Mexican Consulate offers weekend services

McALLEN -- Perla Sanchez chuckled softly with embarrassment as she readied herself for the photograph that would open the remittance spigot.

Perhaps taking the photo was awkward. But without the Mexican Consulate-issued identification card, she couldn't open a bank account to transfer money to the family she left 13 years ago in Ciudad Victoria, Tamps., to seek work and a brighter future.

Saturday afternoon, Sanchez was among some 60 other Mexican citizens - and some non-Mexicans - obtaining visas, identification documents, passports and other government-issued documents as part of the Mexican Consulate in McAllen's monthly weekend "journey" for residents of Hidalgo, Brooks and Starr counties.

At the consulate's temporary office at 301 Lindberg Ave., children played while their parents sat patiently in a former doctor's office waiting room. The consulate moved its operations there earlier this summer as its regular location at 600 S. Broadway St. - itself a former doctor's office - undergoes remodeling.

Sanchez overcame her embarrassment at taking the photo and explained that her bank account at Texas State Bank - recently re-branded Compass Bank - had closed due to inactivity and the institution required identification to open a new one. She came to the United States in 1995 and cleans houses.

"I'll do whatever job as long as it's not prostitution," she said in Spanish.

Like thousands of others immigrants, Sanchez sends money back to her family in Mexico, she said.

Remittances to Mexico totaled $13.6 billion for the first seven months of this year, according to the country's central bank.

Orlando Fernandez, 43, and his wife and children were not like the other applicants in the room Saturday.

Sure, they needed to renew their visas, but they don't live in the United States. They came because obtaining such a document in their hometown of Reynosa would be much more time-consuming, Fernandez explained. And with new passport requirements for cross-border travel coming next year, there was little time to spare.

Citizens on both sides of the border will be required to present a passport or border crossing card to enter the United States starting June 1, and the consulate has experienced a spike in applicants for passports and visas in anticipation of the change, consulate spokeswoman Miriam Medel said.

Last year, she said, the consulate collected 25 applications a day on average. Now it averages 50 per day.

The consulate opens it doors on weekends once a month to make it easier for those who work during the week to seek its services, Medel said. The expanded business hours should ease the transition to the more stringent border-crossing identification requirements.

The consulate plans to offer weekend services again on Sept. 28, but at a temporary satellite office in Weslaco. The consulate hosts the "journey" weekend events at different locations throughout the Valley.

"We had all these people in here," Medel said of Saturday's event. "We're happy because it's a first one for this location and it turned out really well."

Sean Gaffney

ICE officers deport convicted sex offender to Mexico

08.14.08

EL PASO, Texas -- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers deported a convicted sexual predator to Mexico on Tuesday, ICE officials announced Thursday.

ICE agents turned Inosente Borunda Hernandez, 34, over to Mexican authorities at the Ysleta port of entry on Tuesday.

Borunda Hernandez, a Mexican citizen and former U.S. permanent resident, was convicted in Perryton, Texas, on June 28, 2007 of aggravated sexual assault for committing indecency with a child by sexual contact, a first-degree felony, officials said.

He was sentenced to seven years probation. He was intercepted in October 2007 at the Presidio, Texas, port of entry after he applied for admission into the United States, officials said.

Officers found he had the previous criminal conviction, and Borunda Hernandez was paroled into the U.S. To face deportation proceedings. On June 25, 2008, an immigration judge ordered Borunda Hernandez removed to Mexico.

He had been detained at the El Paso Processing Center until Tuesday when he was deported, officials said.

ICE encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2ICE, which is staffed around the clock by investigators.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678 or www.cybertipline.com.

Heroin seizures on the rise

By Ray Gomez

Story Updated: Jul 8, 2008

U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized over five pounds of heroin over the weekend and say the numbers continue to grow.

36-year-old Jose Luis Walter was arrested at The Gateway to the Americas Bridge early Saturday morning after trying to hide over five pounds of heroin in an ice chest.

The estimated value of the heroine was nearly half a million dollars.

C.B.P. officers say there have been a significant number of seizures of heroin in the last few months.

In fiscal year 2007, 12 pounds of the narcotic were seized.

Since October of last year 57 pounds of heroin have been discovered.

This year 505 people have been arrested at Laredo’s bridges for various seizures compared to only 477 in the entire year of 2007.