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American tourists killed after being kidnapped in mexico id’d as shaeed woodard and zindell brown.

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LAKE CITY, S.C. —The two Americans who were found dead in Mexico after  being kidnapped at gunpoint  during a terrifying shootout between rival cartel gangs were identified Tuesday as Shaeed Woodard and Zindell Brown.

Woodard and Brown had traveled from South Carolina to Mexico with Latavia “Tay” McGee and Eric James Williams so McGee, a mother of six, could undergo a tummy tuck procedure, relatives said.

But shortly after the foursome crossed the border Friday into the crime-ridden city of Matamoros, located in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, realized they were lost.

The group couldn’t find the doctor’s office where McGee, 33, was due for surgery that Friday,  CNN reported , and poor cell service in the region made it harder for them to communicate with the doctor’s office.

While trying to sort out their location, the four became caught in the middle of a violent cartel showdown.

Four US citizens from South Carolina were abducted in Matamoros

• Gulf Cartel apologizes, turns over 5 members tied to Americans’ deadly kidnapping
• Mexico kidnapping survivor saw friends ‘killed right in front of him’: cousin
• Friend of kidnapped Americans reveals how she dodged Mexico ordeal

Harrowing video of the shootout shows the moment the group was forced into the back of a pickup truck in broad daylight after being shot at.

Tamaulipas state chief prosecutor Irving Barrios said he believes the deadly ambush was a result of “confusion, not a direct attack.”

Matamoros’ sinister reputation for ruthless organized crime had led to initial speculation that the abduction was drug-related, but a source close to the investigation told the Dallas Morning News on Monday that the Americans may have been mistaken for Haitian smugglers.

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McGee and Williams survived the attack  and were rushed Tuesday to Brownsville, Texas, in a convoy of ambulances and SUVs escorted by Mexican military Humvees and national guard trucks with mounted .50-caliber machine guns.

Williams was shot in the left leg but the wound was not life-threatening, Tamaulipas Gov. Américo Villarreal said. McGee survived the ordeal without physical injuries. 

Local authorities will examine the bodies of Woodard and Brown before they are repatriated to the US, the governor added.

The tourists were found in a shack in a rural area east of Matamoros called Ejido Tecolote, on the way to the Gulf coast known as “Bagdad Beach,” Barrios said.

A photo of McGee taken shortly after she was rescued shows her covered in dirt with no shoes, with a traumatized look on her face.

Villarreal said they were being guarded by a man who has been arrested.

He added that the abducted Americans had been moved around by their captors, and at one point were taken to a medical clinic “to create confusion and avoid efforts to rescue them.”

McGee and Woodard were first cousins, their aunt Retha Darby told The Post from her home in South Carolina on Tuesday before news broke of Woodard’s death. 

She said her niece had told her about the medical procedure.

“She came by and visit me. She said, ‘I’m gonna be going to get surgery.’ I said, ‘Surgery on what?’ She said tummy tuck. She said, ‘My tummy getting too big.’ That was about a week ago,” Darby recalled of her last conversation with her 33-year-old niece.

“I didn’t know where she was going. I thought it was somewhere local.”

Darby, 72, is recovering from a stroke and is mostly confined to her Lake City home with a nurse. She said she shares a close bond with her niece, who regularly comes to visit her.

“She’s nice to me and everybody I know,” Darby said of McGee, noting that she is a good mom whose children adore her.

“She liked to dress well. Nice clothes. Hair fixed. Her face all done up,” she said.

Darby said she last spoke to her nephew, Woodard, “a couple weeks ago.”

“I try to keep him doing the right thing, but I can’t do so much because I can’t get around so much,” she explained tearfully. “I wish I could help them.”

Robert Williams said the news that his brother Eric survived the kidnapping was “quite a relief.”

“I look forward to seeing him again and actually being able to talk to him,” he said.

US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said he wants “to see accountability for the violence that has been inflicted on these Americans that tragically led to the death of two of them.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the administration is “working with Mexican officials to learn more and to have all Americans returned to the United States.”

“President Biden has been kept updated on this incident,” she said. “We extend our deepest condolences to their families and friends.”

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, meanwhile, criticized the US media for its coverage of the ordeal. “It’s not like that when they kill Mexicans in the United States,” he said of the press. “They go quiet like mummies.”

