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CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (Reuters) – Gunmen with automatic weapons burst into a Mexican strip club on the U.S. border, opened fire on patrons and killed six people including an American soldier, the army said on Wednesday. The hooded gunmen stormed into the bar in Ciudad Juarez as strippers were dancing for customers, sought out the six men and shot them each several times. A 26-year-old off-duty U.S. soldier who had crossed over from El Paso, Texas, was among the dead, army spokesman Enrique Torres said. "It appears drugs were being sold at the place," Torres said of the strip joint....

EL PASO, Texas — An alleged Mexican gang leader named to the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list may have surgically altered his face and changed his finger prints to hide his identity, federal investigators said Wednesday. Eduardo "Tablas" Ravelo was added earlier this week to the wanted list that includes the likes of Osama Bin Laden and Boston crime lord James "Whitey" Bulger. "From what I've heard, it's my understanding he may have had ... plastic surgery and manipulated his finger prints," said Samantha Mikeska, the FBI's lead investigator in a 5-year-old probe of Ravelo's Barrio Azteca gang. If Ravelo...

EL PASO, Texas -- The Sun City has many things to offer, but according to one online magazine, handsome men isn't one of them. Total Beauty.com ranked El Paso No. 1 for the ugliest guys in the country. "I don't think I'm ugly, no I don't," said Corey Keith of northeast El Paso. But the magazine didn't judge men by looks alone. Editors included physical fitness and education. In the article it said, “Nearly 15 percent of the dudes in this Lone Star City have less than a 9th grade education. The city also suffers from a notably high rate...

EL PASO, Texas — U.S. businesses are reporting threats by extortionists claiming to be members of drug cartels, a sign criminal tactics common in Mexico are showing up north of the border. Last week alone, at least two El Paso businesses reported to police calls they had received from a man identifying himself as a "Zetas commander" working for the "Gulf cartel." One man, in a "bullying voice," called an El Paso businessman and demanded "$50,000 immediately, or the next time we'll see you, it will be at the funeral of a loved one," the businessman said. The businessman spoke...

EL PASO — A body found with its severed arms crossed and placed on its chest in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, was identified by authorities Wednesday as a Texas man kidnapped from his home. Sergio Saucedo, 30, was kidnapped from his Horizon City house outside El Paso last Thursday. His mutilated body was found Tuesday, said El Paso County Sheriff's spokesman Jesse Tovar. "It's apparent that the spillover has occurred," Tovar said of the drug violence plaguing Juarez and much of Mexico. Saucedo, who has a long criminal record including convictions for drug possession and money laundering, was kidnapped by three...

EL PASO, Texas (CNN) — As the Tea Party Express makes its way across the country, Sarah Palin has emerged as a favorite daughter of the movement, and organizers have invited her to join the tour — or at least come to the final stop in the nation's capital. The bus is scheduled to end its nationwide journey in Washington on Saturday, September 12. "We've been in touch with her people, letting her know the response that we've gotten. She's very supportive of the movement," says Joe Wierzbicki, one of the organizers traveling on the Tea Party Express.

<p>All aboard for El Paso and San Antonio!! We have a Tea Party in El Paso at 10:00 am this morning and another at 11:00 am in San Antonio at the Alamo!!</p> <p>Woo hoo!! Thirty-five cities, thirty-five tea parties in sixteen days!!</p>

EL PASO, Texas -- El Pasoans may get to vote on whether or not the city should extend benefits to unwed partners of gay and straight employees. More than a dozen members of the local religious community made their request in a loud way at Tuesday's City Council meeting. They spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting, where as long as you sign up you can talk about almost any subject. The group made such a big show that they actually stopped Tuesday's meeting. However, because of a loophole in state open meetings rules, Council members were legally...

JUAREZ -- Law enforcement agents in our sister city have arrested four alleged members of the paramilitary Zeta gang. XHIJ Channel 44 in Juarez is reporting the suspects were allegedly trying to kidnap a Mexican Coca-Cola executive. Late Monday, Mexican soldiers spotted the suspects inside a truck and ordered them to stop. Some of the suspects inside the truck then proceeded to shoot at the soldiers, according to XHIJ. The confrontation then led to a high-speed chase and another shootout ensued. The soldiers were able to stop the suspects and rescue the alleged victim. Police officials said no one was...

