Category Archives: Mexico

Increase in migrant detentions at US border reveals Trump’s policy failure

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Experts say officials have failed to acknowledge violence and instability in Central America and say system of ‘metering’ is not working

A staggering increase in the number of families apprehended at the US-Mexico border in February has highlighted the Trump administration’s failure to respond to the rise in Central Americans seeking protection in the US.

In February, 66,450 people were apprehended at the US-Mexico border by Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the agency announced on Tuesday – 17,800 more than were apprehended in January and double the number who were apprehended in February last year.

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‘Art is in our genes’: Roma star’s hometown revels in success story

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Residents of Tlaxiaco say Yalitza Aparicio, up for best actress at the Oscars, has given indigenous Mexicans renewed sense of pride

A couple of young flautists are practising scales in a small windowless room at Tlaxiaco’s Casa de Cultura. The rest of the town band are rehearsing a competition routine with a troop of young folkloric dancers – including Yalitza Aparicio’s two younger brothers – in the grand courtyard, decorated with murals depicting the town’s pre-Hispanic Mixtec warriors and artists.

Aparicio is nominated for best actress at the Oscars, taking place on Sunday, for her astonishing portrayal of a nanny in Alfonso Cuarón’s acclaimed film Roma. If successful, the 25-year-old Mexican, who worked as teacher before she was discovered almost by accident at a casting call held at the cultural centre, will be the first indigenous winner of the award.

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16 US states sue over Trump border wall emergency declaration

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Coalition led by California accuses the president of ‘unilaterally robbing taxpayer funds’

A coalition of 16 US states led by California has launched legal action against Donald Trump’s administration over his decision to declare a national emergency in order to fund a wall along the Mexico border.

The lawsuit was filed on Monday in the US district court for the northern district of California after Trump invoked emergency powers on Friday when Congress declined his request for $5.7bn to help create his signature policy promise.

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Cancún shooting: five people gunned down in Mexico’s tourist hotspot

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Bar attacked near hotel zone amid rising drug-related violence in the Caribbean resort city

Five people have been shot dead and five more wounded in Cancún after gunmen burst into a bar in the Mexican resort city and opened fire.

Quintana Roo state prosecutors said the attack on Saturday took place in a club called La Kuka, on a main avenue in central Cancún about 6km (4 miles) away from the Caribbean resort city’s seaside tourist hotel zone, situated on the Yucatán Peninsula.

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Roma: Yalitza Aparicio says she is proud of her roots after actor’s racist slur

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Aparicio, the first indigenous woman to be nominated for a best actress Oscar, responds to Sergio Goyri’s ‘fucking Indian’ remark

The Oscar-nominated Mexican actor Yalitza Aparicio, who stars in the critically acclaimed film Roma, said on Saturday she was proud of her indigenous roots, after a soap opera star used a racial slur to describe her.

Related: Why Roma should win the best picture Oscar

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Five false claims from Trump’s national emergency speech – video

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Donald Trump has declared a national emergency to secure extra funding for his wall at the US-Mexico border. Trump’s decision came after weeks of wrangling over his campaign promise, which led to a record 35-day partial government shutdown, damaging his approval rating.

• Trump declares national emergency to build US-Mexico border wall

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Tricked, abducted and killed: the last day of two child migrants in Mexico

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The deaths show the vulnerability of migrants forced to ‘remain in Mexico’ under new US policy for asylum seekers

On a Saturday afternoon in December, three Honduran boys walked out through the gates of the blue stucco YMCA shelter for unaccompanied child migrants in Tijuana, and turned past the gas station next door on to Cuauhtémoc Boulevard for a walk.

Their destination was a sports centre-turned-migrant camp to visit people they’d met travelling north with a caravan of other Central Americans.

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Trump declares national emergency to build US-Mexico border wall

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Plan may divert billions from projects such as counterdrug efforts, has been condemned by Democrats and activists

Donald Trump has defied fierce criticism to announce that he is using emergency powers to bypass Congress and pursue the building of a wall on the US-Mexico border.

At a combative, rambling and at times incoherent press conference in the White House, the US president insisted he had no choice but to declare a national emergency to stop illegal immigrants spreading crime and drugs.

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Trump poised to declare emergency as Congress approves shutdown deal

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President is expected to sign bill but has vowed emergency action to build border wall with Mexico

Donald Trump has vowed to declare a national emergency as a way of funding his long-promised border wall with Mexico, as Congress overwhelmingly approved a border security agreement that would prevent a second damaging government shutdown.

After days of uncertainty, Trump announced his intention to support the massive $333bn-spending package, which includes on a sliver of what he sought for a steel wall. The Senate moved quickly, approving the bill in a vote of 83-16. Hours later the House passed the legislation, 300-128. Trump is expected to seal the deal with his signature on Friday, while at the same time declaring a national emergency.

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Will El Chapo’s conviction change anything in the drug trade?