The kidnapping comes as Republican politicians have called for a more comprehensive response to cartel violence in northern Mexico that sometimes spills across the border.

US Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said Monday he wants to “put Mexico on notice,” and plans to introduce legislation that would classify some Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.

The move would allow the US to use military force against cartels.

Former Attorney General Bill Barr said López Obrador is “being held hostage” by cartels.

“It’s pretty close at this stage to a failed narco-state. They can use violence and oceans of cash to corrupt the government. The government has no will, and it doesn’t have the ability to deal with the cartels,” he told Fox News.

Barr said Mexican authorities should “stand aside” and let US forces take over if they won’t tackle the cartels head-on. 

Additional reporting by Jesse O’Neill

With Post wires

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Mexico wants American extradited on charges in tourist death

CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico — Mexican prosecutors have filed charges against a U.S. woman suspected of killing another American seen being beaten in a viral video.

Prosecutors in the state of Baja California Sur did not name the suspect in the Oct. 29 death of Shanquella Robinson.

But on Thursday, they said they had approached Mexican federal prosecutors and diplomats to try to get the woman extradited to face charges in Mexico.

Robinson’s death at a resort development in San Jose del Cabo shocked people in both countries. The video raised suspicions that Robinson may have died at the hands of people she was traveling with.

Local prosecutor Antonio López Rodríguez said the case was being treated as a potential homicide and an arrest warrant had been issued for the suspect. The group Robinson was traveling with, however, left Mexico after she was found dead in a rented villa.

More on this story

• The mother of Shanquella Robinson, the 25-year-old woman who was found dead in Mexico, said Black social media users are to thank for amplifying her daughter’s case.
• The FBI is investigating death of North Carolina woman in Mexico as family demands answers.
• Video: Hundreds of mourners attended the funeral for Robinson

State prosecutor Daniel de la Rosa Anaya said the suspect was also an American, but did not identify her.

News outlets in Charlotte, North Carolina, reported that the people Robinson was traveling with gave differing versions of how she died, but that an autopsy revealed she died of a severe spinal cord or neck injury.

A video apparently taped at the luxury villa in San Jose del Cabo shows one woman, apparently an American, beating another woman identified as Robinson.

The video has been reposted many times on social media sites. In it, a man with an American accent can be heard saying, “Can you at least fight back?” The man did not appear to intervene in the beating.

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Orlando Cepeda dies

Texan whose husband died by hot tub electrocution at Mexican beach resort files wrongful death suit

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MEXICO CITY (AP) — An American tourist was killed and his wife hospitalized after being electrocuted in a hot tub in a Mexican beach town earlier this week, an incident that prompted the family to sue the resort for wrongful death and negligence, their lawyers said Saturday.

The seriously injured woman, 35-year-old Lizette Zambrano, filed the lawsuit seeking $1 million in damages from the U.S.-based resort operators from her hometown of El Paso, Texas, on Friday, days after being medevaced from the hot tub at the resort town of Puerto Peñasco, an hour south of the border.

The Arizona-based defendants, vacation rental provider Casago International and travel company High Desert Travel, did not respond to a request for comment on the suit, which holds them responsible for faulty electric wiring in the jacuzzi that caused the couple’s electrocution and 43-year-old Jorge Guillen’s death.

On top of failing to prevent and warn guests about the hazards of the hot tub, the resort managers also failed to react quickly enough to the emergency, the claim said.

The tragedy unfolded when Zambrano, her husband Guillen and several other family members arrived at the Sonoran Sea Resort, a complex of high-rise condos, on Tuesday for their vacation, the lawsuit said. Zambrano and Guillen headed to the jacuzzi to watch the sun set over the sea.

They didn’t know an electric current was rippling through the hot tub water.

“It’s absolutely terrifying,” Tej Paranjpe, attorney at the Houston-based firm PMR law, told The Associated Press on Saturday.

The moment that Guillen dipped his foot inside the jacuzzi, the current zapped him. He tumbled into a direct electric circuit and quickly became trapped underwater.

Zambrano jumped in to rescue her drowning husband, then was jolted by the current and sucked in, too, according to the lawsuit. Cellphone footage from the incident shows the beachfront pool deck descending into chaos as shrieking guests raced over, tried to help the couple, then discovered the danger of the jacuzzi water.

