Editor's note: We want you to know what's happening, and why and how it could impact your life, family or business, so we created a weekly digest of the top original immigration, migration and refugee reporting from across VOA. Questions? Tips? Comments? Email the VOA immigration team: ImmigrationUnit@voanews.com.
Migrants and asylum-seekers, in their own words
In dozens of interviews on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border last month, VOA met single adults, parents traveling with young children, grandparents with grandchildren, and pregnant women whose due dates are before their court hearings. Most came by bus and foot from their home countries in Central America. A growing number are coming from outside the Western Hemisphere. Read and watch profiles of six people who discuss how and why the trekked to the U.S., and what they hope for as they face immigration court hearings in the coming months.
New twist for those forced to remain in Mexico
Asylum-seekers who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in recent months may be automatically rejected in U.S. immigration court, according to a U.S. Supreme Court decision this week. This would largely affect thousands of people, largely Central Americans. Under the Migrant Protection Protocols, many asylum-seekers and migrants were forced to wait for their U.S. immigration hearings in Mexico.
MPP hearings began in Laredo, Texas, this week, though media and other observers were barred from attending what would normally be public court proceedings. Read more of VOA's U.S.-Mexico border coverage, including interviews with migrants.
From the Feds
Border agents discovered a shack at a Texas cemetery that was being used as a stash house for 10 Chinese nationals who entered the U.S. without authorization. The number of people from outside Central America who cross from Mexico is increasing, as VOA reported last month.
The number of people detained after crossing the southwest U.S. border declined for a third consecutive month, after a spike in arrivals in May. U.S. officials documented 50,693 apprehensions in August.
Roberto Rodriguez-Espinoza, a Mexican national in U.S. immigration custody, died at a hospital in Illinois this week. His is the eighth death in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody this fiscal year.
David Allen Boileau,58, of Florida pleaded guilty this week to carrying out months of threats against an Iraqi American refugee family. He faces up to one year in prison.
