Mexican-based transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) were “operating in more than a thousand U.S. cities during 2009 and 2010, spanning all nine Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) regions,” according to the U.S. Justice Department’s National Drug Threat Assessment of 2011.

According to the report, the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) assesses with “high confidence” that Mexican-based TCOs “control distribution of most of the heroin, marijuana, and methamphetamine available in the United States” and production of these drugs in Mexico “appears to be increasing.”

However, the report says that an “analysis of law enforcement information reveals variations in the primary type of illicit drugs trafficked by each of the seven main Mexican-based TCOs and the regions of the United States where their operations are concentrated.”

Three Mexican nationals attempted to illegally land their boat on California's Huntington Beach Sunday -- about a mile away from where crowds were forming to watch a professional surfing contest.

Lifeguards spotted the small fishing boat at around 8:30 a.m., but when the men realized they had been spotted, they turned back to sea and were seen throwing a package overboard, The Orange County Register reported.

A number of people were on the beach at the time, for the U.S. Open of Surfing.

It is believed the men in the boat were smuggling drugs across the border from Mexico.

All three were arrested and taken into custody by U.S. Border Patrol agents on suspicion of smuggling and attempting to enter the U.S. illegally.

An entire 20-man police force resigned in a northern Mexican town after a series of attacks that killed the police chief and five officers over the last three months, state officials said Thursday.

The officers’ resignation Thursday left the 13,000 people of Ascension without local police services, Chihuahua state chief prosecutor Carlos Manuel Salas said. State and federal police have moved in to take over police work, he said.

The mass resignation appeared to be connected to a Tuesday attack by gunmen that killed three of the town’s officers, Salas said.

But it wasn’t the first deadly attack on the police department this year.

In mid-May, police chief Manuel Martinez, who had been in office just seven months, was gunned down with two other officers on a nearby highway. The three had been kidnapped a day before police found their bodies riddled with bullets in the back seat of a sedan.

President Barack Obama is attempting to block the execution in Texas of a Mexican man because it would breach an international convention and do "irreparable harm" to US interests.

The White House has asked the US supreme court to put the execution of Humberto Leal Garcia on hold while Congress passes a law that would prevent the convicted rapist and murderer from being put to death along with dozens of other foreign nationals who were denied proper access to diplomatic representation before trials for capital crimes.

The administration moved after the governor of Texas, Rick Perry, brushed aside appeals from diplomats, top judges, senior military officers, the United Nations and former president George W Bush to stay Leal's execution because it could jeopardise American citizens arrested abroad as well as US diplomatic interests.

Leal, 38, was convicted of the rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl in San Antonio. Few question that he was responsible for the killing.

The top leader of the Zeta criminal organization was killed Friday in a Matamoros firefight with rivaling Gulf Cartel, sources close to the newspaper have reported.

Heriberto "El Lazca" Lazcano Lazcano was reportedly killed in a gun battle on the streets of Matamoros Friday afternoon.

Gunfire erupted shortly after 2 p.m., throughout the city as the two forces clashed. Sources claim Lazcano was killed at an area near Avenida Del Niño and Lauro Villar.

U.S. officials confirmed the firefight and said the international bridges in Brownsville remained opened Friday. They were on alert to any gunmen or Mexican residents attempting to flee the gunfire in Matamoros after a street battle broke out about a mile south of the Rio Grande, officials said.

"When Congress passes a law that says no funds can be used for this program, we mean no funds can be used for this program," he said. "The Department of Transportation cannot simply pick and choose which laws they want to follow and which laws they want t

Mexican government officials are signaling a more active political presence in Orange County with the appointment of a career diplomat as the new Consul based in Santa Ana. "Naming a senior diplomatic officer speaks to the importance that the government o

Guadalupe Rosales-Gonzalez, 48, of Distrito Federal Mexico is charged with illegally re-entering the United States after having been deported, prosecutors said.

There is a growing sense of outrage in Kalispell Montana after a Mexican flag was erected in front of a U.S. flag 200 feet up a huge tower that belongs to the oldest radio station in America - KGEZ. Before the incident, station owner John Stokes said that

Nearly three of every four Mexican immigrants speak English "just a little or not at all," the lowest rate among Latin American immigrant groups, according to a new study. By comparison, 35 percent of those born in Puerto Rico struggle with English, while

The Consulate General of Mexico signed an agreement Monday with three U.S. banks that could make Mexican nationals more comfortable with the banking industry. Chase, Citibank and Laredo National Bank will take turns each day manning a desk in the Mexican

A controversial billboard is the talk of the town in Lewis County, Washington. A restaurant owner says he's using a billboard to send a message to illegal immigrants. It reads "No Mexican olympic teams, all of their runners and swimmers are here." The His

