SAN DIEGO — Eleven million — that’s the estimated number of immigrants living in the United States illegally. The number has become the most-cited statistic in the immigration reform debate. But how did we even arrive at that figure? Who are these 11 million people? And is it even the best number to use?
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — In what is thought to be the first housing program of its kind brought to a tribal community, the Pueblo of Zuni in western New Mexico has broken ground on a series of homes financed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — The Grand Canyon National Park and other federal agencies are going to great lengths to save a homely fish in the Colorado River Basin. The latest is translocation, which involves several trucks, helicopters and biologists.
Latinos have called both the rural and urban Southwest home for generations. But much of the rest of the nation is now adjusting to the latest wave of immigrants from Mexico and Latin America. Across rural America, one in two new neighbors is Latino, according to a recent study.
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — The number of HIV cases is higher among the Navajo than any other tribe in the country. In just the last three years the number of new diagnoses has quadrupled in the Four Corners area.
The number of people diagnosed with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, has spiked for a few reasons.
Tuesday evening was the deadline for Senate Judiciary Committee to file amendments to the so-called Gang of Eight's bipartisan immigration reform bill.
The committee's first meeting to consider the amendments is Thursday morning, and there will be plenty to think about: committee members have filed 300 amendments to the 844-page bill.
BOQUILLAS, Mexico — A formal border crossing opened a few weeks ago along the Texas-Mexico border. It links a remote Mexican village with Big Bend National Park in West Texas. Villagers on the Mexican side, in the tiny village of Boquillas, hope the crossing will bring back the tourists who sustained their economy in the past, and they're already working to rebuild the tourist infrastructure.
PHOENIX — A new survey found that many Latinos are fearful about calling the police. The survey questioned more than 2000 Latinos in the counties surrounding Phoenix, Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston.
PHOENIX — As journalists we often cover tragic stories, then because of the rush of news events and the nature of our business we move on to the next story. But the story doesn’t end when the cameras and microphones are packed up and the headlines fade away.
PHOENIX — Late last month, 14 unauthorized immigrant defendants appeared in a crowded courtroom in Maricopa County Superior Court. They were shackled and wearing black and white stripes.
They were there to change their pleas to guilty.
Their crime was using fraudulent Social Security Numbers to work at Sportex, a Tempe company that makes custom sports apparel.
TIJUANA, Mexico — I’ve been working on a few stories about deportees living in Tijuana. On a recent morning I went to one of about a dozen shelters in Tijuana’s Zona Norte for people who’ve been kicked out of the United States but have no place else to go.
That’s where I met Jesus, who so far has given me only his first name. He lived in Los Angeles, and was deported to Tijuana about a year and a half ago. Without family here, he made his way into the Tijuana River, a concrete channel that runs along the border fence and most of the year is just a trickle of putrid green water.