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The nearly half a century old ‘war on drugs’ shows no sign of ending, and neither does the illegal drug trade

Standing on the steps of the Brooklyn courthouse amid flurries of sleet and snow, US attorney Richard Donoghue hailed the conviction of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán as a famous victory in America’s longest conflict.

“There are those who say the war on drugs is not worth fighting. Those people are wrong,” he said.

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Door slams on guilty El Chapo after old mob pals line up to squeal

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Guzman’s dramatic trial showed how the cartels that traffick most of the world’s drugs today do not honour the mafia code of omertà

When Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán is sentenced on 25 June, he will most likely be sent to US maximum-security prison from which there will be no more tunnels and no more escapes.

Guzmán was convicted on all 10 charges after years of painstaking behind-the-scenes work by US Department of Justice prosecutors who cut deals with captive drug traffickers to get their man.

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El Chapo trial: Mexican drug cartel boss found guilty

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Joaquín Guzmán, 61, could spend the rest of his life behind bars after being convicted following three-month New York trial

The notorious cartel boss Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán has been found guilty of 10 counts of drug trafficking, at the end of a three-month New York trial that featured dramatic testimony of prison escapes, gruesome killings and million-dollar political payoffs.

Related: Behind the El Chapo trial: what's been left unsaid in a New York courtroom

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Donald Trump v Beto O’Rourke: rival rallies on US border security – video report

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Donald Trump and potential presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke held rallies in El Paso, Texas, on Monday night offering their contrasting views on Trump's US-Mexico border wall. The president addressed his crowd in front of a big US flag along with three 'finish the wall' banners. Meanwhile nearby, O'Rourke told supporters El Paso was, 'safe not because of walls but in spite of walls'.

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Trump: ‘Just so you know, we’re building the wall anyway.’ – video

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Donald Trump's pursuit of a border wall continued as he spoke at a rally in El Paso, Texas. Banners reading 'Finish the wall' lined the El Paso County Coliseum as the president  spoke of how Democrats wanted to propose measures that would 'release of thousands of criminal illegal aliens'

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As El Chapo deliberations drag on, the unthinkable is asked – can he get off?

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Jury has surprised observers and unnerved prosecutors by asking for transcripts of ‘snitch’ witnesses

Whatever happens in the jury room in Brooklyn this Monday morning, people outside are starting to think the unthinkable: that Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán might get off.

It would be a reckless gambler that would bet on acquittal for the accused Mexican drug lord, but the odds shorten with each day of indecision. This is not the slam-dunk conviction prosecutors – and most of the rest of the world – were expecting.

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The El Chapo trial’s most shocking and bizarre moments

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As the jury begins deliberations, we recap three months of amazing stories and allegations

Until his trial began, much of the public perception of accused Mexican drug lord El Chapo, real name Joaquín Guzmán, had come from rumours and legend. But over the past three months we have heard what the lead prosecutor, Andrea Goldbarg, called “a mountain of evidence” against the notorious leader of the Sinaloa cartel, including allegations of decades of murder, torture, bribery and corruption.

Related: Is Emma Coronel the devoted wife of El Chapo, or is she being used as a prop?

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Witness claims El Chapo had sex with minors he called ‘vitamins’

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Unsealed documents made public just as jury is about to start deliberations in Joaquín Guzmán’s drug-trafficking case

Unsealed documents about the Mexican drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán contain claims by witnesses that he had sex with minors he called “vitamins”. The disturbing allegation comes just as a jury is about to start deliberating in the US drug-trafficking case.

Related: Betrayal, torture and a $100m bribe: what the El Chapo trial has revealed

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Monarch butterfly population wintering in Mexico increases 144%

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Monarch production will not be replicated next year, experts warn, as above average temperatures will cause problems

The population of monarch butterflies wintering in central Mexico is up 144% over last year, according to new research.

Related: 'It's a sad reality': a troubling trend sees a 97% decline in monarch butterflies

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‘El Chapo’ defense lasts 30 minutes and calls just one witness

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Prosecution case against accused Mexican drug lord had lasted 11 weeks

After a prosecution that spanned 11 weeks and had its share of bombshells, the defense case at the US trial of the alleged Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán clocked in on Tuesday at a mere 30 minutes.

Attorney Jeffrey Lichtman called one witness and entered one document into evidence before resting the defense’s case. The jury was sent home for the day with closing arguments set to begin on Wednesday.

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Migrants flee violence only to find more in Tijuana – Mexico’s murder capital

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Homicides in Tijuana have skyrocketed recently, returning the city to levels of hyper-violence it last saw a decade ago

This week, the Trump administration pushed ahead with its plan to return asylum seekers to Mexico while their cases are considered, moving the first group through San Diego’s San Ysidro crossing late on Friday.

Related: 'The US can't dump people in Mexico': Trump asylum policy in doubt

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