LAREDO, Tex. (KGNS) - Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) officials are providing details regarding an oil spill at the Laredo Sector I-35 checkpoint.

The spill happened Wednesday night, June 5, around 5:30 p.m. when a tractor-trailer struck a cement post at the entrance of one of the lanes, resulting in the spillage of transformer oil.

As a precautionary measure, the checkpoint was closed at approximately 11 p.m. The Webb County Fire Department and Sheriff’s Office were notified and present at the scene.

Fortunately, no injuries were reported in connection with the incident.

LAREDO, Tex. (KGNS) - South Texas border mayors stood alongside President Biden as he delivered his harshest stance on immigration yet.

The day after, Laredo Mayor Dr. Victor Treviño, alongside U.S. Congressman Henry Cuellar, provided insight into the newest developments on border issues.

After two years, President Biden signed the long-awaited project to expand the World Trade Bridge.

The project would add two additional commercial lanes and a second span, raising the number of lanes from 8 to 18.

Mayor Dr. Victor Treviño states the proposed expansion is one of many initiatives that the city should be doing.

“We have to do many more things like infrastructure, and a lot of their things that will deal with a great amount of commerce that is already here and will be coming, so I think this had to be portrayed on our trip to Washington,” Mayor Treviño says.

Dr. Treviño adds that the expansion would bring with it an increase in jobs as the city takes on more projects, and the project should take around 2 years to complete.

Congressman Henry Cuellar states that 17,000 trailers come through Laredo daily and commercial traffic is growing anywhere from 3-5% every year—making the move essential.

With the border in mind, Cuellar gave his opinion on President Biden’s executive action limiting the number of asylum applications.

“Not 2,500. I would have said zero, number 1. Number 2, I would have done this three years ago. Nevertheless, it is a good step, and I’m glad Mayor Treviño was there, other mayors were there, because one of the things I’ve always said, you got to listen to border communities, and he did have border communities this time,” Rep. Cuellar says.

The congressman explains that Laredo stands out against other border cities—as it maintains one of the lowest rates for illegal crossings.

While other communities may see entire families or children, Cuellar states that about 93% of illegal immigrants in Laredo are single adult males.

Moreover, Cuellar is pushing for a more secure border.

Previously he had approved the hiring of 22,000 Border Patrol agents, and as hiring efforts continue, $160 million have been granted in federal funds for border patrol overtime to make up the difference.

McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — With the start of the Fiscal Year 2025 less than four months away, lawmakers are proposing increasing funds for border technology, the number of migrant detention beds, and more border wall construction.

The House Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee this week held hearings on how much to fund Border Patrol and other border security measures.

This includes $600 million for new federal border barriers, according to the Republican-led subcommittee.

The committee also is proposing funding for a total of 22,000 Border Patrol agents nationwide, which would be at the same level as in Fiscal Year 2024.

However, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, a senior member on the subcommittee, said Friday there are currently only 19,000 Border Patrol agents nationwide.

Cuellar told Border Report that the agency is having trouble recruiting Border Patrol agents.

“It’s going to be very hard to meet that goal. And I’ll tell you different reasons why. One thing is that there’s attrition. People leave Border Patrol, because it’s tough,” Cuellar said.

He says attrition and retirements and an inability to attract recruits to work on the border is hurting the agency.

“It’s a very difficult job that Border Patrol does, especially when they’re stationed in very rural areas,” Cuellar said.

Funds for $160 million in Border Patrol overtime has been added into the bill as an inducement to attract agents, he said.

The committee also is proposing:

• $305 million for additional non-intrusive inspection border technology.

• $171.4 million to sustain current border security technology programs, including autonomous security towers, tactical aerostats, cross-border tunnel detection, and counter drones.

• $90 million for Operation Stonegarden funding to provide federal resources to local law enforcement agencies in border communities.

• Funding 50,000 detention beds nationwide, up 8,500 from current levels.

