Fronteras: Excessive alcohol consumption cost United States taxpayers more than $220 billion in 2006. Several hundred people living on the banks of the Tijuana river canal were evicted. What are they planning to do now? Immigrant families in the U.S. with mixed status wonder about the fate of immigration reform now that Congress is in recess. One of Mexico’s most isolated indigenous groups is fighting logging in old-growth forests. Also, hear how a civil rights giant is now a comic book hero.
CDC Says Excessive Drinking Costs Taxpayers Billions
Excessive alcohol consumption cost U.S. taxpayers over $220 billion in 2006 according to a new study released by the Centers for Disease Control. Tristan Ahtone reports states in the southwest accounted for a large portion of those costs.
Immigrant Families With Mixed Status Face Difficult Reality
Among the millions of immigrant families living in the United States, many have mixed legal status. One member may be here illegally while another might have a temporary permit and yet another may be a U.S. citizen. This creates uncomfortable disparities within the families. With Congress out on recess and the future of immigration reform uncertain, it leaves their lives in limbo. Mónica Ortiz Uribe reports.
Deported Migrants Cope After Tijuana Police Destroy Their Homes
Law enforcement in Tijuana this month evicted hundreds of people who live in makeshift homes on the banks of the concrete-lined Tijuana river. Fronteras reporter Adrian Florido visited to see how these people, among Tijuana's most destitute, are faring.
Illegal Logging Continues Despite Legal Victory For Mexican Indigenous Group
One of Mexico’s most isolated indigenous groups has won a significant legal victory. Mexican courts have suspended logging permits affecting old growth forests in the group’s ancestral territory in the Sierra Madre of northern Mexico. At the same time export demand for the lumber is growing and there’s pressure to open up logging on other sections of indigenous land. For the Fronteras Desk, Lorne Matalon reports from the Mexican state of Chihuahua.
Civil Rights Giant Becomes Comic Book Hero
John Lewis began life as the son of sharecroppers on a farm in rural Alabama. He went on to speak alongside Martin Luther King Jr. at the March on Washington, and to become a U.S. Congressman. Now his incredible life story is the subject of a graphic autobiography. KPBS reporter Sandhya Dirks spent time with Lewis when he was in San Diego this year for the annual Comic-con convention.
