Earlier this week, Latina Lista reported that the Department of Homeland Security, under the direction of Secretary Michael Chertoff, was tired of going through the legal channels to satisfy Texas border residents who are fighting the intent to build a wall along the southern U.S.- Mexico border. So to speed things up he has decided to forego a few laws (30 of them) to get things moving.

[It's not just Irving, of course: the video above is of police violence to break up a peaceful pro-migrants demonstration in Los Angeles this past Spring. Thanks to Marisa for this post. She's been covering this story regularly at Latina Lista. -- Pach] Break the law, expect to do the time.

One of the truths of Hispanic culture is that we can make a fiesta out of just about any gathering. That was definitely the case last weekend in Texas' Rio Grande Valley where throughout the weekend people trekked from one international bridge or border area to another to wrap up the Hands Across El Rio protest against the proposed border wall. On this last weekend of the protest that spanned the border

(Guest writer Marisa Treviño blogs at Latina Lista) A lot of things can be said now about former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales - and a lot of people are saying them. But if there was one point that no one can dispute, it was his loyalty to the President. In fact, it's fair to say that Alberto was loyal - to a disgraceful fault. Rightly or wrongly, because there are still too few highly accomplished

(Please welcome our guest contributor, Marisa Treviño of Latina Lista. It's great to have her here and if I may gratuitously say it, I hope you bookmark her site, just as I have. -- Pach) A funny thing happened on the way to building the Lower Rio Grande Valley portion of the Texas-Mexico border fence. It was something that caught Chertoff and the Department of Homeland Security off guard, the White House, Congress