MEXICO CITY — A top member of a breakaway Mormon sect was dragged from his home by marauders and killed early Tuesday in a village founded and named for the American families that settled the remote community in the northern Mexican desert. Benjamin LeBaron, 31, and Luis Widmar, 29, a brother-in-law who tried to help him, were grabbed by at least 15 commandos shortly after midnight in Colonia LeBaron, which is about 200 miles southeast of El Paso, witnesses said. The bodies of the men, both naturalized U.S. citizens with five children each, were found nearby shortly afterward, each shot...

How can a comparatively poor, high-immigration town that sits across the border from super-violent Ciudad Juarez be one of the safest big cities in America? By conventional wisdom, El Paso, Texas should be one of the scariest cities in America. In 2007, the city's poverty rate was a shade over 27 percent, more than twice the national average. Median household income was $35,600, well below the national average of $48,000. El Paso is three-quarters Hispanic, and more than a quarter of its residents are foreign-born. Given that it's nearly impossible for low-skilled immigrants to work in the United States legitimately,...

A total of seven centers have been closed. Rita Diller is the new executive director of STOPP International, which is a part of the American Life League. "Most of these were abortion referral centers and they distributed morning-after pills and other devices that can cause early abortion," Diller explains. The centers also doubled as HIV/AIDS outreach centers. However, Diller says the facilities became a hangout for homosexuals. In one instance, Diller says a cross-dresser would arrive at a center, change into women's clothing, and cruise homosexual bars -- returning afterward to change back into men's clothing. That man, she says,...

MATTERS OF LIFE AND DEATH Planned Parenthood Shuts Doors on 7 Clinics 'One by one, with hard work and prayer, these facilities are closing down' Posted: June 30, 2009 10:13 pm Eastern By Drew Zahn © 2009 WorldNetDaily Seventy-two years ago Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger visited El Paso, Texas, delivered a speech proclaiming the need for the acceptance of birth control and helped found the city's first family planning clinic. But last week, Analinda Moreno, Planned Parenthood of El Paso's interim executive director, announced all seven of the organization's clinics in the El Paso area would permanently close today....

The high court announced Monday it is refusing to consider a challenge to the Homeland Security secretary's ability to expedite border fence construction by waiving it from federal and local laws. The Supreme Court will not jump into the contentious debate over the construction of a 500 mile-long fence on the United States-Mexico border. The high court announced Monday it is refusing to consider a challenge to former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff's decision to expedite border fence construction by waiving it from 37 federal and local laws. A collection of environmental groups, the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo Indian tribe...

EL PASO, Texas — A 37-year-old Mexican man recently shot to death in front of an El Paso house has been identified as a midlevel official in the Juarez drug cartel, police said Wednesday. Jose Daniel Gonzalez Galeana, 37, was shot and killed in east El Paso on May 15. Officer Chris Mears said Wednesday that police have now identified Gonzalez as a lieutenant of the Juarez cartel, a criminal gang believed responsible for countless killings in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, across the Rio Grande from El Paso. Police said they believe a man armed with a handgun approached him in...

Note: The following text is a quote: April 14, 2009 BEST team arrests 2 men who allegedly tried to smuggle guns into Mexico Mexican nationals were willing to pay $2 million for cache of automatic weapons El Paso, Texas - Two men were arrested April 11 by members of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement-led (ICE) Border Security Enforcement Task Force (BEST) after they tried to buy automatic weapons and ammunition to smuggle into Mexico. In December 2008, the El Paso Police Department provided information to BEST team members that led to a joint investigation and resulted in the arrests....

