The U.S. Border Patrol is moving to halt a revolving-door policy of sending migrants back to Mexico without any punishment.

The Border Patrol now feels it has enough of a handle to begin imposing more serious consequences on almost everyone it catches, from areas including Texas’ Rio Grande Valley to San Diego. The “Consequence Delivery System” — a key part of the Border Patrol’s new national strategy to be announced within weeks — relies largely on tools that have been rolled out over the last decade on parts of the border and expanded. It divides border crossers into seven categories, ranging from first-time offenders to people with criminal records.

Stepping up the immigration enforcement bidding war, House Republicans last week asked President Obama to extend the deployment of 1,200 National Guard troops on the U.S.-Mexico border past June 30, when their mission is slated to end.

Last year Congress passed a bill boosting the number of U.S. Border Patrol agents, but the 10 Republicans, all members of the Homeland Security Committee, said the new agents have not been fully hired and trained yet, so the National Guard troops should remain.

"We request the National Guard remain on the Southwest border until the Department of Homeland Security can fully take control of the mission and hire and train sufficient personnel to replace the 1,200 National Guard troops who have served honorably in this mission," they said in their letter.

The top-ranking House Republican on border issues is pushing the Obama administration to extend the National Guard’s presence along the U.S.-Mexico border and possibly deploy the U.S. Army to help stymie violence from the drug cartels.

Rep. Candice Miller (R-Mich.), the chairwoman of the House Homeland Security subcommittee on border and maritime security, told The Hill that it would be a 'serious mistake' if the White House failed to re-authorize the deployment of National Guard troops to the border region beyond their end date on June 30.

Salinas said the one-year National Guard mission is a stopgap measure to give U.S. Customs and Border Protection time to hire more agents. But worsening cartel violence in Mexico and several high-profile killings on the U.S. side have raised calls for more National Guardsmen along the border, even though illegal immigration and crime in the region have declined.

Border-state legislators from both parties - particularly after the Dec. 14 killing of a Border Patrol agent just north of Nogales - say they view the U.S. military presence as a long-term necessity, despite rules that mostly limit the Guardsmen to watching the fence line and prevent them from making arrests or seizing drugs.

Texas taxpayers spent at least $250 million last year in state prison and health care costs for illegal immigrants, but figuring out the precise cost will be difficult, state officials testified on Wednesday.

The House State Affairs Committee solicited information about services and benefits provided to noncitizens – a preliminary review in preparation for a legislative session certain to see a push for tougher immigration laws similar to those enacted in Arizona.

Richard Stana, the Government Accounting Office’s (GAO) Director of Homeland Security and Justice Issues, testified before a congressional subcommittee on July 22 that “alien smuggling along the southwest border is an increasing threat to the security of the United States and Mexico as well as to the safety of both law enforcement and smuggled aliens.”

As if fighting terrorism weren't complicated enough, the United States has a new national security threat to worry about: grizzly bears.

Republicans on the House Natural Resources Committee say that environmental laws protecting grizzlies and other wild animals along rural portions of the U.S.-Canada border have handcuffed U.S. Border Patrol and Department of Homeland Security agents, potentially making it easier for would-be terrorists to slip into the country.

The 14-year-old boy tied a few mattresses and a bedstead to the family truck. He went back into his single-story yellow house for the cat, and chained up the gate. Then he drove off with his family, which was abandoning home, jobs, school and country.

All because the drug smugglers told them to.

Hundreds of families are fleeing the cotton-farming towns of the Juarez Valley, a stretch of border 50 miles east of Ciudad Juarez. In a new strategy, Mexican drug cartels seeking to minimize interference with their operations are using terror to empty the entire area.

The Krentz family released the following statement regarding the recent shooting death of Robert Krentz on his Southern Arizona ranch.

On March 27th, our Husband, Father, Grandfather, Brother and Uncle was murdered in cold blood by a suspected illegal alien on the Ranch.

The killings last month in the Mexican border town of Ciudad Juarez of two U.S. citizens, including an employee at the city's U.S. Consulate, along with the slaying of an Arizona rancher, have fueled concerns among U.S. officials that Americans are becoming fair game for Mexican drug gangs seeking control of smuggling routes into the United States.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 64% of Likely U.S. Voters feel that when it comes to immigration reform, gaining control of the border is more important that legalizing the status of undocumented workers already living in this country.

63% of Americans feel that securing the border is more important than providing amnesty for the nation's illegal aliens.

The Obama administration announced on Tuesday that it is halting funding of the fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, but 59% of Americans believe the United States should continue to build that fence.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 26% of adults disagree and think the building of the fence should be stopped. Fifteen percent (15%) more are not sure.