JUAN CARLOS LLORCA

Associated Press Writer
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Celebrity pot busts put tiny Texas county on map

Nestled among the few remaining businesses that dot a rundown highway in this dusty West Texas town stands what's become a surprise destination for marijuana-toting celebrities: the Hudspeth County Jail.

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Former ICE analyst sentenced in travel fund scheme

A former Intelligence analyst for Immigration and Customs Enforcement was sentenced to prison Wednesday for his role in an alleged embezzlement scheme, and federal prosecutors announced another former analyst and a former agency contractor have pleaded guilty to related charges.

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Texas teen deported to Colombia reunites with mom

A Texas teenager who was deported to Colombia in May after claiming to be an illegal immigrant was returned to the United States and remains at the center of an international mystery over how a minor could be sent to a country where she is not a citizen.

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Drug war sends emotionally troubled kids to Texas

The classroom falls silent as the teacher explains that victims of violence go through specific psychological stages in the aftermath of an attack. Most of these students, though, don't need a lecture to understand the lesson. It's part of their everyday lives.

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Feds unveil system for speedier border crossings

Federal officials in West Texas demonstrated a pilot program Thursday that aims to shorten the time it takes to cross into the U.S. from Mexico.

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US drivers owe Ciudad Juarez $10 million in fines

Miguel Angel Rodriguez had just parked his car when a Ciudad Juarez traffic officer wrote him a ticket and then unscrewed one of his license plates.

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Violent Mexico city tries selling its bright side

The city notorious as the most dangerous in the hemisphere is throwing a party to tell the world that life here is getting better.

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Ex-Texas ICE official pleads guilty to embezzling

A former intelligence analyst for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement pleaded guilty Thursday to embezzling federal funds by presenting bogus travel reports and using his diplomatic passport for personal trips.

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West Texas teen girl accused of faking cancer

A West Texas teenager who collected $17,000 in donations after telling people she was dying of leukemia and had only had six months to live faces theft charges after police determined she lied about being sick.

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Texas zoo: Tiger's killing of mate surprising

The killing of a rare Malayan tiger by his mate caught handlers at the El Paso Zoo completely by surprise because there were no warning signs and the pair were seen playing together only hours earlier, the zoo director said Friday.

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Texas city rips up grass in effort to save water

For decades this city in far West Texas defied the look of most desert communities, with neighborhoods boasting lush, green lawns and residents freely running their sprinklers.

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Mexico: 2 US citizens killed in prison fight

Two U.S. citizens were killed during a prison fight that left 17 inmates dead and many others wounded in a municipal prison in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas.

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Officials: US court interpreter killed in Mexico

An employee of a U.S. district court in the West Texas border city of El Paso was killed after he identified his girlfriend among his kidnappers in neighboring Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

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East Coast to get heat relief; other states cook

The triple-digit scorcher that taxed the electrical grid and made life uncomfortable on the East Coast was expected to simmer down somewhat Sunday, but forecasters said states in the mid-Atlantic and Southeast will still be feeling the heat wave.

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Chief who fled Mexico decries attack on police

A young woman who says she left her post as police chief in her Mexican hometown and is seeking U.S. asylum because of death threats calls herself "sad and angry" after a policewoman from her hometown was wounded by assailants.

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US agent named in suit over Mexican teen death

The family of a 15-year-old Mexican boy fatally shot by a U.S. Border Patrol agent is now naming the officer as part of its lawsuit against the federal government, a family lawyer said Friday.

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DA seeks to drop nepotism case against TX judge

Prosecutors in West Texas said Tuesday they will seek to drop a corruption case against a state judge already imprisoned for a bribery scandal in which he requested sexual favors.

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2 convicted of kidnapping slain US drug trafficker

A jury on Friday convicted two men of kidnapping an American drug trafficker from his home near El Paso two years ago, five days before he turned up dead with his hands chopped off in a city across the border in Mexico.

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2 convicted of kidnapping slain US drug trafficker

A Texas jury has found two men guilty of kidnapping an American drug trafficker found slain in Mexico in 2009.

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Napolitano: US border towns with Mexico are safe

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said Thursday that security on the southern U.S. border "is better now than it ever has been" and that violence from neighboring Mexico hasn't spilled over in a serious way.

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Witness: Ex-operative said he smuggled explosives

A key prosecution witness testified Thursday that he heard a former CIA operative and anti-communist militant discuss how to smuggle explosives into Cuba during a period in 1997 when a series of bombs were exploding at top Havana hotels.

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UN-backed prosecutor: Guatemala impeding justice

The head of a special U.N.-backed commission prosecuting high crimes in Guatemala accused the government Wednesday of sabotaging efforts to bring back a former interior minister on charges of ordering extrajudicial killings of prison inmates.

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Ex-Guatemala prison director surrenders to police

A former prison director in Guatemala accused of participating in the killings of 10 inmates turned himself over to police Friday, authorities said.

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8 convicted in killing of Guatemalan lawyer

A Guatemalan judge has convicted and sentenced eight men to prison for the 2009 killing of a prominent lawyer who accused the country's president of his murder in a video made before his death.

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US ruling could spark wave of CentAm asylum claims

A U.S. federal court ruling this week could unleash a wave of political asylum claims from applicants who say being female and from Central America is reason enough to fear for their lives.

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