While a guest managed to drag Zambrano out of the water, efforts to retrieve Guillen with poles and various metal tools only unleashed electric shocks on more and more people, the lawsuit said.

“There was not a single staff member that did anything while Jorge was getting continuously shocked again and again underwater,” Paranjpe said.

Ten minutes passed, Zambrano’s lawyers said, until workers at the resort responded to vacationers’ cries for help. The manager eventually succeeded in retrieving Guillen from the bottom of the jacuzzi, but it was too late.

Zambrano was flown by helicopter to Phoenix, Arizona, and was discharged from the hospital on Friday.

Mexican prosecutors in Sonora state reported that investigators were looking into “the origin of the electrical failure” and would conduct field visits in the coming days.

Hot tub electrocution due to faulty underwater lighting and flawed pumps remains rare, but experts warn that vigilance is needed to ensure equipment is properly maintained.

Between 2002 and 2018, the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission reported 47 incidents involving injury or death in hot tubs, pools and spas in the country.

How common is violence against Americans in Mexico?

Andrew Dorn

View of the city sign in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, on April 27, 2021. (Photo by Daniel SLIM / AFP) (Photo by DANIEL SLIM/AFP via Getty Images)

( NewsNation ) — As millions of Americans prepare for spring break, many will be weighing the risks of visiting Mexico, where recent security incidents have prompted safety alerts from the U.S. Embassy.

While it’s true Mexico has a significantly higher homicide rate (28 per 100,000 people) than the United States (7 per 100,000 people), data suggests violence against American citizens remains rare.

In 2021, 75 U.S. citizens died by homicide in Mexico, according to the State Department . That represents a small fraction of the more than 28.8 million Americans who went to the country over the same time period. Using those figures, the murder rate of U.S. citizens in Mexico was around 0.26 per 100,000 visitors, significantly lower than the rate in the United States.

But this year’s spring break comes amid a tumultuous period for America’s southern neighbor as high-profile cartel violence continues to make international headlines.

Last month, violence shut down multiple airports in Sinaloa and Sonora following the arrest of Ovidio Guzman — a high-ranking member in the Sinaloa cartel and son of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. At one point, the gunfight became so intense that passengers on an Aeromexico flight were forced to take cover on the floor.

The shootout in January is just the latest incident of cartel violence that endangered innocent bystanders.

In August, drug cartel gunmen in Jalisco state and Guanajuato burned over two dozen stores and blocked streets with burning vehicles following a series of cartel arrests.

The U.S. State Department has issued its strongest possible “do not travel” warning for five Mexican states due to “crime and kidnapping”: Colima, Michocan, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas and Zacatecas.

A sixth state, Guerrero, is on the “do not travel” list due to “crime.”

Other more tourist-friendly areas are considered safer. The state of Quintana Roo, which is home to popular destinations such as Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum, has a level 2 “exercise increased caution” warning. Cabo San Lucas, at the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula, has the same designation.

Although cartel violence is significantly less common in tourist zones, recent protests have prompted safety alerts from the U.S. Embassy.

Last month, angry taxi drivers in Cancun blocked the main road between the airport and central tourist zone after a court ruling determined that Uber drivers did not have to obtain a permit to operate. Many tourists were forced to trek on foot or ride police trucks to catch their flights.

An alert from the U.S. Embassy warned that previous transportation disputes had “occasionally turned violent” and, in some instances, left U.S. citizens injured.

In some parts of the country, like Los Cabos, local officials have sought help from the United States to take on organized crime, according to the New York Times . Those efforts are meant to quell criminal activity that could jeopardize the region’s lucrative tourism industry.

Last year, more than 13 million American tourists flew to Mexico, a 27% increase from the year before and a sign that the post-pandemic travel boom is alive and well.

The uptick came as a much-needed boost for a tourism sector that accounts for as much as 8% of Mexico’s total GDP in a given year.

For those who do plan to visit, the State Department says travelers should exercise caution and avoid displaying signs of wealth like expensive jewelry. The government also recommends taking additional safety measures like sending taxi information to friends and family when riding alone.

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Health Care

The 4 kidnapped americans are part of a large wave of u.s. medical tourism in mexico.

