2024 General News Story

People, mainly from Turkey and China, camp in the desert for days before being processed by US authorities, who say there is not enough space...

People, mainly from Turkey and China, camp in the desert for days before being processed by US authorities, who say there is not enough space in their facility to take all the newcomers into custody. Some flee persecution based on political militancy or religious belief, other simply hope to live with more freedom, find a job, or study.

Asylum seekers from China, who often flee human rights violations, limitation in their religious belief, and political persecution, wait for Customs and Border Protection authorities...

Asylum seekers from China, who often flee human rights violations, limitation in their religious belief, and political persecution, wait for Customs and Border Protection authorities to process them. As the temperatures go below 0° Celsius and cold wind blows, people lit fires to warm themselves. However, the cold can be deadly during the journey. In early December, a Mexican migrant died while crossing the desert as temperatures lowered in the same area where this photo was taken.

Venezuelan migrants climb off a line of containers, aimed at deterring their entrance, after crossing the Rio Bravo. They look forward to giving themselves up...

Venezuelan migrants climb off a line of containers, aimed at deterring their entrance, after crossing the Rio Bravo. They look forward to giving themselves up to Customs and Border Protection agents, being registered, and starting the asylum process. As economic crises and conflicts have destabilized societies in Latin America, and worldwide, the influx of asylum seekers of different nationalities has dramatically increased. In December, 2023, U.S. officials processed 300,000 migrants at the U.S. southern border—the largest number ever for a single month, and a share of the 2.5 million people officials encountered in 2023.

Asylum seekers, mainly from Venezuela, sit on top of a cargo train headed to the northern Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez. For years, migrants...

Asylum seekers, mainly from Venezuela, sit on top of a cargo train headed to the northern Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez. For years, migrants have hitched rides on top of freight trains known as La Bestia, named after the dangerous and perilous journey many experience aboard them.

Pedro Tonito, his wife Adriana Joselin Sanchez Padilla, and their children Mariana and Fernanda, ride on top of the La Bestia, or The Beast, cargo...

Pedro Tonito, his wife Adriana Joselin Sanchez Padilla, and their children Mariana and Fernanda, ride on top of the La Bestia, or The Beast, cargo train to reach the US-Mexico border from Chihuahua to Ciudad Juárez, on April 4.

A man, from China, enters the United States at a border wall gap, where its construction couldn't be continued because of rock formations. During the...

A man, from China, enters the United States at a border wall gap, where its construction couldn't be continued because of rock formations. During the past 14 months, 60,000 Chinese migrants have been detained for crossing the United States border illegally. A quarter of them entered from Mexico into California, where the metal border wall ends at different points, as rock formations didn’t allow its construction to be continued. They are guided by local traffickers who are easy to hire on social networks and even through regular travel agencies.

Jefferson, of Colombian nationality, stands along a railway, waiting for the cargo train known as La Bestia to stop and use it to reach the...

Jefferson, of Colombian nationality, stands along a railway, waiting for the cargo train known as La Bestia to stop and use it to reach the border between the United States and Mexico. He covers himself with a blanket he found on the ground. He said other people on the move had robbed him of all his belongings. Chihuahua, April 2023.

Asylum seekers, mainly from Colombia and China, follow a Customs and Border Protection vehicle after crossing the border at the end of the border wall.

Asylum seekers, mainly from Colombia and China, follow a Customs and Border Protection vehicle after crossing the border at the end of the border wall.

Invisible and pernicious child abuse is an issue whose impact casts a long shadow. Each year, hundreds of children are hurt and sometimes killed after...

