• Mexicans march in support of killed drug kingpin

    Hundreds of people turned out for the march in Apatzingan, the birth place of La Familia cartel leader Nazario Moreno, who was known as “the Craziest One” and reputedly indoctrinated his gang members in pseudo-Christian ideology; the government says Moreno was killed in Apatzingan on Thursday in a shootout with federal police

  • GAO: gaps in northern border security

    A recent government report says the Border Patrol has limited capabilities to detect illegal activities along the U.S. northern border from Washington to Montana; the Government Accountability Office report says that among other things, the area is considered an entry point for low-flying aircraft that carry high-potency marijuana from Canada

  • Accused 14-year old Mexico hit boy an American

    The 14-year old hit-man, who confessed to beheading four people on behalf of the Cartel of the South Pacific, a branch of the splintered Beltran Leyva gang, is an American citizen; the boy was born in San Diego but grew up in the city of Cuernavaca; a Mexican federal judge said the boy would be tried as a juvenile, meaning that, if convicted, he cannot be sentenced for more than three years in prison; the U.S. State Department says the United States has not yet decided what do in the matter

  • Jeb Bush says Arizona's new immigration law is "the wrong approach"

    Former Florida governor Jeb Bush criticizes Arizona’s controversial immigration law; Bush, whose wife is Mexican, said that his own children might look suspicious if seen walking on the streets of Phoenix; “It’s the wrong approach” he told the National League of Cities convention in Denver this past weekend

  • Mexico violence destroys border cities' ties, tourism

    Narco-gang violence is killing tourism and cooperation along the U.S.-Mexico border; the violence — and a dramatic tightening of border security by the United States over fears of terrorism — have also strangled cooperative relationships among officials of many “sister cities”; in many cases, professional friendships and cross-border ties among city leaders, and police and fire departments, have fallen by the wayside

  • Feds attribute surging seizure stats to more manpower, technology

    Increased monitoring and interdiction efforts along the U.S.-Mexico border have resulted in what the administration describes as “unprecedented” seizures of illegal drugs, currency, and firearms; CBP intercepted $282 million in illegal currency, a 35 percent increase over the prior two years; authorities seized in excess of 7 million pounds of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other drugs, up 16.5 percent; agents confiscated 6,800 weapons heading for Mexico, a 22 percent increase over the previous two-year period

  • Mexico, U.S. agree on Trusted Traveler Program

    The U.S. and Mexican governments signed agreements Tuesday designed to improve airline security as Mexico continues its war against drug cartels; a key part of the agreement is a trusted traveler program that allows airline passengers who have undergone rigorous background checks to bypass lengthy screenings at airport checkpoints. They also must provide biometric information — such as fingerprints — that can be encoded onto trusted traveler cards and run through electronic card readers

  • New report assesses opportunities in the border security market

    A new report assess business opportunities presented by business security — what the research firm calls “one of the most exciting emerging markets within the global defense and security marketplace”; the report examines the commercial prospects for companies involved in supplying products ranging from integrated networks of video surveillance cameras and radar systems to unmanned platforms in the air and on the ground

  • Border-security crisis boosts Tucson's economy

    An economic boost for Arizona city from the border crisis; with the University of Arizona, and some fifty companies already involved with border security in some way, Tucson’s future could hold more high-tech, high-paying jobs; research firm MarketResearch.com concludes that worldwide spending on border security products and services will reach $15.8 billion in this year alone

  • New opportunities for biometrics and smart cards

    The biometric microprocessor card market is growing by leaps and bounds; the microprocessor smart card market will hit 5.32 billion units shipped in 2010 and rise to 6.02 billion units in 2011; the growth owes to rising sales of e-ID cards, especially from the European residence permit, and growth in e-services for citizens

  • Critics: DREAM Act would cost taxpayers $6.2 billion per year

    A group advocating for tighter immigration laws estimates that a hotly debated bill that would give tens of thousands of illegal immigrants who attend college or join the military a path to legal status would cost taxpayers $6.2 billion a year and “crowd out” U.S. students in the classroom; the Center for Immigration Studies says its $6.2 billion estimate is conservative and does not include the “modest” number of illegal immigrants expected to attend private institutions; the report assumes that most illegal immigrants would attend state universities and community colleges schools where both funds and slots are limited; critics of the group, however, call the report “misleading” and say it lacks evidence supporting its predictions

  • Mexican army nabs a teen sibling cartel assassination team

    The war among Mexico’s seven drug cartels — and between the cartels and the Mexican government — is intensifying and becoming more gruesome; the preferred form of cruelty by drug cartel assassins is to capture enemies and behead them; decapitations emerged alongside another gruesome tactic — dumping the bodies of rivals in vats of acid; cartel goons have moved away from that method, however; the latest move by the cartels is to employ kids as young as 14-year old as assassins; Mexico police last night has captured one such youngster and his 16-year old sister; the two are implicated in four assassinations

  • All airlines flying to the U.S. now gather passenger information for terror check

    All 197 airlines that fly to the United States are now collecting names, genders, and birth dates of passengers so the government can check them against terror watch lists before they fly; getting all air carriers that travel to or through the United States to provide this information marks a milestone in the government’s counterterror efforts and completes a recommendation of the special commission that studied government shortcomings before and after the 9/11 attacks

  • Legislator proposes volunteer-based Arizona border force

    An Arizona legislator is set to introduce a bill to create a new state volunteer force that could be used help patrol the U.S.-Mexico border; the bill would establish a new homeland security force of volunteers who could be called to duty during civil disasters and for border security; the border security role could kick in if the federal government withdraws National Guard soldiers now assisting in border security

  • SIA releases guidelines for bringing biometrics to E-Verify

    The Security Industry Association, a trade group representing businesses in electronic and physical security, has released suggested guidelines for adding biometrics to the federal E-Verify federal resident verification program