JUAREZ, Mexico -- An El Paso man is a suspect in the rapes of 19 Juarez women, Chihuahua state police announced at a news conference on Monday. Forty-three-year-old Jorge Alberto Mendez Navarro, of the 3200 block of Memphis, has been charged in only one of the rape cases, that of a 15-year-old girl. Mendez Navarro, a naturalized U.S. citizen, is an engineer in El Paso. He is accused of attacking mainly students between 13 and 20 years old. He allegedly raped his victims on Tuesdays and Fridays when he could justify being away from home, according to police. The suspect...

Jose Reyes Ferriz, mayor of the Mexican border city of Juarez, presides over what may be the western hemisphere's most dangerous town, certainly the hardest hit by Mexico's drug-war terror. Since the start of last year, Juarez has seen almost 2,000 drug-related murders. Reyes this month requested thousands of federal army soldiers to rein in the violence, which has subsided for the moment — giving him a chance to rebuild Juarez's corrupt police force. He talked with TIME's Tim Padgett this week about his police reform, drug-cartel death threats against him and comparisons of Juarez to Baghdad. (See pictures of...

The two cities of El Paso and Denver are 800 miles apart, but they both exist in the rarified world of "sanctuary cities," where mayors and city officials love to proclaim, "We welcome all immigrants, regardless of immigration status." This is PC code for welcoming illegal aliens, but it also means they welcome the prosecution of Border Patrol agents and immigration enforcement agents who take their jobs too seriously. The prosecution, imprisonment and eventual release of El Paso Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean made headlines for two years, but few Americans outside Denver have ever heard of...

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico -- Few Americans enter this border city anymore. Crossing south on the right side of the bridges is lonely, with only a smattering of people, mostly Mexicans living in El Paso. The army base has banned soldiers from crossing, and few if any kids come looking for a good time -- most of the bars have closed anyway. The reason: Juárez is at war. The city is fighting drug cartels, and the cartels are fighting each other. In 2008, more than 1,600 people were killed in Juárez in drug-related violence, often assassinations carried out in daylight. Some...

A prison riot Wednesday near the troubled Mexican border town of Juarez has left an unconfirmed number of fatalities, news reports said. El Diario de Juarez newspaper reported 17 people were killed, including two federal agents. Ten people were wounded, the newspaper said. The tallies could not be independently verified with state and federal officials. Police official Carlos Gonzalez said the uprising occurred among members of the Aztecas drug gang housed in Module 3, according to El Diario. Some inmates were armed, the newspaper said. The prison is located in a semi-desert area 17 miles (28 kilometers) south of Ciudad...

In the story of the emperor with no clothes, it took someone whose observations are rarely heeded -- a child -- to point out the obvious fact that no one else could acknowledge. In the case of drug policy, it takes people who are usually ignored by Washington policymakers -- Latin Americans -- to perform the same invaluable service. Last week, a commission made up of 17 members, from Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa to Sonia Picado, the Costa Rican who heads the Inter-American Institute on Human Rights, did nothing but admit the truth: The war on drugs is a...

A drug gang kidnapped and killed six people near a town in the US-Mexican border region, prompting a series of gunbattles with soldiers that left 15 others dead. The violence on Tuesday started when gunmen kidnapped nine alleged members of a rival drug gang in Villa Ahumada and later executed six of them along the PanAmerican highway outside of the town, 130km south of Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, said Enrique Torres, spokesman for a joint military-police operation in Chihuahua State. Assailants later released three of the men, although their whereabouts was not immediately known, Torres...

CIUDAD JUÁREZ, Mexico – As violent crime surges, this border city and international manufacturing center is deploying security forces to create safe commuter routes for U.S. executives and others who work in industrial parks. Ciudad Juárez is home to 380 maquiladoras, factories where Mexican workers assemble products for foreign companies. Most are U.S.-owned or subsidiaries. The factories employ more than 230,000 people. So officials created special commuter routes leading to and from industrial parks to protect workers and managers. "The maquila industry is about 60 percent of the economy. And we know how important it is," Mayor Jesús Reyes Ferris...