In the words of the Rev, K.W. Tulloss, “the nightmare has come true.” Federal indictments unsealed on October 16 allege that leaders of the Florenza 13 (F 13s) gang acted on orders from the Mexican Mafia to cleanse their neighborhoods of African-Ameri

Los Angeles can and should be the envy of the world. Instead, America’s second-biggest city is a Third World disaster, and gets worse each day. We can’t afford four more years of a mayor who spends all his time running for the next office, staging pho

Violent confrontations with drug smugglers along the border increasingly involve spectacular, attention grabbing shootouts. These border incursions infuriate many Americans, especially when both US and Mexican authorities ignore or downplay these episodes

Six illegals stole food and water that was provided for those fleeing fires in California. The latimes.com headline, sidelining political correctness for one word, actually called the robbers “illegals” in this read : “Six illegal immigrants arreste

Fearing for their safety, about 50 suspected illegal immigrants have surrendered to the Border Patrol since Sunday to escape one of Southern California's largest wildfires. The Border Patrol says no illegal immigrants have been reported injured, but agent

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has delegated key inspection requirements for Mexican trucks to a non-governmental trilateral trade association, whose goal is to impose North American standards on all commercial motor vehicles operating in

Hispanic activists are calling for a city-wide shutdown in Irving. On November 15, Accion America said they would like to see all Irving businesses closed for the day. They are urging everyone, including students, to participate. The group will also hold

Among the many problems on the US-Mexico border is that of reported Mexican military incursions onto the US side of the border. These incidents raise disturbing questions about US-Mexican relations and the two nations' wars on the drug cartels. The eviden

Cubans are migrating to the United States in the greatest numbers in more than a decade, and for most of them the new way to get north is first to head west - to Mexico - in a convoluted route that avoids the U.S. Coast Guard. U.S. officials say the spike

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers found nearly 1,600 pounds of marijuana inside a charter tour bus Thursday morning at the Dennis DeConcini port of entry in Nogales. Suspicions were raised during the questioning of the driver and revision of its

Investigators said Jose Guerra, 22, and Octavio Garcia, 27, were charged with siphoning off hundreds of gallons of gasoline from the Mobil station located on Curry Ford Road and Goldenrod in east Orange County.

A radio station in Houston has posted on its website two video clips of a Texas elementary school "diversity" assembly where a volunteer leads students in saying a pledge of allegiance to the Mexican flag.

Mexican soldiers and civilian smugglers engaged in an armed standoff with nearly 30 American law enforcement officials on the southern U.S. border, according to Texas police and the FBI. At a spot more than 200 yards inside the U.S., Mexican Army troops s

Vicente Fox has recently come under criticism within his own country, for the ostentatious display of his wealth, in the form of featuring his grand estancia during an interview. His rancho defies by its sheer opulent display, the egalitarian philosophy h

The U.S. Supreme Court’s hearing of the case, Medellin v. Texas, has reminded the American people of President Bush’s terrible tendency to put the foreign interests of Mexico above those of the United States. But the case, being heard on October 10, i

mong travelers, it's jokingly known as Aeromigrante - Migrant Air. New discount airlines in Mexico are doing a brisk business shuttling migrants to the U.S. border, turning what was once a days-long trek into an easy hop for legions of workers, both legal

It caused some controversy, but it was supposed to. Now, one man is headed to municipal court for burning a Mexican flag in protest in front of the Alamo. The city is charging 46-year old David Bohmfalk with burning without a permit, even though no one gi

Mexican President Felipe Calderon said the illegal immigration of Mexicans to the U.S. can't be stopped because of the strong demand for inexpensive labor there. ``It's impossible to stop that by decree. It's impossible to try to stop that with a fence,''

Mexico's flag, which has flown alongside an American flag for more than 50 years at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum outside Tucson, has been hauled down after escalating complaints in the past year or so.

The New Mexico League of United Latin American Citizens has asked state and federal officials to investigate a University of New Mexico student who is accused of tearing down a Mexican flag.