Bill Chappell

A Red Cross worker closes the door of an ambulance carrying two Americans found alive after they were abducted in Matamoros, Mexico, last week. Two of four Americans have been found dead, after they were caught in a cartel shootout, officials said Tuesday. AP hide caption

A Red Cross worker closes the door of an ambulance carrying two Americans found alive after they were abducted in Matamoros, Mexico, last week. Two of four Americans have been found dead, after they were caught in a cartel shootout, officials said Tuesday.

The four Americans who were shot at and abducted in Mexico were reportedly visiting for medical tourism — making them part of a booming industry that is vital to Mexico's economy.

"Pre-pandemic, some 1.2 million American citizens traveled to Mexico for elective medical treatment," Josef Woodman, CEO of Patients Beyond Borders , told NPR. His firm publishes a guide to international medical travel.

Latin America

2 surviving americans who were kidnapped in mexico are back in the u.s..

Here's an update on medical tourism, and the recent tragedy:

U.S. medical travel is rising sharply

"Today, the market is recovering rapidly in Mexico, nearly back to its pre-pandemic levels," Woodman said.

Nearly 780,000 people were projected to leave the U.S. for health care in 2022, according to Healthcare.com , citing data from the medical travel website Medical Departures.

Medical tourism in Mexico isn't new, but the recent tragedy put it in the spotlight

Medical tourism in mexico isn't new, but the recent tragedy put it in the spotlight.

That outburst of activity got a big boost in late 2021, when the U.S. relaxed key border restrictions with Mexico.

Costa Rica is the second-most popular destination for U.S. visitors seeking medical care elsewhere, Woodman said. It's a particular draw, he added, for people in the Northeast and Southeast.

Most people travel for dental and cosmetic work

Cosmetic surgeries are just one of the procedures that are far cheaper in Mexico — for years, people have been visiting from the U.S. to get elaborate dental work or cosmetic treatments done, or to pick up antibiotics and other medicines at favorable prices.

Shots - Health News

A reason to smile: mexican town is a destination for dental tourism.

Many people also travel to get orthopedic work done, replacing knees or hips for less than half the cost of such procedures in the U.S.

"North American patients travel to Mexico for care primarily to save 50-70% over what they would pay in the United States for an elective treatment," according to Woodman.

Medical tourism does bring risks, experts say

While an element of risk is inherent in many procedures no matter where they're performed, medical tourism can heighten complications, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Potential problems range from the dangers of flying in a pressurized plane cabin too soon after a surgery to the complications of getting follow-up care for a procedure done in another country.

Medical tourism numbers are on the rise in Mexico, after the practice was curtailed by COVID-19 restrictions. Here, foreign patients are seen at the hospital Oasis of Hope in Tijuana in, 2019, in Mexico's Baja California state. Guillermo Arias/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Medical tourism numbers are on the rise in Mexico, after the practice was curtailed by COVID-19 restrictions. Here, foreign patients are seen at the hospital Oasis of Hope in Tijuana in, 2019, in Mexico's Baja California state.

Some of the most serious warnings from the CDC are for infections, from wound and blood infections to pathogens that might be more common or resistant in the host country than in the U.S.

"Recent examples include surgical site infections caused by nontuberculous mycobacteria in patients who underwent cosmetic surgery in the Dominican Republic," the CDC says, "and Q fever in patients who received fetal sheep cell injections in Germany."

U.S. medical tourists rate Mexico highly

A 2020 research paper that surveyed some 427 Americans crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in California for medical services found that most of the respondents "felt that Mexican health care services are of the same or better quality compared with those in the United States, for a lower cost."

People had come from 29 states across the U.S. to get care in Mexico, with the vast majority driven by cost concerns, according to the paper, published in the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association .

Hit with $7,146 for two hospital bills, a family sought health care in Mexico

The researchers also collected data about the medical tourists themselves, reporting an average age of 64.5 years. Their most common yearly income range was reported to be between $25,001 and $50,000 — but that reflects less than a quarter of the respondents.

More than 400 of the survey's 427 participants said they would undertake more medical tourism in the future, the paper said.

Most of Mexico's hospitals follow U.S. standards

Mexico has worked for years to promote medical tourism to draw patients across the U.S. border. That includes improving its health system and following international standards.

