s faith in the American legal system,” Musk wrote on X, calling Trump’s crime a “trivial matter.”
After meeting with Trump in March, Musk told former CNN anchor Don Lemon that he’s “leaning away” from Biden, but doesn’t plan to endorse Trump yet. He also said he won’t donate to any presidential campaign.
Campaign contribution records show Musk regularly donated to both Republicans and Democrats through 2020. That includes a handful of donations to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who said his relationship with Musk dates back to his time as San Francisco mayor but that they’ve never discussed immigration.
“I think people have formed very strong opinions on this topic,” Newsom said. “I don’t know that he’s influencing that debate in a disproportionate way. Not one human being has ever said, ‘Hey, did you see Elon’s thing about immigration?’”
How Musk talks about immigration on X
Last year Musk visited the Eagle Pass, Texas, border, meeting with local politicians and law enforcement to get what he called an “unfiltered” view of the situation.
He also helped spread viral reports falsely claiming the Biden administration had “secretly” flown hundreds of thousands of migrants into the U.S. to reduce border arrivals.
“This administration is both importing voters and creating a national security threat from unvetted illegal immigrants,” Musk wrote March 5 on X. “It is highly probable that the groundwork is being laid for something far worse than 9/11.”
But the migrants in question fly commercial under a program created by the Biden administration, exercising the president’s authority to temporarily admit people for humanitarian reasons. The program allows up to 30,000 vetted people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela lawfully relocate to the U.S. each month and obtain work permits if they have a financial sponsor.
Contrary to Musk’s claim that the administration is looking for Democratic voters, those arriving under the program have no pathway to citizenship. The claim gives fuel to extremist ideologies such as great replacement theory, the racist conspiracy that there’s a plot to reduce the population of white people.
Elon Musk, wearing a black Stetson hat, livestreams while visiting the southern border in September in Eagle Pass, Texas. Musk toured the border along the bank of the Rio Grande with Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas).
(John Moore / Getty Images)
Earlier this year, Musk targeted a controversial bill in the California Legislature that would help immigrants with serious or violent felony convictions fight deportation using state funds. Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D-Los Angeles) pulled the bill after Republicans slammed it on social media, garnering the attention of Musk, who wrote about it on X: “When is enough enough?”
In February, shortly after a bipartisan group of senators released details of a border security bill that had gone through lengthy negotiations, Musk again echoed great replacement theory, writing on X: “The long-term goal of the so-called ‘Border Security’ bill is enabling illegals to vote! It will do the total opposite of securing the border.”
Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) shot back.
“No, it’s not focused on trying to be able to get more illegals to vote,” Lankford said on CNN. “That’s absurd.”
Musk’s immigration journey
There’s a particular irony in Musk attacking the program that allows limited arrivals for humanitarian reasons while simultaneously saying he favors legal immigration, said Ahilan Arulanantham, a lawyer, professor and co-director of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at UCLA. The program offers would-be migrants a lawful pathway to reach the U.S. and reduced arrivals at the border from the beneficiary countries.
“That shows a very deep confusion about a fairly basic point about immigration law and the way the policy works,” Arulanantham said. Musk’s lack of criticism of a similar program for Ukrainians illustrates the undercurrent of racism accompanying attacks on the program for Latin American migrants, he added.
Musk amplifying false claims is counterproductive to rational immigration policy, Arulanantham said.
“Every voice adds to the pile, and the louder the voice, the marginally greater the addition to the pile,” Arulanantham said. “He is a very loud voice.”
David Kaye, a UC Irvine law professor who studies platform moderation, said Musk’s promotion of misleading or false statements, including those about immigrants, is concerning because he can influence conversations on X in a way no one else can.
“There’s already a pretty robust kind of alarmist approach to immigration, so Musk might only add a little bit of fuel to a pretty big fire,” Kaye said. “But the fact is he’s got a ton of followers. To the extent he promotes disinformation, I think that’s a cause for concern for the United States having fair and fact-driven debates over immigration.”
Musk’s own immigration story is described in the biography “Elon Musk” by Walter Isaacson. Musk left South Africa in 1989 for Canada, where his mother had relatives, Isaacson wrote. While in college he transferred to the University of Pennsylvania and, after graduating, enrolled at Stanford but immediately requested a deferral.
He and his brother Kimbal had invented an interactive network directory service, like a precursor to Google Maps.
Just before pitching the idea to a venture company, Kimbal was stopped by U.S. border officials at the airport on his way back from a trip to Toronto “who looked in his luggage and saw the pitch deck, business cards and other documents for the company. Because he did not have a U.S. work visa, they wouldn’t let him board the plane,” Isaacson writes in the book. So a friend picked him up and drove him into the U.S. after telling another border agent that they were seeing the David Letterman show.
After finalizing the investment, the firm found immigration lawyers to help the Musk brothers get work visas, according to Isaacson.
Once Musk married his first wife, he became eligible for U.S. citizenship, and took the oath in 2002 at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds.
Musk’s recent commentary on immigration and other political issues appears to be a reversal from his views a decade ago, said Nu Wexler, who has worked in policy communications at tech companies and for congressional Democrats.
Wexler recalled when Musk left Fwd.us, the political action organization spearheaded by Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg in 2013 to advocate for immigration reform. Musk left because Fwd.us backed conservative lawmakers who wanted immigration reform but supported oil drilling and other policies that went against Musk’s environmental priorities.
“I agreed to support Fwd.us because there is a genuine need to reform immigration. However, this should not be done at the expense of other important causes,” Musk told the news site AllThingsD at the time.
When Zuckerberg created Fwd.us, it made smart business sense for tech executives to make the business case for immigration reform, Wexler said. Now, immigration is a more divisive issue and executives on the left are less willing to dive into politics.
“At some point he decided that being the main character was helpful personal branding,” Wexler said of Musk. “I don’t know if he’s going to change minds on immigration, although he might be able to fire up the base.”
Alex Conant, a GOP consultant and partner at the public affairs firm Firehouse Strategies, said Musk’s influence could grow if Trump wins the election. If an immigration bill were to take shape at that point, Musk’s endorsement or rejection could shape the debate, he said.
“That’s the sort of scenario where all the sudden he might have some power,” he said.
There appears to be growing evidence for that possibility. Trump and Musk have discussed a possible advisory role for the billionaire, the Wall Street Journal reported last week. If Trump reclaims the White House, Musk could provide formal input on border security policies.
Times staff writer Taryn Luna contributed to this report.
