South
Dem senator's claim downplaying border crisis resurfaces after staffer killed by illegal immigrant
Sen. Catherine Cortez-Masto, D-Nev., claimed that there were “no open borders,” just two days before the migrant arrested in a deadly car accident that killed her adviser illegally entered into the U.S.
In a resurfaced video from March 10, 2021, a month when Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) reported over 170,000 migrant encounters at the border, Cortez Masto is seen telling MSNBC that there was “a lot of misinformation” surrounding the southern border crisis.
“There’s no open border,” the Democrat Senator claimed. “As someone who was attorney general for eight years, my state worked very closely on the border with Mexico. There are no open borders.”
Just two days later, on March 12, 2021, an illegal immigrant by the name of Elmer Rueda-Linares reportedly entered at or near the Rio Grande City, Texas, Port of Entry without inspection by an immigration official, ICE confirmed to Fox News Digital. That same migrant would go on to be arrested in connection with the death of one of Cortez Masto’s own senior advisers.
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ARRESTED IN CRASH THAT KILLED DEMOCRATIC SENATOR’S ADVISER
Kurt Englehart, left, Elmer Rueda-Linares, center, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev. (Facebook, Washoe County Sheriff’s Office, Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc.)
Kurt Englehart, senior advisor to Cortez Masto, was killed in a car collision south of Downtown Reno, Nevada, on April 6, 2024. Rueda-Linares, the illegal migrant driving the vehicle that collided with Englehart, was arrested and charged with failing to stop at the scene of the accident.
HAITIAN MIGRANT, NOW A DOUBLE HOMICIDE SUSPECT, WAS ALLOWED INTO US BY BIDEN ADMIN VIA CONTROVERSIAL APP
CBP noted that encounters increased by 71 percent over February 2021 in March of that year, the same month Cortez Masto made the claim about the border.
Also that month, Fox News Digital reported that CBP agents had encountered a “large group” of illegal immigrants near Las Lomas, Texas, apprehending 134 illegal immigrants who had come to the southern border from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua.
When asked about the 2021 comment, a spokesperson for Cortez Masto stated that the Senator “has repeatedly pushed for additional border security funding under both the Trump and Biden administrations.” Cortez Masto signed a letter in 2020 that demanded the reversal of Trump-era border policies, “condemning the Trump Administration for its harmful policies that have dismantled the United States’ asylum system.”
Senator Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada. (Ellen Schmidt)
“Senator Cortez Masto has repeatedly pushed for additional border security funding under both the Trump and Biden administrations and voted in February for the bipartisan border security package that Donald Trump and Senate Republicans refused to consider,” Lauren Wodarski, spokesperson for Cortez Masto, told Fox News Digital in a statement. “To indicate otherwise is a distortion of her record.”
In February 2021, Cortez Masto voted against an amendment that would prioritize “taking into custody aliens charged with a crime resulting in death or serious bodily injury.”
Again in August 2021, Cortez Masto voted against establishing “a deficit-neutral reserve fund relating to ensuring that the Department of Homeland Security, pursuant to Title 42, United States Code, conducts expulsions of illegal immigrants who may contribute to the spread of COVID-19, including any of the dangerous variants originating overseas, in order to protect the public health of the American People, save American lives, and assist in eradicating the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.”
The Senator has since cosponsored pieces of legislation that seek to combat the ongoing fentanyl crisis. In 2024, Cortez Masto cosponsored the Stop Fentanyl at the Border Act “to improve border security, imposing new reporting requirements relating to border security, and enhancing criminal penalties for destroying or evading border controls,” as well as signing onto the bipartisan Fentanyl Eradication and Narcotics Deterrence (FEND) Off Fentanyl Act with GOP Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C.
Migrant families, mostly from Central American countries, wade through shallow waters after being delivered by smugglers on small inflatable rafts on U.S. soil in Roma, Texas, Wednesday, March 24, 2021. As soon as the sun set, at least 100 migrants crossed through the Rio Grande by smugglers into the United States. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)
Most recently, the Democrat voted to dismiss the articles of impeachment filed against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over his handling of the southern border crisis.
Republicans in the House unveiled articles of impeachment against Mayorkas in January, claiming that the Biden administration secretary has “repeatedly violated laws enacted by Congress regarding immigration and border security.”
“In large part because of his unlawful conduct, millions of aliens have illegally entered the United States on an annual basis with many unlawfully remaining in the United States,” Republicans alleged. “Alejandro N. Mayorkas knowingly made false statements to Congress that the border is ‘secure,’ that the border is ‘no less secure than it was previously,’ that the border is ‘closed,’ and that DHS has ‘operational control’ of the border.”
Cortez Masto called the impeachment inquiry a “waste of time.”
“There is no evidence that @SecMayorkas committed high crimes and misdemeanors, so I voted to end this waste of time,” the Senator said in an April 17 post on X. “Republicans could have made real policy changes, but they decided to play games and killed the bipartisan border package in favor of this frivolous impeachment.”
The house filed articles of impeachment against Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, but the motion was dismissed by Senate Democrats on Wednesday. (Kevin Wolf)
During the Senate’s meeting Wednesday on the dismissal of impeachment articles against Mayrokas, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, appeared to mention the incident in which Cortez Masto’s staffer was killed as an example of ramifications of the ongoing southern border crisis.
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“The consequences of our open border policy can touch all of us,” Lee said. “One of our dear, respected colleagues having lost a beloved staff member in the last few days. Having lost that staff member as a consequence of the actions taken by an immigrant in this country, who was here unlawfully, who shouldn’t have been here. That’s a troubling thing.”
