Fronteras: A Changing America

SAN DIEGO — As head of the 800,000-member Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, Maria Elena Durazo is one of the nation’s most powerful union leaders, and a key player in the ongoing immigration reform negotiations.

But before her current post, she led a hotel workers’ union. She said one of the hardest parts of the job was convincing workers who were in the country illegally to organize. They feared they could be easily fired, and she said that fear had rippling implications.

The trial of a U.S. Border Patrol agent accused of choking a border crosser began today in San Diego.

It comes at a time when border agents are under increased scrutiny for the use of excessive force against migrants.

The trial for Agent Luis Fonseca is expected to be a short one. He's accused of choking unconscious a man believed to have crossed the border illegally. Fonseca has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

SAN DIEGO — The "Gang of Eight" senators should be presenting their long-awaited immigration reform bill any day now. And the bill will almost certainly not address what is, in my mind, a fundamental driver of illegal immigration into the country: The U.S. tends to be a better place to live than the place people are migrating from.

We can put up walls, increase enforcement and make our immigration system work better, but immigrants — at least some — will continue to come illegally. If they don’t come from Mexico, they’ll come from a poorer country.

Pancho the Rabbit is on a journey. After two years absent, Pancho decides to travel north to find his father who went looking for work in the carrot fields. Along the way he meets a coyote, a seasoned traveler who offers help in exchange for food.

The story is an allegorical picture book, intended to teach young readers — ages 6 to 9 years old— about the hardships and danger migrants face crossing the border.

This weekend offered a coveted rarity for commuters crossing the world’s busiest land border crossing — a brief transit.

From Friday at noon until Monday at 8 a.m., San Diegan and Tijuanese border crossers embraced a speedy crossing at the San Yisdro port of entry. Thanks to a pause in ongoing construction, lanes were expanded from 17 to 23, with a doubled 43 inspection booths.

CIUDAD JUÁREZ, Mexico — In the Mexican border city of Juárez a few blocks south of the international bridge, sits an old Prohibition-era bar. It's called the Kentucky Club, a legendary spot beloved by border dwellers on both sides.

Hopi Outraged Over Auction Of Religious Items

A Paris auction house plans to sell 70 sacred Native American artifacts. The northern Arizona Hopi Tribe is outraged and wants them back.

The Hopi call them Katsina friends and they are treated as such. The Hopi people use them in ceremonies and dances to call upon the spirits to bring them rainfall, healing and protection.

PHOENIX — About 48 million Americans lack medical insurance. That’s poised to change next year when federal tax credits for insurance and expanded access to Medicaid become available to certain Americans under the Affordable Care Act.

But there’s a huge group left out -- the 11 million immigrants in the country illegally are currently barred from both programs.

One of those who is ineligible is 19-year-old Maria Diaz. She was born in Mexico and grew up in Arizona without papers. Her young life so far hasn’t involved many encounters with doctors.

When the Associated Press Stylebook decided to no longer sanction using the term "illegal" or "undocumented" immigrant, we noted our policy as well.

The U.S. Border Patrol has caught a fraction of the border crossers spotted by a sophisticated sensor mounted on unmanned spy aircraft and flown over remote stretches of desert, casting doubts on claims that the area is more secure than ever, according to documents obtained by the Center for Investigative Reporting.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The U.S. Department of Energy recently announced a plan to help resolve a problem with leaky storage tanks holding nuclear waste at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington state. Their solution: ship the waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad, New Mexico. The problem is WIPP has been prohibited from receiving Hanford tank waste for nearly a decade. Now, New Mexicans are debating whether to reverse course and accept some of the waste.

RICHLAND, Wash. - The U.S. Department of Energy says its wants to send 3 million gallons of radioactive tank waste at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation to a storage site in New Mexico. That’s 3 million gallons out of a total of 56 million gallons of some of the most toxic stuff on earth.

But what is different about this waste in particular, and why some groups are against moving it to New Mexico?

At a recent news conference at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, Washington Governor Jay Inslee said, “We have some good news here today.”

Brenda is an attractive 27-year old with pretty impressive job credentials. (I was asked not to use her last name so as not to compromise her job prospects.)

At her tidy San Diego apartment, Brenda showed me her Emergency Medical Technician certificate and tells me about the Medical Billing course she just finished.

“I want to be a surgeon,” she said. “I want to do brain surgery.”

A felony for alien smuggling could put a serious damper on those plans, and Brenda knows it. At least now she does.

Arizona State Sen. Steve Smith says in the coming weeks a plan to build Arizona’s controversial border fence will be unveiled.

In 2011, Smith sponsored a bill allowing the state use inmate labor and private donations to build a border fence on private and government land.