The Arizona Daily Star reported on November 2 that the city of Nogales’s third annual Halloween candy giveaway to Mexicans, who were allowed to cross the border for the event, ended with rioting and temporary border shut down during the day. 

When some 300 people gathered at the Nogales border on the afternoon of October 31^st hoping to cross into the United States, the crowd reportedly was mixed with people smugglers.  People smugglers used the opportunity of large crowds and costumes at the border to begin sneaking illegal entrants with no visas across the border as part of the Halloween event and through holes in fences surrounding the area.

When Border patrol agents noticed the holes in the fence and began repair their damage illegal immigrant hopefuls began throwing objects including, tires, eggs and wooden pallets across the border.

As large crowds of angry parents and children began to accumulate at a nearby downtown port but were denied access at this entry point, officials decided to temporarily the entry point. 

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A key unit of the Department of Homeland Security has slipped into a state of financial turmoil that could endanger its ability to investigate terrorists, pay informants and perform wiretaps, some department employees and officials say. The Washington Post reported on October 31, 2004 that all hiring and transfers at the department's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) division have been banned for two months, as have almost all training, purchases of supplies and equipment, and maintenance of vehicles. Top department officials say they are committed to protecting ICE's ability to perform investigations, but agents in the field say ICE's budget shortfall of perhaps $500 million may soon threaten its national security work.