Tijuana // Current

slow port of entry

Less than 20 miles south of downtown San Diego lies the world's busiest port of entry - the international border crossing... more

daledrops
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Mexico captures Tijuana drug cartel leader

By Lizbeth Diaz TIJUANA, Mexico (Reuters) - Mexican security forces have arrested drug cartel leader Eduardo Arellano Felix,... more

bedeboop
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4 more people slain in Tijuana yesterday

October 26, 2008 TIJUANA: A state police investigator was among the four people shot to death yesterday, authorities said. ... more

Apocalipstick
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2 more bodies discovered in Tijuana

After 28 straight days of gangland-style killings in the Tijuana region, officials are still discovering victims. The State... more

Apocalipstick
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Toddler latest victim in Tijuana gang battles

A toddler died in a vehicle crash Wednesday night as its parents dodged bullets during a shootout between state police and a well... more

Apocalipstick
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Tijuana: Police officer, two others found slain

Three men were shot to death Saturday morning in the city's east side, among them a municipal police officer, authorities... more

Apocalipstick
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4 Men in Vehicle Gunned Down on Tijuana Street

Four men were shot to death Thursday afternoon in the middle of a busy neighborhood as the wave of violence continued in the city,... more

Apocalipstick
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5 More Dead in Tijuana Over Weekend

The body count slowed over the weekend, but the violence continued with a shootout Saturday evening that left one person dead,... more

Apocalipstick
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Prostitutes in Tijuana Forced to Pay More for Testing

Health authorities in Tijuana now charge more for the medical tests required for sex workers. The price increase may keep many... more

Apocalipstick
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49 bodies found in Tijuana this week

Police have found nine more bodies dumped around the Mexican border city of Tijuana, where nearly 50 people have been killed in a... more

Apocalipstick
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Mexican police find 9 bodies dumped in Tijuana

TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) -- Police have found nine more bodies dumped around the Mexican border city of Tijuana, where nearly 50... more

ivxx
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Tijuana

A week ago Dave, Austin and I drove down to Tijuana to meet some filmmakers and attend the opening of the Casa Del Tunel. We found... more

saskia
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Eight more bodies found as Mexican drug violence continues

Mexican police have found eight bodies, two of them decapitated, in the north-western border city of Tijuana and 19 others after... more

TravG73
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Prison riot in border city kills 19 - Americas- msnbc.com

TIJUANA, Mexico - Nineteen prisoners were killed and a dozen wounded in the second riot in less than a week at a jail in the... more

starr111
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Alleged drug cartel figure arrested in Tijuana casino raid

Ruben Rios Estrada, nicknamed 'El Pit,' is a reputed enforcer for the Arellano Felix cocaine ring. Agents stormed the... more

Enjoy_Cannabis
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Mexicans deported from US face shattered lives

The towering black gate opens silently to an alley with walls of corrugated metal. Scrawled in large white letters on one wall is: "The End."

For those deported from the United States, the words are an unnecessary reminder. Nearly every hour of the day, guards unlock this gate that leads back into Mexico, clicking open the padlocks hung on each side, in each nation.

Every time the gate slams shut, it wipes out a dream, divides a family, ends a life lived in the shadows of the law.

On average, 700 Mexicans expelled from the United States walk through this gate daily, according to Mexican government figures. They include farmers, construction workers, prisoners, nannies, children, entire families.

U.S. deportations have jumped by more than 60 percent over the past five years. Mexicans accounted for nearly two-thirds of those deportees, helping to roll back one of the biggest migrations of recent history. All along the border, shelters once full of people trying to cross into the United States are now home to thousands of deportees who sleep on mattresses strewn inches apart on cement floors.

In a week spent at the Tijuana gate, The Associated Press watched busload after busload of deportees arrive, some in a daze, still stunned over their sudden expulsion. Many stumbled over the Mexican official's question, "Where are you from?" after spending decades in the United States.

The faces of those who stream through reflect how tough and far-reaching the U.S. crackdown on illegal immigration has become.

Among them are young people. There were more than 18,000 repatriations of children under 18 to Mexico this year, and in more than 10,000 cases they were alone, according to the Mexican government.

There are also criminals. The U.S. does not break down figures by country, but it has deported about 55,000 prisoners so far this year. One man walked through the gate in slippers with 80 cents in his pocket, after being picked up by police during a violent fight with his wife in their backyard.

And there are women, with more than 40,000 repatriations since January — about 13 percent of all cases, according to the Mexican government. Sometimes the women are dropped off alone, at night. The U.S. Border Patrol in Washington says the safe repatriation of women is a major concern, but acknowledges there is no overall policy along the 2,000-mile border.

Mexico must now deal with a population that it has long ignored. And those returning must deal with Mexico, a land that for many now seems foreign. The challenge starts the day they walk through the gate the U.S. Border Patrol calls Whiskey II, military code for west of the port of entry.The towering black gate opens silently to an alley with walls of corrugated metal. Scrawled in large white letters on one wall is:... more

TravG73
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3 months ago

Construction begins on $57M San Diego border fence

Scrapers and bulldozers began filling a deep canyon Friday to make way for a border fence in the southwestern corner of the United States after 12 years of planning, environmental reviews and legal challenges.

The 3 1/2-mile stretch extends from a state park on an oceanfront cliff through a canyon known as Smuggler's Gulch. The gorge was overrun by illegal immigrants until U.S. authorities launched a crackdown in the 1990s that pushed traffic to the remote mountains and deserts of California and Arizona.

At a cost of about $16 million a mile, the fence will be far more expensive than fences the U.S. government is building elsewhere along the nation's 1,952-mile border with Mexico. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the average cost along the entire border is $2 million to $3 million a mile.

The stretch near San Diego will cost about $57 million under a contract awarded to Kiewit Corp. of Omaha, Neb., said James Swanson, a Border Patrol special operations supervisor.

The lion's share will pay for filling Smuggler's Gulch with nearly 1.9 million tons of dirt and for building a concrete culvert to handle rainfall flowing downhill from Tijuana, Mexico, Swanson said.

The border is currently marked by a decaying fence made of surplus Navy landing mats. Border Patrol agents swarm the area in jeeps and pickups as they wait for migrants in Tijuana to dash about 2 miles through trees to the closest patch of stores and homes.

It is a far cry from the early 1990s, when large groups blitzed across the border and easily overwhelmed the Border Patrol.

U.S. authorities insist new fencing is needed, despite an increase in patrols and objections from environmental groups who say the dirt shift threatens the Tijuana River estuary, home to more than 370 migratory and native birds.

"We're not seeing the thousands, the hundreds who streamed through in the past," said Mike Fisher, chief of the Border Patrol's San Diego sector. "However, it's still a vulnerability that's being exploited today."Scrapers and bulldozers began filling a deep canyon Friday to make way for a border fence in the southwestern corner of the United... more