Congressman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) recently spoke with Homeland Security NewsWire’s Executive Editor Eugene K. Chow; in the interview Representative McCaul offered his views on President Obama’s current administration strategy, cost-effective strategies to secure the border, and ways DHS could improve Secure Communities; McCaul: “Technology working in concert with boots on the ground is the key to securing the border… [Border Patrol] agents need the benefit of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and infrared sensor technology to conduct surveillance, and then the resources to quickly pursue what is found”

Recently released government e-mails indicate that the FBI had strong doubts about Secure Communities, a controversial DHS immigration program; officials worried that the misunderstanding over whether or not cities and states could actually opt out of the program would lead to a rift between local and federal law enforcement agencies

Last week the Los Zetas drug cartel sent a gruesome message to hackers by decapitating a Mexican blogger and dumping his body in public; the cartel has taken to targeting online activists who have been using social media to report on gang activities or criticize local drug lords; the latest murder was the fourth of its kind

Sixteen nations are challenging a controversial new South Carolina immigration law; Mexico, Honduras, and Chile as well as thirteen other countries from Latin America and the Caribbean have asked to join the U.S. Justice Department’s lawsuit against the South Carolina law aimed at curbing undocumented immigrants

The 2011 IEEE International Conference on Technologies for Homeland Security, to be held 15-17 November in Waltham, Massachusetts, will examine the latest in border security technology and solutions

In an effort to curtail the passage of harsh state immigration laws, a group of Mexican senators announced on Tuesday their plans to meet with lawmakers from several states including Georgia, Alabama, and Arizona; the senators hope to convince state lawmakers that illegal immigrants are generally law-abiding individuals who contribute to the U.S. economy

On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement voted to issue a subpoena for DHS documents regarding information on possible illegal aliens that the agency has declined to deport after local law enforcement reported they had been taken into custody

Border Patrol agents and firefighters rescue five people trapped in a sewage-filled trans-border tunnel near Chula Vista, California

In the first of a new ongoing Point-Counterpoint Debate series, Homeland Security NewsWire’s executive editor Eugene K. Chow interviewed Mary Giovagnoli, the director of the Immigration Policy Center at the American Immigration Council, and Ira Mehlman, the media director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform; the two weighed in on President Obama’s current immigration strategy, the effect of Alabama’s tough new immigration law, and what lawmakers can do to curb illegal immigration