Invisible and pernicious child abuse is an issue whose impact casts a long shadow. Each year, hundreds of children are hurt and sometimes killed after they are returned to their abusive parents. Minnesota prioritizes reunification, even when there are clear warning signs that the child will again face mistreatment and neglect. A review of hundreds of child protection cases shows that children who are left in the hands of abusive parents often suffer from trauma and require significant mental health services. At least 15 children have died from maltreatment or by suicide during the past decade after being reunited with their caregivers, records show. Hundreds more endure brutal beatings, sexual abuse and other forms of maltreatment after judges send them back into harm's way in the care of their parents. Tory Hart and fiancee Josie Josephson hold the urn containing the remains of slain 6-year old Eli Hart before releasing balloons during a celebration of life for Hart at the Randolph High School football field Saturday, May 28, 2022 in Randolph, Minn.. Hart’s mother, Julissa Thaler, was convicted of first-degree murder in February and sentenced to life in prison for shooting Eli nine times with a shotgun and then stuffing his body in the trunk of her car. Eli’s death came 10 days after a Dakota County judge granted Thaler full custody of the boy. Court records show that Thaler failed to attend court-ordered mental therapy, was kicked out of a required parenting class and had to find a new drug-testing facility because of her “bizarre behavior.” She was also booted from two homes by landlords fed up with her antics and arrested for stealing drugs from a health clinic. Though county workers repeatedly raised concerns about Thaler’s behavior, they ultimately recommended that she be reunited with her son after she consistently tested negative for illegal drugs and agreed to start seeing a therapist.

Simone Hunter, 22, is overcome with emotion as she discusses the abuse she faced living with her foster family during her childhood Thursday, Sept. 14,...

Simone Hunter, 22, is overcome with emotion as she discusses the abuse she faced living with her foster family during her childhood Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023 at her apartment in Minneapolis, Minn. Hunter was raped by an older relative from the ages of 11 to 16, and started cutting herself in middle school. She was plagued by nightmares and panic attacks, which drove her to overdose twice on painkillers when she was a teenager. Hunter has yet to get her life back on track. She was laid off from her job on the overnight shift at a Holiday store in July, her car was repossessed in August and was facing possible eviction in September. Hunter and her younger brothers were adopted by an Eagan family when she was 6 or 7. She said her new parents locked the children in dog kennels during the day, sometimes with no food or water. She recalls regular “whoopings” with shoes and wooden spoons that left welts all over her body. Hunter was first interviewed by child protection workers when she was 12, when police arrested the relative who had been sexually abusing Simone and her next-door cousin. Dakota County officials asked Simone to confirm accounts involving her abuse, but she refused. She later testified that she was afraid her parents would shame her like they shamed her cousin, who they called a “slut” for enticing their grandson, Paris Hunter. Simone said she also feared she would be separated from her younger brothers. “I didn’t have anywhere else to go,” she said.

Brandon, 9, sits with his grandmother, Cynthia Bergergon, and his therapist Regina Esliker, Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Minneapolis, Minn. Brandon regularly meets with Esliker,...

Brandon, 9, sits with his grandmother, Cynthia Bergergon, and his therapist Regina Esliker, Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Minneapolis, Minn. Brandon regularly meets with Esliker, who uses cognitive behavioral therapy to help Brandon process the trauma of his brother’s death. Fentanyl exposure killed Brandon's brother, Derric Fulks Jr., in 2021, ending the life of a rambunctious toddler who loved sports and piggyback rides from his older brother. Three-year-old Derric — nicknamed “Happy” by his grandfather — was found not breathing in his car seat after his mother drove Derric and his siblings to their grandmother’s home. Police noted at the time that his mother appeared to be under the influence and could not explain what led to Derric’s death. Cynthia Bergeron, the children’s grandmother, said prenatal exposure should prompt more follow-up. “The due diligence isn’t done,” Bergeron said, adding that she understands concerns about involving child welfare authorities during pregnancy. “However, what happens after? … You’re still putting that child in jeopardy after the baby comes into life and into the world.”

Terrence Gholston and his daughter, Kamaya, visit the grave of Kamari, Kamaya’s twin brother, on their birthday Monday, June 26, 2023 at St. Mary’s Cemetery...

