- IMMIGRATION-ASYLUM
HOUSTON (AP) — A federal appeals court ruling will allow the Trump administration to begin rejecting asylum at some parts of the U.S.-Mexico border for migrants who arrived after transiting through a third country.The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar's order would only apply to states within the circuit. Two southern border states, California and Arizona, are in the circuit's jurisdiction, but New Mexico and Texas aren't.
The two busiest areas for border crossings are in South Texas' Rio Grande Valley and the region around El Paso, Texas, which includes New Mexico.
The American Civil Liberties Union says it will continue fighting the restrictions.
The U.S. Department of Justice did not immediately comment.
- MIGRANT CHILDREN-ABUSE
SANTA ANA, California (AP) — This story is part of an ongoing joint investigation between The Associated Press and the PBS series FRONTLINE on the treatment of migrant children.___
A review of 38 legal claims obtained by The Associated Press — some of which have never been made public — shows taxpayers could be on the hook for more than $200 million in damages as a result of the Trump administration's zero tolerance policy.
Dozens of migrant children and their families say they suffered trauma during forced separations and prolonged detention.
The claims are precursors to lawsuits, and many more are expected.
Some of the children, including an 8-year-old Guatemalan boy now living in Southern California, allege they were sexually molested by other children in foster care homes funded by the U.S. government.
The departments of Justice and Homeland Security, which are both named in claims, didn't respond to requests for comment.
Health and Human Services said it doesn't respond to pending litigation and treats the children in its care with dignity and respect.
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Daffodil J. Altan of FRONTLINE contributed to this report.
- IMMIGRATION-STATUE POEM-NEW MEXICO
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The first Muslim elected to the New Mexico Legislature is speaking out against a Trump administration official who said the inscription on the Statue of Liberty welcomed only people from Europe.State Rep. Abbas Akhil told The Associated Press this week that comments by Ken Cuccinelli, acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, were divisive and racist.
The Albuquerque Democrat says Emma Lazarus' poem welcoming "your tired, your poor, your huddled masses" spoke to him when he came to the U.S. in 1972 from India.
Beginning in the 1930s, immigration supporters began using the poem to bolster their cause.
Cuccinelli had said the poem should read "give me your tired and your poor who can stand on their own two feet and who will not become a public charge."
- ELECTION 2020-SENATE-NEW MEXICO
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Financial disclosures by Republican U.S. Senate candidate Gavin Clarkson show that he works as professional court witness and lives in an experimental tiny home that is 15 feet (4.5 meters) long and wide.Clarkson campaign spokesman Stephen Sebastian said Thursday that the tiny home in southern New Mexico owned by Clarkson is a prototype of an affordable housing unit geared toward Native American communities.
Clarkson has recently used his expertise in tribal finance and economic development to work as a college professor, private consultant and former official for the Trump administration.
He filed required financial disclosures with the Senate this week as he seeks the Republican nomination to succeed Democratic Sen. Tom Udall, who retires next year.
Clarkson lost his campaign last year for New Mexico secretary of state.
- OPEN LETTER-LATINOS
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — America Ferrera and Eva Longoria are leading a coalition of actors, writers and leaders in penning a public "letter of solidarity" to U.S. Latinos in the wake of the mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, and an immigration raid in Mississippi.The letter, published Friday in The New York Times and in a handful of Spanish-language newspapers, says the signers stand with U.S. Latinos who may feel "terrified, heartbroken and defeated by the barrage of attacks." It says such "indignities and cruelty" won't diminish the contributions Latinos have made to the U.S., and urges Hispanics to keep standing up to bigotry.
Latinos across the country have expressed anxiety after the El Paso shooting and another in Gilroy, California, claimed Hispanic victims.
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Russell Contreras reported from Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is a member of The Associated Press' race and ethnicity team. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/russcontreras
- VIRGIN GALACTIC-SPACEPORT
UPHAM, N.M. (AP) — Virgin Galactic plans to unveil its digs at Spaceport America, providing the first glimpse of mission control, a prep area for pilots and a lounge where paying customers will wait for their flights to space.Company officials are gathering Thursday at the remote facility in the New Mexico desert to show off two levels of the custom-tailored hangar at the taxpayer-financed spaceport.
It's unclear how soon commercial flights could begin. Company officials have said a small number of test flights must be completed.
Billionaire Richard Branson and former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat, first pitched the plan for the facility nearly 15 years ago.
Virgin Galactic's spaceship development has taken far longer than expected and had a major setback when the company's first experimental craft broke apart during a 2014 test flight, killing the co-pilot.
- IMMIGRATION-FORCE FEEDIN
EL PASO, Texas (AP) — An attorney for an Indian man seeking asylum in the U.S. says he has been force-fed at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Texas as they approach their third week of a hunger strike.A court official says the U.S. Department of Justice filed orders last week that relate to non-consensual hydration or feeding for four men.
Linda Corchado, the lawyer for three of the men, says they are trying to appeal or reopen asylum claims that were denied.
With growing numbers of people seeking asylum or to immigrate now locked in detention, this week's force feeding — and numerous others over the past year — lays bare a complex process the U.S. government has established to handle immigrant detainees who protest by refusing to eat.
- DRIVE-BY SHOOTING-INDICTMENT
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Federal authorities say a Crownpoint man has been indicted on assault and firearms charges in a drive-by shooting that injured two Navajo children last month in New Mexico.Prosecutors say the indictment charges 25-year-old Eli Frank Woody with two counts of assault resulting in serious bodily injury to a child and discharging a shotgun during a crime of violence.
Woody was a passenger in a vehicle on July 18 and allegedly fired shots into a Crownpoint home.
Authorities say the two injured children survived the shooting and Woody was arrested days later.
Woody's trial has yet to be scheduled.
If convicted, prosecutors say Woody faces up to 10 years in prison on each of the assault charges and anywhere from 10 years to life imprisonment on the firearms charge.