The committee also wants $822.7 million for flights and ground transportation to remove the more than 1.3 million migrants who are in this country but have final orders of removal.

It’s uncertain if this will be enough for the thousands of migrants who are expected to be added for removal under President Joe Biden’s new executive orders regarding asylum claims.

The order announced Tuesday and denies asylum claims when the number of encounters of migrants in between legal ports of entry exceed a daily average of 2,500 during a seven-day period, with a few exceptions.

During a call with reporters on Friday, a senior administration official said the new rules raise the bar on asylum claims from a “reasonable possibility” and requires migrants to show they have a “reasonable probability” for asylum. “That is substantially higher,” the official said.

Cuellar says currently there are 4,000 encounters daily and the order is fully in effect.

A senior administration official on Friday said there have already been 17 repatriation flights since Wednesday, including sending migrants to Colombia, Honduras, Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru, El Salvador and two flights to Uzbekistan in central Asia.

McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — The border farming town of Santa Rosa is getting some much-needed federal funds to help with a water shortage plaguing Texas’ entire Rio Grande Valley.

Over $9.5 million from the U.S. Department of Interior’s WaterSMART Drought Resiliency Project grants has been awarded to Santa Rosa, U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas, announced Thursday.

“This funding will go a long way in addressing the current water supply challenges in Santa Rosa,” Gonzalez said.

Santa Rosa was hard hit when its sugar mill — the only one in the state and one of only three in the country — shut down in February because of a lack of water required to grow the thirsty plants.

Over 500 jobs were lost and the shutdown triggered a real awareness in the Rio Grande Valley of a threatening water shortage as excessive heat, drought and a lack of water payments from Mexico continue.

Under a 1944 water treaty, Mexico is supposed to pay the United States 1.2 million acre-feet of water over a five-year cycle. The current cycle ends in October 2025, yet Mexico hasn’t even paid 400,000 acre-feet of water to the Rio Grande, as of June 1, according to the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission.

The money will help Santa Rosa to build new water infrastructure, including ground and elevated storage tanks, a raw-water reservoir, and to connect with neighboring water suppliers in case of emergency.

In October 2023, the city’s water supply ran dry after an irrigation canal faltered, leading the city to declare a state of emergency and leaving farmers without water for their crops.

“These improvements will provide water security to our residents and a vital buffer against future water supply emergencies,” Gonzalez said.

A bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers have called on stricter consequences to Mexico for not paying the water it owes.

U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, is among lawmakers who in May sent senior congressional leaders a letter requesting that the United States withhold funds to Mexico until they make water payments.

Gonzalez and Republican U.S. Reps. Monica De La Cruz, of McAllen, and Tony Gonzales, of San Antonio, along with Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn also were part of the letter.

On Wednesday, De La Cruz announced that they had secured language in an Appropriations bill that would withhold U.S. funds from Mexico for failing to comply with the treaty. The measure passed a House committee on Tuesday but still must pass the full House and Senate.

The bill says that U.S. funds to Mexico would not be available “until the Secretary of State certifies and reports to the Committees on Appropriations that the United States and Mexico have entered into an agreement to balance the deficit of water deliveries to the United States by Mexico.”

Cuellar says the bill would exempt holding back funds that help Mexico fight fentanyl at the border.

“With the exceptions, limitations that it doesn’t affect funding that helps Mexico fight fentanyl, and other drugs coming to the United States,” Cuellar told Border Report.

But he urged that given the water shortage, communities up and down the border must seriously conserve water and have a backup water plan in case the Rio Grande dries up.

“We just can’t depend on the Rio Grande as the only source of water, I think everybody should start looking at secondary sources of water just in case. And especially since we have large growth, not only in ag in the Valley, but also growth in population up and down the border,” Cuellar said.

(AP) - SpaceX’s mega Starship rocket completed its first full test flight Thursday, returning to Earth without exploding after blasting off from Texas.