Terrence Gholston and his daughter, Kamaya, visit the grave of Kamari, Kamaya’s twin brother, on their birthday Monday, June 26, 2023 at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Minneapolis, Minn. Arneshia Cunigan temporarily lost custody of Kamari, her four-month son, in November 2020, after she brought him to the hospital with an elbow injury she couldn’t explain. While treating the infant, doctors discovered additional fractures to his ribs, arms and legs that were “highly suggestive” of abusive trauma, records show. Cunigan was charged with malicious punishment of a child, and Hennepin County officials removed Kamari and his twin sister from her home in Brooklyn Center. The criminal charges were still pending when the children were returned to Cunigan three months later, after she enrolled in family therapy and “fully cooperated” with other recommendations. Kamari was found dead two months later. Police noted the boy’s mouth and nose were “visibly bruised,” leading them to believe he had been smothered. Cunigan’s 10-year-old son told police that Cunigan frequently choked and shook Kamari when he cried, and that Cunigan would push him away if he tried to intervene. The boy said Kamari’s twin sister, Kamaya, escaped the same treatment because she was his mother’s “favorite.”

Kristen Betts said she wasn’t aware of the abuse by her former husband on her children until years later. “I didn’t know how to be...

Kristen Betts said she wasn’t aware of the abuse by her former husband on her children until years later. “I didn’t know how to be a good parent,” said Kristen Lintner, who has since patched up her relationship with her daughter. “Maybe they should have removed Hayden and taken the kids so I could have gotten the help I needed at that time. But they didn’t.” Lintner sits in the living room as her daughter, Jayma Lawson, unpacks at her freshman dorm room Friday, Aug. 25, 2023, at the University of Minnesota - Crookston campus in Crookston, Minn.

Simone Hunter, 22, shows scars from cutting Thursday, Sept.14, 2023 at her apartment in Minneapolis, Minn. Hunter was raped by an older relative from the...

Simone Hunter, 22, shows scars from cutting Thursday, Sept.14, 2023 at her apartment in Minneapolis, Minn. Hunter was raped by an older relative from the ages of 11 to 16, and started cutting herself in middle school. She was plagued by nightmares and panic attacks, which drove her to overdose twice on painkillers when she was a teenager. Hunter has yet to get her life back on track. She was laid off from her job on the overnight shift at a Holiday store in July, her car was repossessed in August and was facing possible eviction in September. Hunter and her younger brothers were adopted by an Eagan family when she was 6 or 7. She said her new parents locked the children in dog kennels during the day, sometimes with no food or water. She recalls regular “whoopings” with shoes and wooden spoons that left welts all over her body. Hunter was first interviewed by child protection workers when she was 12, when police arrested the relative who had been sexually abusing Simone and her next-door cousin. Dakota County officials asked Simone to confirm accounts involving her abuse, but she refused. She later testified that she was afraid her parents would shame her like they shamed her cousin, who they called a “slut” for enticing their grandson, Paris Hunter. Simone said she also feared she would be separated from her younger brothers. “I didn’t have anywhere else to go,” she said.

Julie Weaver changes her newborn son Gabriel before she was discharged from Sanford Bemidji Medical Center Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023, in Bemidji, Minn.. Weaver is...

Julie Weaver changes her newborn son Gabriel before she was discharged from Sanford Bemidji Medical Center Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023, in Bemidji, Minn.. Weaver is on a subutex program, a drug used to treat opiate addiction, and her son Gabriel was born with mild withdrawal symptoms. In hospitals across Minnesota, the piercing cries of newborns — whose arms clench and bodies shake as they withdraw from a drug their mother could not quit — serve as an early warning that a child may be at risk. A parent's drug use is the top reason Minnesota children are taken from their care, but the state's system for identifying and protecting children whose parents are using fentanyl, meth or other substances is filled with holes.

Twins Dominique and Elise, 3, play with their uncle, Davon Bergeron, after he returned home from a friend’s house Friday, Nov. 17, 2023 in Minneapolis,...