"About 10 years ago, the Mexican federal government licensed the Joint Commission accreditation standards, which are used to accredit U.S. hospitals," as David Vequist, who runs the Center of Medical Tourism Research at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, told NPR's All Things Considered .

"So most Mexican hospitals are now basically using the same standards we use in hospitals in the United States," Vequist added.

Details of the recent violence are still emerging

At least one of the U.S. citizens who were caught up in the recent tragedy was reportedly going to Mexico for a tummy tuck operation. But the group's vehicle came under fire hours after entering the border city of Matamoros, Mexico, from Brownsville, Texas.

Two of the four died; all are reported to be natives of Lake City, S.C. Their identities have not been released, but relatives have been speaking to NPR and other outlets .

Mexican officials say they believe the four were caught in the middle of a conflict between drug cartels in the state of Tamaulipas — an area that is under a do-not-travel advisory from the U.S. State Department.

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A Tourist From New Mexico Is Killed by an Elephant in Zambia

The incident came months after another tourist was killed in Zambia when an elephant charged her group. One wildlife expert said the attacks were most likely “freak accidents.”

By Sara Ruberg and Emily Schmall

A tourist from New Mexico was killed in Zambia when an elephant charged her, according to the police commissioner who investigated the incident. She is the second tourist to be fatally attacked by an elephant in the southern African country this year.

The woman who was killed, Juliana G. Letourneau, 64, of Albuquerque, had just visited Victoria Falls, a 350-foot waterfall that straddles the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe, and was heading back to her hotel on Wednesday when the group that she was traveling with encountered a herd of elephants on the road.

She and others stepped out of their vehicle to observe the animals, said Auxensio Daka, the police commissioner for the southern province of Zambia, in a telephone interview on Saturday.

“They stopped to watch the elephants, and unfortunately one of them charged towards them as they were standing there watching,” Mr. Daka said.

Mr. Daka said that Ms. Letourneau was taken to a clinic in Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park near Livingstone, Zambia, where she was declared dead on arrival. Her injuries included deep wounds on the right shoulder blade and forehead, a fractured left ankle and a slightly depressed chest, according to a police statement.

No other injuries were reported from the encounter with the elephant.

Ms. Letourneau’s brother said on Saturday that he had no details about the incident, and declined to be interviewed. Other relatives could not be reached.

This past March, a 79-year-old American woman was on safari at Kafue National Park, in a central region of western Zambia, when an elephant charged the tour group’s vehicle, according to media reports .

However, human deaths are rare in encounters with elephants, according to experts.

“This is really a freak accident,” Nikhil Advani, a senior director at the World Wildlife Fund, a nonprofit that works on environmental protection and conservation efforts, said of the two incidents happening so close together. “It’s probably just some sort of coming together of unfortunate circumstances that led to this.”

The U.S. State Department said in a statement on Friday that millions of Americans travel to areas where there is wildlife every year, and that it is uncommon for elephants and other wild animals to attack visitors in Zambia.

Ms. Letourneau’s death was first reported by the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation, a government-controlled news outlet, which said that human and wildlife encounters in Livingstone, the city where the incident occurred, were rising amid the country’s worst drought in four decades .

The climate conditions are worsening food insecurity in Zambia, which has one of the highest rates of malnutrition in sub-Saharan Africa, and pushing wildlife into human habitats in search of food and water, according to the report.

Tourism to wildlife protected areas, which cover about a third of Zambia, and to the numerous lakes and rivers and lush valleys contributes an important share of the national economy.

Joyce Poole, a co-founder and co-director of ElephantVoices, a nonprofit that researches elephant behavior, said that keeping distance from elephants is the best way for tourists to stay safe. She added that there can sometimes be a “culture of aggression” stemming from a region’s history with elephants, as in Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique, which experienced decades of war and poaching in the 20th century.

“Elephants responded in a certain way toward vehicles,” Dr. Poole said of her research findings from Gorongosa. “This behavior was then observed by younger elephants, imitated by younger elephants and sort of passed down through families.” There have been multiple poaching crises in Zambia, she noted.

Dr. Poole said that finding “a reputable company and drivers who are not just racing around to get the best shot” would be a good way for visitors to ensure safety.

Visitors to wilderness areas should also be wary and admire the animals from afar, experts say.

