Updated 01/05/2015 7:14 pm   Bruised and battered from a series of scandals, and amid cries of protest, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto will arrive in Washington Tuesday to meet with President Obama and try to turn the page on a difficult year. Slumping in the polls and facing a crisis of public confidence, Peña Nieto is hoping for an Obama bounce. “He’ll be playing as much… Read more »

Joel Martinez | jmartinez@themonitor.com Posted: Wednesday, December 31, 2014 10:00 am   EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the sixth and final in a 2014 series of Monitor editorials about the challenges of immigration.   See videos, photos and read all of our commentary at www.myrgv.com/brokenborders.   In 2014, South Texas became the epicenter of an… Read more »

By Susan Carroll December 30, 2014 Updated: December 31, 2014 9:55am The Honduran man walked into the federal courtroom in handcuffs, his burgundy jumpsuit dwarfing his thin frame. The judge read the charge against 42-year-old Pedro Lara-Portillo: aiding and abetting an "alien" to unlawfully enter the United States. With the government's permission, Lara-Portillo had acted as a… Read more »

"Combate a corrupción, vital para progreso de México" Ayudará a parar a grupos criminales y generar seguridad, dice Henry Cuellar  doris.gomora@eluniversal.com.mx El combate a la corrupción es un tema en el que México debe tener éxito y es necesario para el progreso de ese país, afirmó Henry Cuellar, congresista demócrata por Texas en entrevista con este medio. Además de… Read more »

Today, the House passed legislation that directs the Department of Defense to continue to focus on combating illicit networking routes in Mexico, Central America, and the rest of the Western Hemisphere.  This language was included at the request of Congressman Cuellar in the National Defense Authorization Act.  “The threat posed by transnational criminal organizations is so… Read more »

McAllen Monitor: EDITORIAL: Fixes needed to federal immigration court system   Eric Gay | The Associated Press Detainees walk in a line at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection processing facility, Wednesday, June 18, 2014, in Brownsville. More than 60,000 unaccompanied children who have entered the country illegally this past year. Posted: Sunday, November 30, 2014 12:54… Read more »

Congressman Henry Cuellar (D-TX28) today announced that the Department of Homeland Security is offering spring internships through its 2015 Secretary’s Honors Program Cyber Student Volunteer Initiative for current two- and four-year college students. “This is a great opportunity for college students in Texas to gain invaluable hands-on experience in a top government agency,” said… Read more »

EDITORIAL: Congress should act, not point fingers on immigration reform Posted Yesterday In announcing major policy changes regarding immigration last week, President Barack Obama has delivered a major gift to the soon-to-be Republican controlled Congress. The question remains how Congress chooses to use that gift. They can use Thursday’s announcement as more fodder to complain… Read more »

Border Cities Crime Rate Among Lowest in USA When Gov. Rick Perry deployed the National Guard to the Texas Mexico border he cited an increase in crime caused by illegal immigrants, and the general view of the Rio Grande Valley is of a lawless area where undocumented immigrants are running rampant in the streets.   But FBI statistics released by U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Laredo)… Read more »

KGBT: Rep. Cuellar: FBI stats show border communities have fewer murders than bigger cities by Ashly Custer Posted: 11.18.2014 at 10:07 PM Statistics released by the FBI show that there are fewer murders in border towns than in other bigger cities in Texas. While that may surprise some in the community, legislatures and law enforcement say they aren't. The top… Read more »