Twins Dominique and Elise, 3, play with their uncle, Davon Bergeron, after he returned home from a friend’s house Friday, Nov. 17, 2023 in Minneapolis, Minn. Fentanyl exposure killed the twins’ brother, Derric Fulks Jr., in 2021, ending the life of a rambunctious toddler who loved sports and piggyback rides. Three-year-old Derric — nicknamed “Happy” by his grandfather — was found not breathing in his car seat after his mother drove Derric and his siblings to their grandmother’s home. Police noted at the time that his mother appeared to be under the influence and could not explain what led to Derric’s death.

Tara Jerabek, left, and her husband Jason Whiting Sr. spent time with their children Jayah, 17, Jason Jr., 5, and Jasmine, 10, in their apartment...

Tara Jerabek, left, and her husband Jason Whiting Sr. spent time with their children Jayah, 17, Jason Jr., 5, and Jasmine, 10, in their apartment Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023 in Minneapolis, Minn. Jerabek’s history with Hennepin County child protection dates back to 2015, when a report against her depicted a dangerous and chaotic environment for her young children. The department that received the report was also struggling. Last fall, Jerabek’s family landed back in the system after a report that she and her partner were using drugs and hadn’t enrolled their children in school. This time, she said county workers seemed to have more time to devote to her family. They provided therapy and addiction help along with frequent drug tests, and they connected her son with autism services. “I’d dealt with CPS a million times. I know this system. So it just, it worked out a lot better,” Jerabek said. “Back in the day, they had no time at all.”

Zaheim Barbar, hands off his newborn son, Za’lani, to his mother Tre’onna Williams Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023 in Brooklyn Center, Minn.. Williams has spent nights...

Zaheim Barbar, hands off his newborn son, Za’lani, to his mother Tre’onna Williams Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023 in Brooklyn Center, Minn.. Williams has spent nights riding the light rail or sleeping outside, with nowhere to go. She refused to be in that situation with her new baby. But as she sat in the hospital bed holding Za’Lani this August, she didn’t know where to turn. She put out a flurry of calls that led her to Hennepin County’s Parent Support Outreach Program (PSOP). A social worker with the program found them a hotel room and delivered food. During the next two months, the county put them up in hotels and helped the family find a home.

Wadena County dairy princess Jayma Lawson jokes with fellow dairy royalty before taking part in the Nimrod Jubilee Days parade Saturday, Sept. 2, 2023, in...

Wadena County dairy princess Jayma Lawson jokes with fellow dairy royalty before taking part in the Nimrod Jubilee Days parade Saturday, Sept. 2, 2023, in Nimrod, Minn. Jayma said she didn’t recover from her depression until she moved out of her mother’s home in Staples and went to live with a friend in 2020, when she was 15. She got involved in her local Future Farmers of America chapter and was voted Minnesota’s Miss Agriculture in 2023. The first blow from her stepfather — a slap across the face — landed when Lawson was 3 or 4. Over the next nine years, she suffered dozens of attacks, ranging from changed aggressive to “bruising”bruising spankings to sexual abuse. Altogether, there were 41 reports of abuse and neglect involving Jayma and her two siblings between 2004 and 2021, court records show. Just six of them led to investigations. More than half resulted in no action or were referred to Family Assessment, an alternative pathway that is supposed to be reserved for cases that don’t pose a “substantial” threat to a child’s safety.

A medical examiner investigator wheels the body of a man believed to have overdosed at a senior apartment complex near Natoma and Eighth streets in...

A medical examiner investigator wheels the body of a man believed to have overdosed at a senior apartment complex near Natoma and Eighth streets in San Francisco, California on December 19, 2023. The opioid epidemic has hit San Francisco particularly hard as authorities have been unable to control the open air drug markets. 2023 has been the deadliest for opioid overdoses on record despite local efforts.

An unhoused person smokes on Jones Street on Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2022 in San Francisco, California. In San Francisco, roughly 2500 people have died in...