Tensions in this Country over the illegal immigration issue have been mounting steadily over the past couple of years. Americans are increasingly expressing their aggravation over the never ending push by the Mexican community to remake the United States

Spitzer’s been droning on about the “politics of fear” and his own glimmering moral superiority in trying to document the undocumented but his own party is starting to get nervous. One Republican assemblyman claims that you can’t legally give lice

When a big rig carrying explosive chemicals in Mexico blew up several weeks ago and killed more than two dozen, it set off alarms among critics of the Bush administration's program to allow trucks from south of the border to move goods anywhere in the U.S

A University of New Mexico student charged with criminal damage to property after tearing up a Mexican flag last month pleaded not guilty Wednesday morning. Peter Lynch, 30, has said that he tore the Mexican flag, which was flying in celebration of Mexica

It took a few days, but the flag of the United States of America once again is proudly waving at the entrance of Chasewood North condominium complex in Jupiter. Over the weekend, someone cut the ropes of the flagpole, stole the Stars and Stripes and repla

This afternoon we received a call from a viewer who said a business near downtown Reno was flying a Mexican flag above an American flag... which is in fact illegal.

This sprawling US Army base located at the edge of El Paso and skirting the border with Mexico is undergoing a major expansion that heavily relies on Mexicans for its construction. Amid growing controversy in the United States over immigration — legal a

A Mexican couple is facing federal charges in Chattanooga after their vehicle filled with seven Chinese aliens was stopped. Venancio Perez-Martinez and Clara Rodriguez-Anaya were arrested after their red Dodge Durango was stopped on Sept. 20 on northbound

WINDSOR, Ont. -- Frustrations are mounting for the mayor of Windsor, Ont., following a meeting with a Florida businessman who allegedly has sent refugee claimants to the border city. Mayor Eddie Francis met with Jacques Sinjuste from the Jerusalem Haitian

Felipe Calderon was inaugurated as president of Mexico on December 1st, 2006. What he intends to do is now becoming clear: minor reform—but basically more Mexican mooching and meddling.

Immigration custom enforcement and the ocean city police department conducted a raid. The three places they went to were the Miyako Sushi and Seafood Restaurant and panda china buffet, and a private residence. Authorities targeted three places looking for

MONTERREY, Mexico -- Three Mexican minors detained in California on suspicion of smuggling drugs stole a U.S. Border Patrol car while still wearing handcuffs and drove it back across the border to Mexico. Police in the Mexican border city of Mexicali said

MEXICO CITY - In the wake of yet another failed attempt at U.S. immigration reform, governors from along the border meet this week as pressure builds for states to take the lead on immigration and security issues. Mexican President Felipe Calderón, U.S.

WASHINGTON – Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, Rena J. Comisac, U.S. Attorney Reginald I. Lloyd of the District of South Carolina, and U.S. Attorney Gretchen C.F. Shappert of the Western District of North Carolina, announc

The consular agency of Mexico in Leamington, Ont. defended its country's reputation Sunday after several recently-arrived Mexicans blamed their homeland's corrupt government, powerful criminal gangs and economically poor conditions as grounds for being gr

"I got up (Thursday morning) to take my son to school and I noticed there were black ashes on my front porch," Martz said. After further investigation, she discovered the charred remains of a Mexican flag she proudly displayed to celebrate her Mexican- Am

More than 300 illegal immigrants are being deported every month from Irving because of the city’s increased scrutiny of the immigration status of people arrested, according to the city’s mayor. The Mexican consul general has expressed concern after me

They are 19-year-old Gustavo Acosta, 22-year-old Julio Rodriguez, and 34-year-old Jose Acosta; all from Mexico. A fourth suspect, 41-year-old Nelson Riverois is from Youngsville. Two of the suspects had tattoos that may link them to the Mexican mafia.

Some tense moments at the Pharr International Bridge on Wednesday, when a Mexican military vehicle somehow ended up on the U.S. side of the bridge. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman tells NEWSCHANNEL 5 three armed soldiers in uniform became d

CHICAGO -- A 28-year-old Mexican immigrant is suing Carpentersville for $30 million. She claims paramedics denied her son care because of anti-immigrant sentiment. Gloria Lopez says she left her son with a baby sitter who doesn't speak English.

A student took down a Mexican flag from a flagpole outside Scholes Hall Monday, tore it and took it to the Air Force ROTC office, police said. A summons was issued for Peter Lynch, 30, by the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court for criminal damage to pro

Over the past three weeks, 45 families and 31 individuals -- approximately 200 people -- entered Canada at the Detroit River crossings and applied in Windsor for shelter and social assistance after filing refugee claims with the Canada Border Services Age

Mexican drug cartels now operate in almost every region of the United States and bring in as much as $23 billion a year in revenue, according to a Government Accountability Office report that will be released Thursday.

Some Oregon high schools are adopting Mexico's public school curriculum to help educate Spanish-speaking students with textbooks, an online Web site, DVDs and CDs provided free by Mexico to teach math, science and even U.S. history.

A Mexicali-based, long-haul trucking company yesterday won approval to travel throughout the United States, becoming the second Mexican company accepted into a pilot program that opens the border to truckers from the United States and Mexico.