NOGALES, Ariz. – Day 5 (THURSDAY): (10:08 p.m.) The first drug tunnel in the nation was discovered near an old abandoned church in Nogales, Arizona, a border town of fewer than 21,000 people.
Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada said since the discovery in 1995, more than 110 drug tunnels have been found.
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(12:30 p.m.) The communities from both sides of the border are just steps away from each other.
Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada said in his 50-year career in law enforcement he has seen at least 110 tunnels used for drug trafficking in Nogales, Arizona.
Estrada said the communities are so close together that it is not uncommon for people to talk to each other at the border fence.
THE LINE: We’ve traveled from the Rio Grande Valley to (now) here in Nogales, Arizona. From personal experience, I have not seen the border wall THIS CLOSE to residents who live on the U.S. side. TAKE A LOOK. SERIES➡️https://t.co/32cfRN84Sm #KSATBorderJourney #TheLine #TX2CALI pic.twitter.com/P2YIkzFa63
— Adrian Garcia (@adrianrolgarcia) July 26, 2018
THE LINE: ‘Boundary of the United States of America.’ This is how close 2 communities (Nogales from U.S. & Mexico) are to the border wall. As mentioned before, from Rio Grande Valley to Nogales, AZ, I’ve not seen this before. SERIES➡️ https://t.co/32cfRN84Sm #KSATBorderJourney pic.twitter.com/TiKVZzqk2z
— Adrian Garcia (@adrianrolgarcia) July 26, 2018
THE LINE: A perspective of how close the border wall is to two communities from both sides: A pair of white handprints painted on the fence from the (Nogales) Mexico side. SERIES➡️https://t.co/32cfRN84Sm #KSATBorderJourney #TheLine #KSATnews pic.twitter.com/BZH3wCe65d
— Adrian Garcia (@adrianrolgarcia) July 26, 2018
I'll be reporting from Nogales, Arizona today.
— Tiffany Huertas (@tiffanychuertas) July 26, 2018
We focus on:
-border security
-living along the border
Tune in tonight at 10 p.m. #KSATBorderJourney #TheLine pic.twitter.com/kfm4MKjpEJ
LIVE: In just five days, the #KSATBorderJourney has traveled from Brownsville, Texas, to Nogales, Arizona, where a border wall splits the communities. The homes from both the U.S. & Mexico side are just steps away from each other. Tune in as we give you a tour along the fence. SERIES➡️http://bit.ly/2Oms7Yq
Posted by KSAT 12 & KSAT.com on Thursday, July 26, 2018
(10:30 a.m.) The court-ordered deadline has arrived with the U.S. government having only less than 24 hours to reunite migrant families who were separated following the implementation of the “zero-tolerance” policy.
Las Americas, a 28-year-old nonprofit organization in El Paso, has been dedicating its services to providing legal needs of immigrants, refugees seeking asylum and people seeking family reunifications.
While Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the policy back in April, Alex Faith, a legal assistant and paralegal for Las Americas, said the organization has known about family separations since August.
“We have known about the separation at the border since August of last year. It’s most recently came out that El Paso has been a testing zone for family separation but the Department of Homeland Security has denied it,” Faith said.
Faith said because of the international attention the policy has received, Las Americas has received “a lot of donations” that allows the organization to take “detainees cases and help these families.”
Despite Thursday marking the deadline to reunify the remaining children between the ages 5 to 17, Faith said she is not sure if the government will meet it.
KSAT has reached out to the DHS regarding the separation of families in El Paso since last year but has not received an immediate response.