“As with all wildlife, like if you keep safe distance from them, they are not looking to disturb you or interact with you,” Dr. Advani said.

Sara Ruberg covers breaking news and is a member of the 2024-25 class of Times Fellows , a program for journalists early in their careers. More about Sara Ruberg

Emily Schmall covers breaking news and feature stories and is based in Chicago. More about Emily Schmall

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New Mexico woman becomes second American tourist killed by an elephant in Zambia this year

Juliana gle tourneau was trampled by the animal, local officials said, article bookmarked.

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An American tourist was killed in Zambia this week after she was trampled by an elephant while on a wildlife excursion.

Juliana Gle Tourneau, 64, was thrown from a vehicle in the city of Livingstone this week as a group of tourists observed a herd of elephants . One of the elephants attacked the vehicle her, according to CBS News . Tourneau’s group stopped near the Maramba Cultural Bridge because of traffic caused by the herd. The woman had been visiting the country from New Mexico .

“Juliana Gle Tourneau, 64, of New Mexico, United States of America, died on Wednesday around 17.50 after being knocked from a parked vehicle which had stopped due to traffic caused by elephants around the Maramba Cultural Bridge,” Auxensio Daka, southern province police commissioner, told the country’s national broadcaster ZNBC.

Authorities did not release any more details about the attack.

Another American tourist was killed earlier this year in a similar attack. Gail Mattson, 79, from Minnesota, was killed in Zambia “while on her dream adventure” in March, her daughter, Rona Wells, told CBS News.

Footage of the attack was captured on a cellphone. The group had been on a safari tour in the country’s Kafue National Park. As a large bull elephant came close to the vehicle, its occupants began to become concerned.

In the video, a person can be heard saying “oh my goodness” before a man adds, “it’s coming fast.” The group’s car came to a stop and someone attempted to get the elephant to go away.

However, the animal put its tusks into the car and rolled it several times, leading to the woman’s death.

Zambian officials are asking tourists to use caution while on wildlife excursions.

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These migrants arrive with complex asylum claims and, because of bureaucratic and diplomatic obstacles, are among the most difficult to deport when they don’t qualify for protection. Many are released into the United States with a pending court date that may be years away .

Some migrants say they could be killed if sent home. Many risked their lives crossing oceans or jungles to reach the border in search of a better life. The legal basis for an asylum claim is a flight from persecution, not a yearning for American prosperity.

Immigration judges are churning out decisions at a record clip. Still, decisions about sensitive cases involving violence and persecution tend to take years. That means many of the new immigrants are living in a state of long-term limbo, even as they become more enmeshed in the fabric of American life.

Economists say the migrants have helped America’s post-covid economy to be one of the strongest in the world. But the United States remains tangled in a bitter debate over the costs and benefits of these new arrivals, which has been amplified by this year’s presidential campaign .

Biden tightened border restrictions to curb asylum claims after former president and presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump rallied Republicans to defeat a bipartisan bill that would have expanded immigration enforcement . Trump blames Biden for inviting mass migration, and he is pledging to close the border and deploy U.S. troops to carry out deportations if he’s elected in November.

Where people have settled

Unlike the immigrants of the late 1800s and early 1900s who arrived at Ellis Island on transatlantic steam ships, the journey today often unfolds in two phases. One is the physical challenge of reaching U.S. territory. A second, longer odyssey follows in the U.S. immigration court system, which must sort out who is allowed to stay.

The Post’s analysis of U.S. immigration court data shows that about 3 million migrants who have arrived since 2014 have active cases. More than three in five have entered the United States since 2021, the year Biden took office.

Their legal status in America remains unresolved, but they are already building lives: many are taking low-wage jobs, sending children to school and relocating to communities across the United States that have not been traditional immigrant destinations.

Migrant arrivals since 2014, according to court data

Court filings show the newest immigrants are settling across rural and urban America. They and other arrivals have pushed the share of the U.S. population that is foreign-born to nearly 14 percent, the highest in more than a century. New immigrant hubs have formed around jobs in meatpacking , agriculture and petroleum.

Some of the biggest growth areas are in Florida and Texas, where the immigrant population continues to expand thanks to plentiful jobs and cheaper housing — and despite immigration crackdowns by Republican Govs. Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott .

