Author: Julie Watson
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Ex-California Rep. Duncan Hunter gets 11 months in prison
SAN DIEGO • Former California Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter was sentenced Tuesday to 11 months in prison after pleading guilty to stealing campaign funds and spending the money on everything from outings with friends to his daughter’s birthday party. The ex-Marine’s attorneys had asked for most or part of his sentence be spent in home…
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Trump administration puts tough new asylum rule into effect
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico • A new level of despair spread among tens of thousands of migrants waiting on the Mexican border to seek refuge in the U.S. as the Trump administration began enforcing radical new restrictions Thursday on who qualifies for asylum. “The United States is the only option,” Dunea Romero, a 31-year-old Honduran, lamented…
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16 Marines arrested in migrant smuggling investigation
SAN DIEGO • An investigation into Marines accused of helping smuggle migrants into the United States led to the arrest Thursday of 16 of their fellow Marines at California’s Camp Pendleton, just north of the U.S.-Mexico border. In a dramatic move aimed at sending a message, authorities made the arrests as the Marines gathered in…
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Navy SEAL acquitted of murder in killing of captive in Iraq
SAN DIEGO • A military jury acquitted a decorated Navy SEAL of premeditated murder Tuesday in the killing of a wounded Islamic State captive under his care in Iraq in 2017. Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher was cleared of all charges except for posing for photos with the body of the captive in a verdict…
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Defense asks judge to find Navy SEAL not guilty
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Lawyers for a decorated Navy SEAL charged with war crimes asked a judge on Tuesday to find him not guilty as prosecutors rested their case. The judge recessed the court-martial in San Diego to consider the request of attorneys for Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher, who has pleaded not guilty to…
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Aurora shooter’s permit was revoked but gun wasn’t seized
AURORA, Ill. • An initial background check failed to detect a felony conviction that should have barred the man who killed five co-workers and wounded six others at a suburban Chicago manufacturing plant from buying the gun. Months later, a second background check of Gary Martin found his 1995 aggravated assault conviction in Mississippi involving…
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Yemeni mother gets to hold dying son
SAN FRANCISCO • A Yemeni mother cradled her 2-year-old son in her lap, pressing her face close to his and clasping his hand as a series of tubes kept his small body alive. Shaima Swileh touched the boy for the first time since winning a more than yearlong legal battle to overcome the Trump administration’s…
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Tijuana mayor declares ‘humanitarian crisis’ over migrants
TIJUANA, Mexico — The mayor of Tijuana has declared a humanitarian crisis in his border city and said Friday he was asking the United Nations for aid to deal with the approximately 5,000 Central American migrants who have arrived. The comments by Mayor Juan Manuel Gastelum came as city officials and volunteers worked together to…
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Immigrant families struggling with trauma of separation
SAN DIEGO • A 6-year-old immigrant boy sobs at the school bus stop in suburban Maryland and begs his mother to promise she will not disappear again. A toddler in Honduras wakes up screaming and searches for the government social worker who cared for him for several months. Other children duck or hide their faces…
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Rhino in San Diego pregnant, could help save subspecies
SAN DIEGO — A southern white rhino has become pregnant through artificial insemination at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park — giving hope for efforts to save a subspecies of one of the world’s most recognizable animals, researchers announced Thursday. Scientists will be watching closely to see if the rhino named Victoria can carry her…