Most travelers know that even joking about something can be considered inappropriate in an airport situation. Understandably, similar rules apply to border crossings. The wrong sort of statement could find one in the grasp of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). That’s what happened to Mexican civil rights attorney Gustavo de la Rosa Hickerson.

Because of the drug war in Mexico, De la Rosa has been a busy civil rights attorney in Mexico. That nature of his clientele made him fearful for his life. So much so that he started making it a habit to spend the night in El Paso, just across the border from Juarez. But when U.S. border officials heard this, they decided to act.

We have two stories, beginning with El Paso based reporter Monica Ortiz Uribe.

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