February 4, 2009 Note: Photo included. Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/0902/090204elpaso.htm Mexican man deported; wanted in Sonora for possessing military-type weapons ICE located fugitive through its Criminal Alien Program (CAP) EEL PASO, Texas - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday deported a man to Mexico who had been a fugitive for seven years for possessing military-type weapons. ICE officers escorted Miguel Angel Camacho-Aguilar, 25, to the middle of El Paso's Stanton Street Bridge Feb. 3 and turned him over to Mexican authorities. He was wanted by the 6th District Judge of Sonora, Mexico, for possessing...

EL PASO, Texas -- Two El Paso men are being held in Juarez, accused of a violent kidnapping. The news is making some on this side of the border wonder just how close to home the crime wave is hitting. A neighborhood in East El Paso off George Dieter and Vista Del Sol is home to thousands of El Pasoans. Juarez authorities said it's also where Leopoldo Omar Sanchez Medina lives. Medina, along with another man, Juan Manuel Rico Gonzalez, also of El Paso, are accused of kidnapping a man in Juarez at gunpoint. Police in Juarez said they found...

Fed up with the crushing violence which has transformed the city of Juarez into a free-fire zone, a group of residents calling themselves the Juárez Citizens Command, has sent out a press release vowing to kill one criminal every day, until order is restored. The CCJ claims to be a group of businessmen, frustrated over the seeming inability of the authorities to curb the spiraling violence in Juarez. The statement from the CCJ was distributed in Spanish on the internet on Jan. 15. The following is an excerpt from that statement: “Better the death of a bad person, than that...

On Tuesday afternoon El Paso Mayor John Cook vetoed a resolution unanimously passed by city council that would have asked the U.S. government to begin a serious debate on legalizing narcotics. Earlier in the day city council passed a resolution, rationing that the best way to stop the drug wars in Juarez may be to legalize the drugs here in the United States. It was part of a larger resolution outlining several steps for the United States and Mexico to take in order to cut down on the number of murders between rival drug cartels. Last year more than 1,600...

Hey Freepers on Las Cruces/El Paso area: I'm on PCS orders from CA back to AR and stopping in your area for the night. My honey and I would like some suggestions on some local good eats! NO CHAIN RESTAURANTS!We would like either a good steakhouse or the best Mexican food restaurant. Thank you so much!

EL PASO — With the death toll in the Mexican city of Juarez mounting, the increasingly bloody struggle for control of the city across the Rio Grande from El Paso can now count one more victim: charity from its American neighbor. At least two church groups have chosen not to send members over the border to aid the poor because of the ongoing drug cartel war. "It pains us. The violence is out of hand. We actually had a parishioner who was kidnapped, so it's too close to home," said Monsignor Arturo Banuelas, of El Paso's Roman Catholic diocese. Banuelas,...

EL PASO, Texas — A 55-year-old Army veteran hunkered down in front of construction crews who were building the fence along the U.S.-Mexico border Wednesday, halting work for about eight hours before she was arrested. Judy Ackerman, one of about a dozen people at a peaceful protest east of El Paso on Wednesday, was handcuffed by Texas Department of Public Safety Troopers after several hours of figuring out which authority was responsible for removing her. It wasn't clear what charges she'd face. Work on the fence resumed immediately after Ackerman was led away. Before her arrest, the white-haired woman sporting...

EL PASO -- When the 81st Texas Legislature convenes next month, El Paso County will be taking a stand against any bills that could be deemed "anti-immigrant." "Our lobbyists already are being put on notice by a result of you passing this resolution that anti-immigration legislation is something you all are interested in," said County Attorney José Rodriguez, explaining Monday's action. So far, state lawmakers have already filed nearly a dozen bills including the word "immigrant" and nearly a half-dozen including the words "immigration status;" it's bills like these that the county now says it's planning to officially weigh in...

MAF Announcing Honoring Heroes at the Holidays IIMove America Forward is thrilled to announce that we are bringing back Honoring Heroes at the Holidays to honor our troops again this Christmas and holiday season! Last year, MAF introduced Honoring Heroes at the Holidays and traveled to cities all over the country. We were so excited by the results that we had to do it again for 2008! Our troops deserve to know that we love and appreciate them! Starting December 13th, we’ll once again be hitting the road to take our message to the people of America who want to...

