National Journal LIVE Policy Summit WASHINGTON, March 23, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Border security is one of the steepest challenges facing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The recent fatal incidents along the U.S. - Mexico border underscore the stakes involved.

Immigration-related felony cases are swamping federal courts along the Southwest border, forcing judges to handle hundreds more cases than their peers elsewhere.

Armed gangs dressed in military uniforms often illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border, providing cover for the trafficking of drugs and illegal aliens into the United States, a Senate panel heard on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Attacks on American border patrol agents along the U.S. border with Mexico have jumped more than 100 percent in the last year, Homeland Security officials said on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of people from countries other than Mexico arrested trying to cross the U.S. southern border has almost doubled this year, the head of the U.S. border patrol told the U.S. Congress on Tuesday.