A legal challenge in the US Supreme Court to the construction of the US-Mexico border wall was declared dead June 16. The justices declined to hear an appeal by the County of El Paso, Texas, to an earlier decision by a US federal court judge that allowed the Bush administration to proceed with construction of the controversial wall.

On a whirl-wind tour of the Southwest late last week, senior members of the Barack Obama administration laid out the White House strategy for border security, narcotics control and immigration reform. And contrary to the expectations of some border residents and advocates who were betting on a new approach last January, the new administration's strategic policy thrust mainly follows and even expands on the course long pursued by previous Democratic and Republican administrations. A solid alliance with the Calderón administration in Mexico City is a key component of the Obama border policy.

An AP story in Montana's Billings Gazette June 1 notes that Scott Roeder—the suspect in the slaying of abortion provider Dr. George Tiller, gunned down while serving as an usher during Sunday services at his Lutheran Church in Wichita, Kansas—was a member of the radical right group the Montana Freemen, who gained fame for their long stand-off with law enforcement in the mid '90s. It also notes the two-faced stance of the "legitimate" anti-choice movement in their supposed disavowal of the slaying:

A US federal judge May 27 sentenced the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) and five of its officials pursuant to their convictions of providing material support to Palestinian group Hamas. District Judge Jorge Solis sentenced Shurki Abu Baker, Mohammad El-Mezain, Ghassan Elashi, Mufid Abdulqader and Abdulrahman Odeh to prison terms ranging from 15 to 65 years and reaffirmed the jury's $12.4 million judgment against the group.

The right-wing hate circuit is reaping a windfall from the "Swine Flu" (Influenza A/H1N1) scare. Live links for each of these outbursts are provided by Associated Content, May 1:

Take for instance talk radio hosts Michael Savage and Jay Severin. Savage told his audience that people should have "no contact anywhere with an illegal alien."

Our April issue featured stories on the militarization of the Mexican border, the need for a general amnesty for undocumented immigrants, and the opportunity represented by the financial crisis to reboot America for the post-petroleum age. Our multiple-choice April Exit Poll was: "Which of the following is President Obama most likely to do?" We received 24 votes (which we hope does not indicate that we have only 24 readers). The results follow:

US Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano April 15 appointed former federal prosecutor Alan Bersin as assistant secretary for international affairs and special representative for border affairs. Bersin's duties will include improving relationships with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and international, state, and local communities, as well as leading efforts to lessen violence along the US-Mexican border to "help Mexico target illegal guns, drugs and cash."

The number of immigrants detained by the US has drastically increased over the last decade, according to an AP report issued March 15. A US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) database, obtain by the AP through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), indicates that on Jan. 25, 32,000 individuals were detained in the US. This is nearly five times the 6,785 that were detained in 1994.