EL PASO, Texas — Elected officials in El Paso are asking President-elect Barack Obama to scuttle federal plans to build hundreds of miles of fencing along the U.S. border with Mexico. In a three-page letter to Obama dated Wednesday, officials from El Paso argue that the fence, a project approved by Congress in 2006, was ill-conceived and is an irresponsible expense while the country is in the midst of a recession.

Over 40 Murders Reported this Week CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico - New details on a deadly discovery across the border from El Paso. This morning police in Ciudad Juarez say at least 12 masked gun men opened fire inside an upscale seafood restaurant and killed at least eight people. The attack comes a day after seven men were found executed in a school soccer field in an upper class neighborhood in Juarez. In all, 40 murders were reported over the holiday week along the border near El Paso. Police say the men were armed with AK-47 and fired off more than...

EL PASO -- The violence in Juarez hits home over the weekend as two Americans are gunned down. Officials with the Juarez Municipal Police confirmed two Americans -- a man and a woman -- were gunned down this afternoon in the Colonia Cuatro Siglos near the intersection of Hermanos Escobar and Rafael Perez Serna. They were identified as Roberto Martínez and Ruth Velasco. Police estimated Martinez's age as being between 55 and 60 years and that of Velasco as being in between 35 and 40 years. Investigators determined Martinez was driving the KIA Amanti and Velasco was his passenger. More...

EL PASO, Texas — Security is being heightened along the southern U.S. border because of a threat that warring Mexican cartels may send hit men into the United States, authorities said Monday. Law enforcement officials would not discuss specific security measures being taken at the ports of entry, along the border or in the city of El Paso, Texas. "We received credible information that drug cartels in Mexico have given permission to hit targets on the U.S. side of the border," El Paso police spokesman Officer Chris Mears said.

EL PASO, Texas — Security is being heightened along the southern U.S. border because of a threat that warring Mexican cartels may send hit men into the United States, authorities said Monday. Law enforcement officials would not discuss specific security measures being taken at the ports of entry, along the border or in the city of El Paso, Texas. "We received credible information that drug cartels in Mexico have given permission to hit targets on the U.S. side of the border," El Paso police spokesman Officer Chris Mears said. Authorities learned of the threat last week. U.S. Customs and Border...

The El Paso sector Border Patrol chief, a UTEP professor and the special agent in charge of the El Paso FBI spoke about the cartel war in Juarez and Mexico. The deadly cartel war responsible for dozens of deaths a week in Juarez is liable to go on for another two years, the El Paso’s Border Patrol Chief Victor Manjarrez said at today’s El Paso Press Club Meet the Press forum. UTEP Professor Tony Payan blamed the former governor of the state of Chihuahua and mayor of Juarez for allowing the lawless atmosphere that led to the armed struggle between...

EL PASO, Texas — El Paso County officials want the federal government to take over transporting and caring for wounded Mexican police officers now being treated in a local hospital. The officers were wounded in an ongoing turf war among powerful and deadly Mexican drug cartels. They are being treated at El Paso County hospital, and local sheriff's deputies are providing tight security to prevent Mexico's violence from spilling into the United States. The officers were shot in Casas Grandes, Mexico, about 140 miles south of El Paso. Their transfer to El Paso prompted the second security lockdown at the...

Thomason Hospital was on lockdown Friday night after a patient arrived with ties to the violence in Mexico. Administrators said they were on heightened alert and have asked the El Paso County Sheriff's Office to assist in security. Outside the hospital, it's evident with sheriff's deputies on the campus, security is tighter. Inside we're told all visitors must pass though screening, including metal detectors. Hospital officials said the unidentified man was brought to Thomason with multiple gunshot wounds. "Apparently the patient had been flown to Juarez from another Mexican community and then was taken to the Bridge of the Americas,"...