An unhoused person smokes on Jones Street on Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2022 in San Francisco, California. In San Francisco, roughly 2500 people have died in three years. Nearly three-quarters of the victims were found to have fentanyl in their systems. The toll would be higher if not for Narcan, the antidote now used more than 500 times a month to yank people back from the brink of death. Many of the city’s dead have been found within blocks of each other in the Tenderloin and South of Market, which have long shouldered San Francisco’s most pressing problems. The Tenderloin, full of vulnerable people and low-income families, endures a constant open-air drug market that city leaders would never tolerate in wealthier neighborhoods.

JT Farrell, 32, rests near a warm sewer grate after using fentanyl on Larkin Street outside of City Hall on Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022 in...

JT Farrell, 32, rests near a warm sewer grate after using fentanyl on Larkin Street outside of City Hall on Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022 in San Francisco, California. JT got up moments later, ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and consented to his photograph being used in the newspaper and for an article. Farrell, an unhoused person who uses fentanyl, hangs around in the Tenderloin during the day but says he finds it too dangerous at night, so he sleeps near Civic Center. Black San Franciscans, like J.T., have been particularly harmed by the city’s overdose epidemic. In 2021, Black people were almost six times more likely to die of accidental overdoses than the average resident. The fentanyl use in San Francisco has become a public health crisis with several people dying daily and dozens more being reversed from overdoses. The sight of a young person strung out from fentanyl on the street is far too common.

Jessica DiDia, 36, who is addicted to fentanyl and other drugs is seen intubated after suffering from a grand mal seizure that the doctors had...

Jessica DiDia, 36, who is addicted to fentanyl and other drugs is seen intubated after suffering from a grand mal seizure that the doctors had difficulty controlling at San Francisco General hospital in San Francisco, Calif., on May 13, 2023. The doctors were initially concerned for her brain function but her brain was not visibly affected. In the intensive care unit where Jessica has bounced in and out of this year, she is free from the cycle of addiction - for a few days.There, she uses methadone to ease her withdrawal symptoms. She sleeps, calls her mom, and watches sappy movies. Jessica was in the hospital after suffering a severe seizure. She didn’t remember how she fell, but she was optimistic. “I feel more physically comfortable, more confident,” she said. “I’m going to try not to use anything except for cigarettes.”She struck this hopeful tone against the backdrop of a drug crisis that has killed more than 2,500 people since 2020. Central to the city’s challenge is successfully helping people like Jessica.The hospital’s top-flight care at over $8,000 a day wasn’t matched by its plan for Jessica’s discharge. Once released, she was shuttled to the only medical respite center, which sits just feet from the open-air drug market.No one assured that Jessica made it to the facility, that she went to the methadone clinic, or guided her through her attempt at recovery.Soon, she gave up methadone. She turned back to fentanyl. A few weeks later, she was back in the hospital.

Hazel Mayorga, 39, (left) gets emotional as she talks to her friend Graciela Cortez, 54, on the one-year anniversary of her daughter Paris Serrano's death...

Hazel Mayorga, 39, (left) gets emotional as she talks to her friend Graciela Cortez, 54, on the one-year anniversary of her daughter Paris Serrano's death from of a drug overdose on Wednesday, March 9, 2022 in San Francisco, California. Paris Serrano was 14 when she became the youngest person in San Francisco to die after taking a fatal dose of fentanyl overdose in 2021. “Today is the worst day, just the worst day,” Hazel said. Last year she went into her 14-year-old girl daughters room to find that she was facedown on the top bunk bed, arms splayed out. It was just after 5 p.m. She thought that her daughter must really tired but after shaking her she didn't move and her lips were purple. After calling 911 call and the frenetic paramedics’ best efforts were over, there was nothing more to be done. On March 9, 2021, Paris Serrano became the youngest person in San Francisco to die last year of a fentanyl overdose. “God is with us, but why such sadness?” Hazel said. “Nothing in life is more important than your daughter. Why would he take her?”

California Highway Patrol officer Arellano finds drugs wrapped in a dollar bill which was discovered in the car of a man who was trying to...

