Fronteras: A Changing America

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.

CIUDAD JUÁREZ, Mexico — Finding an empty chair at the Kentucky Club in Ciudad Juárez last Saturday night was close to impossible. In five years I'd never seen the place so full. Once inside there was no getting to the bathroom or the jukebox without a series of shoulder twists and elbow jabs.

During the month of March, 45 homicides were reported in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, according to Chihuahua Attorney General’s Office. The deaths mark a spike, and growing concern during a relatively calm period for the border city.

TUCSON, Ariz. — The town of Bisbee, Ariz., voted Tuesday night to become the first city in the state to allow civil unions for gay couples.

But just hours before the city council met to vote, Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne had already sent in his opposition. Horne called same-sex civil unions unconstitutional and said he would fight the city.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — The Navajo Nation has one of the highest crime rates of any Indian reservation in the country. The tribe is trying to address the problem. One of the critical issues it faces right now is lack of funding for much-needed new jails.

SAN DIEGO — When is an “illegal immigrant” no longer illegal?

The Customs and Border Protection Agency has postponed forced furloughs for its employees.

The agency had said sequester-related budget cuts would force the unpaid leave and elimination of staff overtime as early as this week. It had warned of longer waits to cross the border and fewer agents on the ground.

When it comes to the controversial unmanned aircraft known as drones, business is booming. That could mean scores of new jobs for San Diego, but privacy defenders say courting the drone industry could cost us our civil liberties.

Imagining swarms of drones hovering over most of Southern California makes a lot of residents uneasy, but that's exactly what Sean Barr of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation hopes to see.

SAN DIEGO — Union organizer Genoveva Aguilar helped kick off a march commemorating Cesar Chavez Day in San Diego on Monday.

“Our union has lost many of its good-spirited members because of immigration audits and E-Verify," Aguilar belted into the microphone. "Are we going to permit this?"

"No!” the crowd yelled back.

Dozens of marchers held signs and wore T-shirts calling for immigration reform, including a path to citizenship for undocumented workers.

Mexican drug cartels are sending operatives beyond the border and into the American heartland, the Associated Press reports.

The groups have begun deploying agents from their inner circles to the U.S. Cartel operatives are suspected of running drug-distribution networks in at least nine non-border states, often in middle-class suburbs in the Midwest, South and Northeast.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — The uranium mining company Energy Fuels Resources took me to one of its working mines north of Grand Canyon National Park for a recent story. Donn Pillmore, who oversees all the mines on the Arizona strip, and Pamela Hill, a lobbyist for the mining industry, spent the whole day with me. Pillmore was pretty guarded but grew warmer as the day wore on. Hill seemed friendly.