AUSTIN — Deirdre Delisi once aspired to be a diplomat, and Gov. Rick Perry may have finally granted her wish. As head of the Texas Transportation Commission, Perry's former chief of staff will test her diplomatic skills in an emotion-filled arena in which a state senator has already called her a "political hack." In an early sign of her peacemaking potential, the 35-year-old Delisi scheduled one of her first meetings as chair with that senator, Transportation and Homeland Security Committee Chairman John Carona, R-Dallas. "I was left with the impression that she genuinely wants a new and fresh start for...

EL PASO — County commissioners are opposing construction of a wall along the nation's southern border with a resolution. The El Paso County Commissioners Court voted 3-1 Monday in favor of a resolution that calls for stopping the building of the border wall and says local law enforcement officials should not enforce federal immigration laws. The resolution also emphasizes placing a moratorium on immigration raids, ensuring the enforcement of labor laws and civil protection regardless of a worker's immigration status and stopping programs that criminalize immigrants. Commissioner Veronica Escobar said the commissioners aren't advocating having open borders or not enforcing...

Detonating a nuclear weapon in or over Juarez, Mexico is the same thing as detonating one in El Paso, Texas: The difference is it may be a little easier to effect in Juarez. From the heart of downtown El Paso to downtown Juarez is just a very short distance. Or a bomb on the international bridge dividing the two countries empties into Avenida Juárez in downtown Juarez, on the south and El Paso downtown to the north could do the job and would be easy for any terrorist to pull off. Nowhere else on the planet are two major cities...

Afghanistan to Ask NATO for Bigger Army Afghan officials will go to the NATO summit in Romania Thursday with a request: pay to increase our national Army by 40 percent. A bigger Army, Afghan officials argue, will allow the US and other coalition members to scale back in the coming years. This appeal comes amid pleas from the US and Canada for other NATO members to commit more to the Afghanistan mission, which many analysts say has floundered over the past year for lack of resources and a coherent strategy. France is expected to contribute another 1,000 forces and...

EL PASO, Texas - Mexican Consulate officials in El Paso, Texas, said Mexican drug cartels have been posting help-wanted ads in Juarez, Mexico, newspapers. The officials said publications including P.M., El Diario de Juarez and El Norte have been printing vague help-wanted ads that are designed to trick young people into smuggling drugs over the border into the United States, the Las Cruces (N.M.) Sun-News reported Friday. Mexican Consulate spokeswoman Socorro Cordova said the issue came to the attention of officials nine months ago when the family of a driver stopped at the U.S. border showed the ad to Mexican...

The country's largest border city has decided to block efforts by federal authorities to use an access road that cuts across city property to work on existing border fencing.

Seems kind of strange that there's all this yelling and screaming, but if you look closely into the crowd, towards the middle-to-the-end of the video, mostly people are just taking photos, clapping, and holding up lighters, but I don't see any physical evidence which would normally be associated with the type of screaming and cheering you hear on this video. Did CBS dub in the crowd noise?VIDEO.Here's what I think CBS did: a live version of U2s Joshua Tree classic, "Where the Streets Have No Name" is playing and U2 concerts are always very, very loud. I must ask: is...

EL PASO — A woman accused of having ties to the violent Barrio Azteca gang worked for years in the Federal Public Defender's office, officials said. Sandy Valles New, 57, was arrested last week as part of a federal racketeering case targeting members and associates of the Barrio Azteca gang. FBI agents believe New has been an associate of the gang since 2000 and was known as "Guera" and "Cunada." From 1996 to 2002, New worked as a paralegal and in the investigations section at the El Paso office, Federal Public Defender Henry J. Bemporad said Monday. FBI spokeswoman Special...

An El Paso family mourns after they get word that their son is killed in the California desert.  According to Border Patrol, the uniform he wore may have made him a target.  "This could have been a civilian ran over...but in this case they actually aimed for our agent," said Eric Anderson, Yuma Border Patrol Agent. The agent killed was Luis Aguilar, 32, an El Paso High Graduate.Yuma Border Patrol officials said Aguilar and several other agents were trying to stop an alleged smuggler from heading back into Mexico.  Aguilar set out road spikes to slow the SUV down, that's...