According to The Washington Post, Texan mayors on the border with Mexico are threatening to take the U.S. government to court to block construction of the fence designed to keep out undocumented immigrants.  Six mayors fear the planned fence will hurt trade for closely knit Mexican-Texan communities, endanger wildlife, and cut off Texan ranchers’ access to the Rio Grande , the main source of fresh water in the region.  

Eagle Pass Mayor Chad Foster said he had received hate e-mails from Americans outside Texas who accuse him of being soft on security.  But the mayors argue there are better ways to stop undocumented immigration and drug traffickers.  "The perception in some parts of the United States is that you build a fence and then migration stops.  The reality is that it will slow down migrants by three to four minutes," he said.   

As an alternative, the mayors advocate deepening and widening the Rio Grande to curb undocumented immigration and drug trafficking, as well as increasing the number of Border patrol agents and cutting back the Carrizo cane reeds growing on the river banks that allow people to hide.  They complain those ideas are being ignored.  " Washington is imposing this without consulting us, when we are the border communities," said Monica Weisberg-Stewart, a leader of the Texas Border Coalition that represents the mayors, judges, business leaders and citizens against the fence.  

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Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that it has moved a number of detainees out of its immigration center on Terminal Island in southern California so the aging facility can be renovated, The Los Angeles Times reports.  USCIS would not say how many people were transferred or where they were sent, but attorneys with the American Civil Liberties Union said they were told that over 100 detainees were moved to centers around the nation, and that the transfers would continue.  Attorneys representing the immigrants initially were not informed of the transfers ahead of time and did not know where their clients are being housed.

ACLU Attorney Ahilan Arulanantham said he called Terminal City and was told that the client he was trying to reach was among many detainees who were moved.  "It’s a serious injustice by the government to transfer detainees far away without notifying their attorneys, especially when they have hearings upcoming, and now they are going to have to wait months more in detention before they get their day in court," he said.  Arulanantham added he has dozens of clients at the center and that now he does not know if they are still there.  "I don’t know where they are," he said.  "I have to hope that they will call sometime.  It’s a nightmare."  

More than a week later, ICE posted on its web site a phone number to inform family members where detainees were now located.  

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Immigration and Customs Enforcement has contracted a $775,000, three-year deal with Rosetta Stone, a language-learning software provider, The Washington Post reports.  ICE plans to supply 15,000 agency employees around the country with software discs and online programs offering instructions in 30 languages, with Spanish and Arabic being the agency’s most pressing language needs to carry out missions of immigration and customs investigations, intelligence and federal protective services.   

The company, which also has a $4.2 million contract with the US Army, says ICE purchased their software instead of hiring language instructors at its various offices because the computer program give employees flexibility to study at home, and is a much cheaper alternative to hiring a real teacher.