California Highway Patrol officer Arellano finds drugs wrapped in a dollar bill which was discovered in the car of a man who was trying to flee from California Highway Patrol on Gough Street in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, June 12, 2023. In the past few months, there has been a flurry of mostly pro-enforcement actions by a few city supervisors, Mayor London Breed, Gov. Gavin Newsom and Rep. Nancy Pelosi. Gavin Newsom, the onetime San Francisco mayor, brought in the California Highway Patrol to help police the drug markets. On June 28, he expanded the initiative to include middle-of-the-night “surges” to confiscate drugs and weapons and arrest dealers.

Jessica DiDia, 34, (center) who is homeless and a drug user, watches as an EMT responds to David Thomas Larson, 49, who overdosed on drugs...

Jessica DiDia, 34, (center) who is homeless and a drug user, watches as an EMT responds to David Thomas Larson, 49, who overdosed on drugs at the corner of Eddy and Larkin Streets as people look on on Monday, Feb. 28, 2022 in San Francisco, California. Jessica said she made eye contact with David seconds before he fell from his seat at the bus stop and hit the ground. She yelled out to people passing by to call for an ambulance and watched in horror. He was not revived at the scene but he did survive and gave consent to his image. Jessica recalled the first time she used fentanyl — sometime in 2019 when she thought she was buying pure crack cocaine. “I felt it going up my spine. I felt like it exploded and then I died,” she said. “The feeling of the near-death experience is indescribable. Complete nothingness.” She said police officers injected her with Narcan eight times. “I’ve OD'd at least 50 times,” Jessica said.

A drug dealer sells fentanyl to a woman on Turk Street in San Francisco, California on December 22, 2023. The open-air drug market once commonly...

A drug dealer sells fentanyl to a woman on Turk Street in San Francisco, California on December 22, 2023. The open-air drug market once commonly seen during the day has shifted to the nighttime largely due to law enforcement crackdowns. Overdose deaths in San Francisco have not abated, surging to a record 752 by the end of November, according to a preliminary report from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. That figure already eclipsed the previous full-year overdose death toll of 720 set in 2020. The addiction crisis continues to be driven by fentanyl — a powerful synthetic opioid found in more than 80%, or 613, of those killed by overdoses this year, according to city officials.

Undercover narcotics police officers arrest a drug dealer on Eddy Street in a coordinated drug bust in San Francisco on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. The...

Undercover narcotics police officers arrest a drug dealer on Eddy Street in a coordinated drug bust in San Francisco on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. The opioid epidemic has hit San Francisco particularly hard as authorities have been unable to control the open air drug markets. 2023 has been the deadliest for opioid overdoses on record despite local efforts. As of November 2023, 752 had died of drug overdoses.

Candles on Golden Gate Avenue memorialize Jose Valle Rodriguez, a Honduran drug dealer nicknamed “Lolo,” who was fatally shot, allegedly by another Honduran drug dealer...

Candles on Golden Gate Avenue memorialize Jose Valle Rodriguez, a Honduran drug dealer nicknamed “Lolo,” who was fatally shot, allegedly by another Honduran drug dealer in San Francisco on November 29, 2023. The dealer was highly regarded by other dealers and drug users often lending people money and giving out free samples of drugs. According to undercover narcotics officers he was bringing in around $40,000 a week in drug sales.

Shana Miller who has been living on the streets for over a decade smokes fentanyl out of foil on warm winter evening on Eddy Street...

Shana Miller who has been living on the streets for over a decade smokes fentanyl out of foil on warm winter evening on Eddy Street in San Francisco on December 20, 2023. “It’s like this weird wash over your whole body,” Miller said after her first hit. “Like getting a hug from your grandma. It’s the greatest thing ever. Warm and fuzzy.”

A man who goes by Groundstrike sits hunched over after doing drugs outside the window of 6-year-old Lapats Charoensuk’s (not pictured) apartment on Eddy Street...

A man who goes by Groundstrike sits hunched over after doing drugs outside the window of 6-year-old Lapats Charoensuk’s (not pictured) apartment on Eddy Street on Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022 in San Francisco, California. He suffers from mental illness and his drug use has left him crippled.