It was the fourth launch of the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket, standing nearly 400 feet (121 meters) tall. The three previous flight demos ended in explosions. This time, the rocket and the spacecraft managed to splash down in a controlled fashion, making the hourlong flight the longest and most successful yet.

“Despite loss of many tiles and a damaged flap, Starship made it all the way to a soft landing in the ocean!” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said via X.

Starship was empty as it soared above the Gulf of Mexico and headed east on a flight to the Indian Ocean. Within minutes, the first-stage booster separated from the spacecraft and splashed into the gulf precisely as planned, after firing its engines.

The spacecraft reached an altitude of nearly 130 miles (211 kilometers), traveling at more 16,000 mph (26,000 kph), before beginning its descent. Live views showed parts of the spacecraft breaking away during the intense heat of reentry, but a cracked camera lens obscured the images.

The spacecraft remained intact enough to transmit data all the way to its targeted splashdown site in the Indian Ocean.

It was a critical milestone in the company’s plan to eventually reuse the rocket that NASA and Musk are counting on to get humanity to the moon and then Mars.

“What a show it has been,” SpaceX launch commentator Kate Tice said from Mission Control at company headquarters in California.

SpaceX came close to avoiding explosions in March, but lost contact with the spacecraft as it careened out of space and blew up short of its goal. The booster also ruptured in flight, a quarter-mile above the gulf.

Last year’s two test flights ended in explosions shortly after blasting off from the southern tip of Texas near the Mexican border. The first one cratered the pad at Boca Chica Beach and hurled debris for thousands of feet (meters).

SpaceX upgraded the software and made some rocket-flyback changes to improve the odds. The Federal Aviation Administration signed off Tuesday on this fourth demo, saying all safety requirements had been met.

Starship is designed to be fully reusable. That’s why SpaceX wants to control the booster’s entry into the gulf and the spacecraft’s descent into the Indian Ocean — it’s intended as practice for planned future landings. Nothing is being recovered from Thursday’s flight.

The latest test “made major strides” toward that goal, the company said on its website.

NASA has ordered a pair of Starships for two moon-landing missions by astronauts, on tap for later this decade. Each moon crew will rely on NASA’s own rocket and capsule to leave Earth, but meet up with Starship in lunar orbit for the ride down to the surface.

SpaceX already is selling tourist trips around the moon. The first private lunar customer, a Japanese tycoon, pulled out of the trip with his entourage last week, citing the oft-delayed schedule.

SpaceX’s founder and CEO has grander plans: Musk envisions fleets of Starships launching people and the infrastructure necessary to build a city on Mars.

LAREDO, Tex. (KGNS) - Viewer images sent to KGNS reveal the aftermath of a crash involving two 18-wheelers near the entrance to the Colombia-Solidarity Bridge.

The crash happened at the intersection of FM 255 and FM 14-72 around 2 p.m.

According to the Laredo Police Department, one person was hospitalized following the crash. Reports indicate that one of the 18-wheelers was carrying approximately 43,000 pounds of sugar.

No further details have been provided at this time.

Below is the original story:

A major crash happened near the Colombia-Solidarity International Bridge on Thursday, June 6, around 2 p.m.

The scene near Las Minas Boulevard showed the severely smashed cab of a tanker and the damaged side of another tractor-trailer.

Several eyewitnesses were present, with some seen near the cab handling the wreckage. We reached out to the police, but there are no details or updates on the injuries yet.

This is a developing story, more information will be shared as it becomes available.

LAREDO, Tex. (KGNS) - An initial call reporting a fatal auto-pedestrian accident in south Laredo has taken an unexpected turn, for the better.

Laredo police first reported that a man lost his life while working on his vehicle at the 500 Block of Jazmin Road on Wednesday evening.

According to reports, as the victim was working on his vehicle, the car fell on top of him, where he was presumed to have died.

However, on Thursday morning, Laredo police say that after medical personnel arrived on the scene and provided CPR, the medics were able to regain a pulse.

The 44-year-old man was then transported to the hospital in critical condition.

More details will be provided as they become available.