Fox News’ Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.
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A former federal attorney was arrested and charged with arson after a building and dumpster were set on fire Friday, Feb. 27, in the Fondren area of Jackson, authorities said.
Jackson Fire Department Chief of Investigations Charles Felton said firefighters responded around 12 a.m. Friday in reference to a reported building fire and dumpster fire at Yana Club of Mississippi located at 555 Hartsfield Street.
Felton said fire crews arrived and found two separate fires in the Fondren neighborhood that caused damage to the Yana Club and the dumpster.
No injuries were reported.
After the fires were extinguished, a fire investigator was called to the scene. Investigators spoke with Capitol Police, who had a suspect detained.
Felton said the Jackson Fire Department Arson Division arrested George McDowell Yoder III, a former federal attorney, and charged him with first-degree arson of Yana Club and third-degree arson of the dumpster.
In 2021, WDAM TV reported Yoder had been a special assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi from 2009 to 2011. Yoder also ran unsuccessfully as a candidate for the Mississippi Court of Appeals in 2016.
According to a 2023 article by the Laurel Leader Call, Yoder was arrested in 2021 for residential burglary and faced multiple charges from 2021 to 2023. Yoder was also arrested in 2023 for arson charges, the outlet reported.
Documents from the Supreme Court of Mississippi also indicate that Yoder was admitted to the practice of law in the state in 1999 but later suspended in 2022 from practicing law for three years.
Court records show Yoder was found to be accepting fees from clients, abandoning them and then failing to deposit their retainers into a trust account. Yoder “commingled” his personal money with those of his clients and performed little to no work on a Madison County criminal case he was hired to resolve.
Jackson fire officials also said that a fire did not occur Friday morning at The Pig & Pint, a barbecue business located next to Yana Club.
Yana Club of Mississippi, a nonprofit organization, is described via their Facebook page as a “recovery community” that serves individuals seeking help with addictions.
The organization confirmed at 10:23 a.m. Friday via a social media post that the Yana Club building will be closed due to damages sustained from the fire.
“Due to the safety of our members, we will be closed through the weekend,” the organization stated. “We are working with [the] fire department and insurance to determine the best course of action. The building is currently deemed unsafe for meetings to be held. We will be in touch with updates when we have them.”
Pam Dankins is the breaking news reporter for the Clarion Ledger. Have a tip? Email her at pdankins@gannett.com.
DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) — Bourbon is more than a business for Jesse Carpenter — it’s a tribute to the city that shaped him.
“This is Durham. This is where I’m from. This is where I grew up,” said Carpenter, Chief Product Officer of Old Hillside Bourbon.
The company he co-founded with childhood friends takes its name and identity from one of Durham’s most iconic institutions-Hillside High School, one of the oldest historically Black high schools in the nation.
“We graduated Class of 1993 from Hillside High School,” Carpenter said. “Concord and Lawson Street. It’s the old Hillside.”
The idea took root during the pandemic when Carpenter proposed starting a bourbon company to those same friends.
“I had an idea to start a bourbon company, and they were on board,” he said. “Friends from 30 years ago, and now we’re doing this business together. It’s awesome.”
From 300 Cases to 10,000
What began as a pandemic-era idea has evolved into a rapidly growing business.
In its inaugural year, Old Hillside distributed 300 cases; this year, the company anticipates 10,000. The bourbon also earned Best in Show at the 2023 TAG Global Spirits Awards, impressing even the most discerning craft bourbon critics.
“Let me focus on the aroma — layers of oak, vanilla,” one reviewer commented on the Bourbon Banter YouTube channel, concluding with, “I think it’s a great taste.”
SEE MORE NC MADE STORIES
A Bottle Full of Stories
Beyond its flavor, Old Hillside stands out for the history embedded in its label. Each vintage pays homage to a chapter of Black American history that might otherwise remain overlooked.
The inaugural bottle features a photo of the old Hillside High building, symbolizing the school’s deep community ties. A second flavor pays tribute to the African American jockeys who dominated the Kentucky Derby before the Jim Crow era effectively pushed them out of the sport. The company’s latest release honors the Harlem Hellfighters, the renowned all-Black military unit that served with distinction in World War I.
It’s a storytelling approach that Carpenter and his team are actively working to spread across North Carolina. Brand ambassadors Corey Carpenter and Amire Schealey are on the front lines of that effort.
“More bars and restaurants — tackling different markets,” said Corey Carpenter. Schealey added that the team is “setting up tastings at different ABC boards to build up our brand and presence around the state of North Carolina.”
Like many acclaimed bourbons, Old Hillside is distilled and bottled in Kentucky. But its founders are quick to point out where its true spirit comes from.
“Old Hillside is a lifestyle,” Jesse Carpenter said. “Not just a school-friendship and camaraderie. That’s what we do.”
SEE ALSO | NC Made: Raleigh jewelry brand AnnaBanana grows from UNC dorm room to statewide success
Copyright © 2026 WTVD-TV. All Rights Reserved.
OKLAHOMA CITY (KSWO) — Oklahoma lawmakers have voted to honor country music artist and Oklahoma native Toby Keith.
House Concurrent Resolution 1019 recognizes Keith’s lasting impact on music and proposes renaming a planned turnpike in his memory.
The concurrent resolution was authored by Rep. Jason Blair, R-Morgan, and Sen. Lisa Standridge, R-Norman.
The planned route will extend from Interstate 44 east to Interstate 35, then continue east and north to I-40 at the Kickapoo Turnpike.
Copyright 2026 KSWO. All rights reserved.
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