The growth is uneven. West Virginia , Wyoming and North Dakota — states with severe labor shortages — attracted hardly any of the newcomers, while New York, Chicago and Denver have received thousands as Abbott has bused more from the border to those cities. California, a traditional destination, is also home to large numbers of new arrivals.

Immigrant hubs by nationality

Migrants have long chosen to settle with family and friends in the United States. Some arrive with a relative’s phone number scrawled on their hands. Many newer arrivals have few contacts, however, and end up in city shelters.

Largest nationality in immigration

court records, by county

Country of origin (2014-2024)

El Salvador

Minneapolis

Salt Lake City

Largest nationality in immigration court records, by county

Country of origin

(2014-2024)

Guatemalans and Hondurans have been crossing the U.S. southern border for many years, fleeing violence, drought and hunger. Like the Mexican immigrants facing deportation, they are widely distributed across urban and rural areas, with fast-growing communities in western and southern U.S. states.

Migrants in immigration court

by country of origin since 2014

536k people

Los Angeles

EL SALVADOR

Venezuelans became a top group entering the United States for the first time under the Biden administration, a surge that has demonstrated how rapidly migration can change. New enclaves of Venezuelan migrants have formed in places such as Salt Lake City, Denver and Dallas. If Maduro extends his rule during next month’s election, he could trigger another mass exodus.

Migration from El Salvador has fallen in recent years under President Nayib Bukele , who has generated both accolades and criticism for an iron-fisted anti-gang campaign. El Salvador has gone from one of Latin America’s most dangerous countries to one of its safest, and far fewer Salvadorans are leaving.

181k people since 2014

125k people

Cuban migration to the United States has been at record levels due to the country’s tanking economy and long-standing U.S. penalties that tightened under Trump. Cubans enjoy special privileges under U.S. law, and roughly five percent of the island’s population has crossed into the United States since 2021. Louisville, Las Vegas and Houston are new destinations for Cubans, court filings show.

Turmoil in Haiti has sent more people fleeing — and made U.S. deportations to Haiti more controversial. Many of the Haitians who have surged to the United States have arrived from Chile or other South American nations where they found refuge after Haiti’s devastating 2010 earthquake. They risk deportation to a place they left years ago. Haitian communities in Massachusetts, New Jersey and Florida have expanded in recent years, the data show.

Immigration court cases have jumped for other Latin American nations, including Colombians, Brazilians, Peruvians and Ecuadorians , the latter fleeing new waves of drug-fueled gang violence . Those groups are concentrating in New York, Florida and the Midwest.

During the past two years, U.S. border authorities have apprehended more migrants from Africa and Asia than ever before. Guided by smuggling organizations, these groups often arrive to South America then head north to follow the dangerous Darién Gap jungle route between Colombia and Panama, eventually reaching the U.S.-Mexico border.

About 50,000 Chinese migrants have crossed into the United States along the Mexico border since 2023. Court data show many of the most recent migrants are settling in Queens or Los Angeles’s Monterey Park area. Migrants from India are streaming to California. Russians, many of whom say they’re fleeing the war on Ukraine and forced conscription, are going to New York, Sacramento and Los Angeles.

About this story

The Washington Post used immigration court case data through May 2024 released by the Justice Department. Reporters limited their analysis to cases with entry dates since the start of 2014, omitting all cases missing entry dates. Although migrants may have multiple cases of entry over the decade, each person is only counted once. And although the overall analysis figures include detainees currently in government custody, the maps of where migrants have settled do not.

The data does not specify how every migrant entered the United States, but an analysis of charges and reporting on the topic revealed that most migrants entered through the southern border of the United States.

The Justice Department agency that runs the immigration courts, the Executive Office for Immigration Review, started releasing the data monthly to the public after receiving requests from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University, which publishes the information.

Kevin Schaul contributed to this report. Graphics editing by Kevin Uhrmacher. Data editing by Meghan Hoyer. Design by Stephanie Hays. Design editing by Madison Walls. Editing by Efrain Hernandez Jr., Debbi Wilgoren and Kainaz Amaria. Copy editing by Jeremy Hester.

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First alert of 2024 hurricane season: Tropical storm watch on Texas coast

Two separate tropical systems are forecast to strengthen this week and each could have an impact on the southern u.s., forecasters said monday..

