Each year, more than 25,000 undocumented immigrants are apprehended as they attempt to cross the border from Mexico to the United States. In most cases, we hear very few details about these apprehensions. But in one case, the details — which are especially gruesome — have become widely circulated.

The issue of how the U.S. should control migration on the border with Mexico is politically sensitive and emotionally charged. It’s formed a major focus for the Obama administration and a key question for the Republican candidates. But the latest data from both sides of the border suggest that, in fact, Mexicans are no longer migrating to the U.S. in the way they once were. This year's net migration will be close to zero. They are either not crossing the border, or if they do, many end up returning to Mexico.

The extension of border fences has been a hot topic at recent GOP presidential debates. Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann has signed a pledge urging the completion of a fence by by 2013. Former Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain also supports a full-border fence, but he backed away from his comments over the weekend that the fence should be "20 feet high, with barbed wire, electrified." Of the nine candidates, only two say they think the fence is a bad idea — Congressman Ron Paul and Texas Governor Rick Perry. But what would it really mean to build a wall from the Pacific to the Gulf of Mexico? And do the perspectives the GOP candidates reflect most Republican's views on the fence?

Earlier this week, one of three American hikers who had been detained in Iran since last summer was released from prison. Iranian police arrested Sarah Shourd and her two companions, Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal, in July 2009 on Iran's border with Iraq and accused the trio of espionage. 

Alex Fattal, Joshua Fattal's older brother says all three hikers are innocent and were wrongly imprisoned.

Soldiers in Mexico killed 27 suspected cartel members in a raid and gun battle near the U.S. border. Mexican president, Felipe Calderon, insists that this fighting is crucial to ending the drug war in that country. "I'm completely conscious that during this last year, the problem of violence has worsened. This is fundamentally because there is an even bloodier war between organized criminal groups in their battle for territory, markets and routes," said Calderon.

This year alone, law enforcement officials have recovered the remains of 170 people in the rough terrain of Pima County, Arizona. Most are believed to be illegal immigrants who were trying to make their way into the U.S. 

Jesus Ochoa, 75, was born in El Paso, Texas, where he has lived nearly all his life. As a young boy, he recalls stuffing his pockets with a $5 bill, picking up his friends and heading just a few miles south to Juarez, Mexico. Every Saturday, he visited the neighboring city to get a haircut, get his shoes shined and eat mariscos (seafood). When he graduated from high school, Juarez was where he and his classmates went to celebrate - something he calls a "rite of passage" for kids in his school.

The Department of Homeland Security announced that it will start using unmanned drones to patrol the southern border of the United States, similar to the ones the military uses against Taliban insurgents in Pakistan. The Federal Aviation Association has approved the measure which would allow drones to fly along the Texas-Mexico border and throughout the Gulf Coast. "These types of flights aren't useful everywhere, but in some places they are part of the right mix of infrastructure, manpower and technology to improve border security," said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano in a speech at the Center for Strategic and International studies.