(The Center Square) — Shreveport City Council approved funding for the reconstruction of Fire Station No. 20 during this week’s city council meeting.

After being closed for nearly two years after officials found mildew and mold throughout the establishment, Fire Station 20 is on the way to being reconstructed. The city council approved two ordinances that looked to allocate funds and change budgets for the station.

However, Council member Grayson Boucher proposed amendments to the ordinances during the session. The amendment to Ordinance 20 changed the amount listed after the city received funds from the Port. These funds changed how much the city needed to allocate for the station renovations.

After the amendment, only $733,000 needed to be transferred to Capital Projects instead of the original $1.6 million. 

The ordinance originally intended to move $1.6 million from the General Fund operating reserve to Capital Projects for Station 20’s reconstruction. The city planned to invoice the Port for $867,000.

Before the amendment, ordinance 20 would decrease operating reserves by $1.6 million and increase transfer to Capital Projects by $1.6 million. After receiving the Port’s portion of the project, that number is now $733,000. 

The ordinances passed with six for, and one opposed. Council member Jim Taliaferro voted against both ordinances and amendments. 

While the ordinances did pass, the council did not address Mayor Tom Arceneaux’s previous concerns about where the funding was coming from.

Arceneaux urged the council in a previous meeting to change the funding source for the allocation. He said using the operating reserve could severely impact the city’s borrowing cost if the operating reserve dropped below the pledged 8%, which would happen if used for the fire station project.

He proposed using unassigned premium funds for the project instead.

Fire Chief Clarence Reese did not give an update about the renovations after the two ordinances passed.

Other legislation passed was Ordinance 8, which amended Chapter 38 of the city of Shreveport’s Code of Ordinances relating to dumpsters on residential property.

Emilee Ruth Calametti serves as staff reporter for The Center Square covering the Northwestern Louisiana region. She holds her M.A. in English from Georgia State University and soon, an additional M.A. in Journalism from New York University. Emilee has bylines in DIG Magazine, Houstonia Magazine, Bookstr, inRegister, The Click News, and the Virginia Woolf Miscellany. She is a Louisiana native with over seven years of journalism experience.

(The Center Square) – As illegal border crossings drop to new lows under the Trump administration, prosecutors are filing a record number of cases against illegal foreign nationals in the interior of the U.S., with the bulk being filed in Texas.

In one week, U.S. attorneys in Texas filed more than 500 border crime cases, the most of any region or state.

In the Southern District of Texas, U.S. Attorney Nicholas Ganjei’s office filed 225 cases in one week. The majority charged have felony convictions for narcotics, violent and/or sexual crimes or prior immigration offenses, according to his office. More than half, 144, face charges for illegal reentry; nine involve human smuggling; others include firearms and assaulting federal officer charges.

Among them are two men charged with “alien smuggling” resulting in two deaths, including the drowning of a 14-year-old. If convicted, they face up to life in prison or the death penalty. In one of his first executive orders, Trump directed the U.S. attorney general to instruct federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for border crimes that resulted in death, The Center Square reported.

Others include two Salvadoran men identified as potential MS-13 gang members, one of whom is a convicted felon. Another Salvadorian national charged is a convicted sex offender previously sentenced to 60 months for second degree sexual assault, according to Ganjei’s office.

Another illegal foreign national is facing charges for allegedly assaulting two Border Patrol agents; he has four prior convictions for illegal reentry after removal, according to Ganjei’s office.

In another case, a Mexican national is facing charges of trafficking firearms after he was caught attempting to transport a 9 mm handgun and nearly 2,000 rounds of ammunition to Mexico through Brownsville. In another case, a repeat offender illegally living in Harlingen was sentence to 33 months in federal prison for illegal reentry with a criminal history of DWIs, assault family violence, criminal mischief, possession of a controlled substance, previous removals and illegal reentries.

In Corpus Christi, a Mexican national with 7 DWIs and conviction of battery was sentenced to 24 months in prison after having been removed from the country three times between 2012 and 2023. After illegally reentering again, he was arrested in August 2024, along with 10 others who were allegedly being smuggled in a commercial cargo trailer.

In another case, an illegal foreign national was convicted of human smuggling leading to death and now faces life in prison. In another case, a Mexican citizen illegally living in San Benito was indicted for allegedly committing identity theft and impersonating a U.S. citizen to apply for a U.S. passport. If convicted, she faces up to 15 years in prison.

In the Western District of Texas, U.S. Attorney Margaret Leachman’s office filed 259 immigration and border crime cases in one week.

Among them was a Mexican national illegally living in San Antonio with a criminal history of illegal reentry. He was arrested “for conspiracy to transport illegal aliens” in tractor trailers from Mexico into the U.S. He allegedly orchestrated at least 19 human smuggling events leading to the apprehension of more than 900 illegal foreign nationals between May 2021 and June 2022, according to the charges.

Another was a Mexican national and lawful permanent resident who CBP agents arrested at a port of entry in Eagle Pass after finding a semi-automatic handgun in his luggage. He admitted he was hired to transport the firearm to Mexico for $100. He was charged with smuggling goods from the United States and faces up to 10 years in prison.

In Hudspeth County, a Guatemalan national was arrested after Border Patrol agents discovered a judge ordered he be removed in 2007. He was also previously convicted on charges of cruelty to the elderly and domestic violence in 2021 and 2022. In another case, a Honduran national was arrested after Border Patrol agents discovered he was allegedly in possession of an expired immigration document and fraudulent Social Security and Lawfully Permanent Resident cards he said he purchased for $70.

Also in Hudspeth County, a Mexican national was arrested after he told Border Patrol agents he was being paid to guide illegal border crossers into the U.S. and “was obtaining routes and other information via messages from an unknown smuggler in Mexico,” according to the complaint. In another case, a Mexican national was arrested after having been previously removed from the U.S. seven times. His criminal history includes serving time for federal drug trafficking, three years in prison in Indiana for marijuana charges and resisting arrest among other prison sentences, according to the complaint.

Many charges filed were against Mexican nationals previously deported multiple times with convictions for a range of crimes.

(The Center Square) – The massive crackdown on illegal immigration at the southern border is making the U.S. safer, but there’s more work to do, border czar Tom Homan told Arizona lawmakers during a joint session of the Legislature Tuesday.

“In a matter of weeks, we’ve had illegal border crossings down 94%. President (Donald) Trump did in five weeks what Joe Biden wouldn’t do in four years,” said Homan, who advises Trump on border issues.

Lawmakers in the Legislature, which has a Republican majority in both houses, applauded regularly during Homan’s speech. Members of the Democratic minority walked out at the start of the speech to protest the Trump administration policies. Homan addressed the walkout during his speech.

“If they saw what I saw in my 40 years, if they saw what the border sheriffs see everyday on the border, they’d understand, but they’re ignorant,” Homan said during his speech, which streamed live on Arizona Legislature’s website. “They don’t want to learn.”

“We’re going to enforce the laws of this country without apology so that’s why there’s going to be massive deportations operations because the last administration caused a massive illegal immigration crisis, where 90% of the people shouldn’t be here,” he said.

The first priority is to deport illegal immigrants who have committed major crimes, but the Trump administration will deport other illegal immigrants, Homan said.

He urged local law enforcement to call the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement if they have an illegal immigrant in custody.

“Sanctuary cities are slowing us down,” Homan said, noting he appreciates Attorney General Pam Bondi suing cities that harbor illegal immigrants.

Homan noted the Trump administration has been criticized for detaining the families of illegal immigrants. But he added that the detention makes it possible to do DNA tests to make sure children are with a parent and not a sex trafficker.

“Under the Biden administration, half a million children were smuggled into this country, taken out of the hands of their families and given to a criminal cartel to be smuggled into this country, and we’re the bad guys,” Homan said.

Children end up in forced labor or in the hands of sex traffickers, Homan said.

Sitting behind Homan during the speech were House Speaker Steve Montenegro and Senate President Warren Petersen. 

Montenegro said he loved Homan’s speech.

“His decades of experience, his fighting for a secure border, is just refreshing to see,” Montenegro told The Center Square in an exclusive interview after the speech. “I love the fact he’s got a plan and has goals for making us safe.”

Montenegro said he was 5 years old when his family immigrated legally to the U.S. from El Salvador.

“I know immigration laws can work and will work if we follow them,” said Montenegro, a naturalized citizen since childhood.

Homan praised the Arizona Legislature for its bills cracking down on border crossings. The Arizona Immigration, Cooperation and Enforcement Act, which requires local and state law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, passed recently in the Senate. 

The House will vote on the bill, commonly known as the AZ ICE Act, possibly as soon as this week, Montenegro said.

“We want to cooperate with the federal government,” he said, adding that he expects Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs to sign the bill. “Why would the governor not sign a piece of legislation that would protect the public, especially since Arizonans have spoken loud and clear in their communities?”

The problems of fentanyl coming across the border and the trafficking of children are on the top of residents’ minds, Montenegro said. He noted 300,000 children have gone missing and that legislators are looking at ways to increase punishments for sex traffickers.

“We’re an evil society if we continue to allow something like this to happen,” Montenegro said.