Valerie Gonzalez, Author at The Rapid City Post

A Border Patrol vehicle sits near where, in years past, volunteers would see hundreds of migrants daily crossing the border separating Mexico and the United States, Thursday, June 5, 2025, near Jacumba Hot Springs, Calif. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

U.S. Border Patrol is increasingly seen far from the border as Trump ramps up deportation arrests

June 23, 2025

Recent immigration arrests show on video are showing a pattern emerging: more Border Patrol agents are working away from the border. Traditionally, Border Patrol agents are seen at the southern border. But with a drastic drop in illegal entries along the Mexican border, agents are being reassigned to assist with interior arrests as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement faces a daily arrest target of 3,000. The immigration authority of Border Patrol agents allows them to make arrests and search and board vehicles, but their reach is limited depending on their location.

FILE - Immigrants seeking asylum walk at the ICE South Texas Family Residential Center, Aug. 23, 2019, in Dilley, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

New insight into Texas family detention reveals adults fighting kids for clean water

June 21, 2025

A new court filing in an ongoing legal dispute with the federal government reveals the psychological and physical trauma endured by children and families held at Texas family detention centers. Advocates for the immigrant families conducted site visits at the detention centers in Dilley and Karnes, Texas. Families shared testimony detailing medical failures, dirty drinking water, and the psychological effects on their children of prolonged detention. The court filing made Friday evening is attempting to persuade a federal court not to terminate a 90s era policy that requires safe and sanitary conditions for immigrant children in federal custody.

FILE - Migrants seeking asylum leave an immigration office after their scheduled meetings were canceled and they were turned away soon after President Donald Trump canceled the CBP One app, Jan. 20, 2025, in Matamoros, Mexico. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

Trump administration hit with second lawsuit over restrictions on asylum access

June 12, 2025

The Trump administration is facing a second lawsuit over the shutdown of asylum at ports of entry, a legal pathway created by Congress under the Immigration and Nationality Act. Immigration advocates filed a class-action lawsuit against the federal government on Wednesday, alleging that Trump’s proclamation issued on his first day in office is unlawfully shutting down asylum at ports of entry. The proclamation changed asylum policies after saying that the screening process at the border was leading to the “unauthorized entry of innumerable” people. Plaintiffs are asking a federal court to reopen access to asylum at ports of entry.

FILE - In this March 30, 2021, file photo, young unaccompanied migrants, watch television inside a playpen at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility, the main detention center for unaccompanied children in the Rio Grande Valley, in Donna, Texas. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills, Pool, File)

Trump administration seeks to end protections for immigrant children in federal custody

May 22, 2025

The Trump administration is seeking to end an immigration policy cornerstone that since the 1990s has offered protections to child migrants in federal custody, a move that will be challenged by advocates. The protections, known as the Flores Settlement, largely limit to 72 hours the amount of time that child migrants traveling alone or with family can be held by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. It also governs conditions in which they are held. A court filing proposes a July 18 hearing on the settlement before U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee in California.

Valerie Gonzalez.

U.S. Border Patrol is increasingly seen far from the border as Trump ramps up deportation arrests

New insight into Texas family detention reveals adults fighting kids for clean water

Trump administration hit with second lawsuit over restrictions on asylum access

Trump administration seeks to end protections for immigrant children in federal custody

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