The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season is heating up.

A system in the Gulf of Mexico that will soon become Tropical Storm Alberto has prompted a tropical storm watch for the Texas coast, the first alert of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season. On Monday afternoon, the National Hurricane Center issued an advisory for potential Tropical Cyclone One.

Heavy, potentially flooding rain is expected across the western Gulf Coast, the National Hurricane Center said, with as much as 15 inches possible. The heavy rainfall and flash flooding threat is predicted to intensify into Tuesday morning, according to National Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan.

A tropical storm watch has been issued for the Texas coast from Port O'Connor southward to the mouth of the Rio Grande. The watch means tropical storm conditions are possible within the area, generally within 48 hours.

"There's a potential for flooding and flash flooding over the next several days with heavy rainfall already starting to move into portions of the Gulf Coast," Brennan said in an update Monday afternoon. "This threat of flooding is going to continue as we move through the week."

The system's maximum sustained winds remained near 40 mph with higher gusts as of 11 p.m. EST Monday. The National Hurricane Center described the system as "quite large" with tropical storm-force winds extending outward up to 290 miles to the northeast of the center.

The hurricane center has forecast the system to become a tropical storm by Wednesday and advised residents along the western and northwestern Gulf coasts to closely monitor it.

By 11 p.m. Monday, the system was moving near 7 mph toward the north, according to the hurricane center. It was expected to turn toward the west-northwest by Tuesday night or Wednesday, and "the system is likely to approach the western Gulf coast late Wednesday," the hurricane center said in a late Monday advisory.

It's one of two separate tropical systems – the other is in the Atlantic Ocean – that are forecast to strengthen this week and each could have an impact on portions of the southern U.S., forecasters said Monday.

Alberto will be the first named storm of what's expected to be a doozy of an Atlantic hurricane season .

Tropical storm in the Gulf?

The Gulf system is forecast to strengthen into a tropical depression, then a tropical storm right before making landfall along the northern Gulf Coast of Mexico, AccuWeather said. Once its sustained winds reach 39 mph, it will become Tropical Storm Alberto.

Although the center of the storm will likely make landfall in Mexico on Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center warned that heavy rainfall is still expected to spread over portions of the northwestern coast of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico by the middle of the week. In addition, gale warnings have been issued for portions of the Gulf of Mexico.

AccuWeather senior meteorologist Dan Pydynowski explained that "even if the tropical storm falls short of reaching tropical storm status, a plume of rich, deep tropical moisture is expected to surge into Mexico, Texas and Louisiana into the middle of the week."

Weather Channel meteorologist Jim Cantore warned that "double-digit rainfall totals (are) likely along the coastal counties of Texas and potentially Houston." Flash flooding is a possibility in some parts of Texas, including in Brownsville, Corpus Christi, Houston and San Antonio, according to Weather.com .

An Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft is scheduled to investigate the system later Monday.

Busy season ahead: The 2024 NOAA hurricane season forecast is unlike any other. See the record predictions.

Atlantic system also bears watching

Forecasters on Monday were also keeping watch on a budding tropical system in the Atlantic Ocean . The system, which was several hundred miles east of the Bahamas on Monday, "is forecast to approach the coast of the southeast United States on Thursday or Friday," the Hurricane Center said.

"This appears to be a quick-moving and compact low-pressure area that will be moving westward into northeastern Florida or perhaps as far north as southeastern Georgia on Thursday," Pydynowski said.

Locations from Melbourne, Florida, to Charleston, South Carolina, will be at risk for heavy rain from the storm.

The National Weather Service in Jacksonville, Florida , warned of "numerous to widespread showers and embedded heavy storms pushing onshore at times with strong gusty winds as the main threat."

An 'extraordinary' year is possible

Once Alberto forms, it will be the start of what's expected to be a very active year for storms. NOAA Director Rick Spinrad said last month that the Atlantic hurricane season is shaping up to be "extraordinary," with an "85% chance for an above-average year."

The record for most named storms in a season is 30, set in 2020. A typical year averages about 14 tropical storms, seven of which spin into hurricanes, based on weather records spanning from 1991 to 2020.

Contributing: Cheryl McCloud and Kim Luciani, USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida