Category: kvia-local-news

Rosemary Garcia

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA)—Saturday, August 1st marks the 33rd Annual Happiness Happens Here Telethon on ABC-7. It’s the chance to spotlight homeless animals in El Paso and the life-saving work that happens every day at the Humane Society of El Paso. The goal is to raise the necessary funds to continue providing medical care, food, shelter and enrichment activities.

The shelter also relies on dedicated volunteers to keep operations running year-round. For many, making a donation is not an option, so they choose to volunteer!

El Pasoan Kim Heidemann started volunteering with the Humane Society of El Paso earlier this year. She’s become a familiar face with many of the dogs who enjoy her treats and extra snuggles.

“Robin just loves to be at the front, and he knows because I’m going to scratch him. And usually I come by with treats, and Rex is all excited. He does zoomies sometimes, and he’ll come to the front of the cage, and I think he knows I give treats,” she stated when asked about the dogs at the shelter.

Heidemann said her love for animals fueled her decision to join the volunteer pack. She also enjoys connecting with other animal lovers.

“So it’s a really great way to, you know, be part of the community and also help with exercising the animals that are stuck in their kennels,” she added.

The volunteer program at the HSEP operates in a tiered program, giving volunteers the flexibility to serve in an area they enjoy. Kim is now a tail wagger. She assists with cleaning kennels, cleaning up after the animals, washing dishes and sanitizing toys.

“I’m hoping that’s going to help them be a little bit more comfortable in their situation.”

Humane Society officials said volunteers donate nearly 50,000 hours a year.

Heidemann said she had many dogs growing up, so she enjoys their companionship. She’s currently unable to adopt a pet, so she chooses to volunteer instead.

“I’ve got a soft spot for animals since I can’t have one personally. And this is my way to give back,” she added.

She encourages others to get involved with the Humane Society of El Paso!

If you would like to learn more about the Humane Society, click here.

Watch the Happiness Happens Here Telethon on Saturday, Aug. 1 from 4-11 p.m. only on ABC-7.

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Joseph Montero

UPDATE (4:11 p.m.): The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office said 75-year-old Silvia Resendez died in Wednesday night’s crash. It also said a 29-year-old man was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated in connection to the crash.

According to the sheriff’s office, the crash happened at 10:57 p.m. Thursday.

Investigators said a white GMC truck drove eastbound on the I-10 with a flatbed trailer carrying a truck. According to EPCSO, a Honda Civic driving behind the GMC hit the end of the trailer.

The driver of the Civic went to a local hospital and is in stable condition, EPCSO said.

The passenger, Resendez, died at the scene, according to the sheriff’s office.

EPCSO said Victor Alonso Saucedo-Torres drove the GMC and was allegedly intoxicated at the time. The sheriff’s office said his DWI charge included having a passenger under the age of 15.

Victor Alonso Saucedo-Torres’ booking photo.(Courtesy: EPCSO)

He booked into the El Paso County Detention Facility with a $7,500 bond.

Special Traffic Investigators went into the investigation due to the severity of the crash.

UPDATE (2:18 p.m.): According to the Texas Department of Transportation, lanes on I-10 East at Vinton reopened.

UPDATE: The El Paso County Fire Department, West Valley Fire Department and Medical Examiner’s Office all arrived at the scene early Friday morning to assist.

ABC-7 has yet to hear back about any confirmed fatalities from this crash.

VINTON, Texas (KVIA) — The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office says it’s deputies are responding to a three vehicle crash on I-10 East and Vinton.

The Sheriff’s Office is reporting serious injuries but had no other details at this time.

The El Paso Police Department and the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) say all lanes are closed with no clearing time in place.

This is a developing story and ABC-7 will continue to bring you updates as we learn more.

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Heriberto Perez Lara

UPDATE (Aug. 7, 2026): A California judge ordered the Trump Administration to release $65 million in funds it withheld in payments to organizations that help unaccompanied migrant children. Estrella del Paso will receive some of that money.

Estrella del Paso will get about $765,000 from the administration for legal services that ran out last Friday. The judge ordered the money be paid Friday by 1 p.m.

Estrella del Paso had to lay off 13 employees because of the lack of funding.

Executive Director Melissa Lopez sent a statement that said in part, quote:

“The Court saw clearly the government’s attempt to evade the injunction. Unfortunately, this decision does not restore the critical legal services to children that lapsed on July 31. We await the government’s update as to the steps being taken to ensure unaccompanied children receive the services they are legally entitled to receive.”

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — Estrella del Paso, the largest provider of free immigration legal services in West Texas and Southern New Mexico and the only provider of unaccompanied children’s services in El Paso, is set to close its program this Friday.

At a news conference with other migrant advocates and legal organizations, its Executive Director, Melissa M. Lopez, announced the program’s closure.

Legal representation for thousands of unaccompanied immigrant children faces a total collapse as a federal funding contract is set to expire tomorrow, July 31, 2026.

Frontline legal service providers warned today that without immediate action, tens of thousands of children will be forced to represent themselves against trained government attorneys. The funding crisis follows a standoff that began in November 2025, when the Trump Administration started withholding payments from legal service providers.

The administration has reportedly withheld funds to pressure organizations to release sensitive and privileged information about the children they represent.

The Defending Our Neighbors Fund, which hosted the briefing this week, has issued emergency grants to several frontline legal service providers.

This assistance aims to maintain representation for children while federal payments remain stalled, though providers warn that these funds are not a permanent solution to the loss of federal support.

Executive director Lopez says the network of providers has spent two decades building specialized institutional knowledge specifically for children who have experienced trauma.

“Over the course of 20 years, this network of legal service providers has developed a unique level of expertise working with children who have experienced trauma,” Lopez said. “We have spent 20 years building this institutional knowledge that we are going to lose on Friday. There is no replacing the organizations providing these services.”

If the contract is not renewed, tens of thousands of unaccompanied children will be forced to navigate the court system alone, according to the organizations. These children would face trained government attorneys without professional counsel, a situation providers say leads directly to removal orders.

“We know what happens to children that go to court without an attorney. In one word, it is deportation,” Lopez said. “The government is trying to eliminate our work and this program because they know that without attorneys, children will be deported.”

The federal contract funding the program is scheduled to expire tomorrow, July 31, 2026. Legal service providers stated that immediate federal action is required to renew the contract and prevent the loss of representation for children.

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Nichole Gomez

El Paso, TX (KVIA-TV)- Emergency situations can occur anywhere, including in places we generally consider safe, such as schools, places of worship, and community centers.

The ProAction Emergency Services Institute, a licensed provider, aims to help people react quickly when it matters most. It provides STOP THE BLEED training for high school students and for the wider community.

You can get signed up by clicking on this link:

Contact Us

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Nichole Gomez

El Paso, TX (KVIA-TV)-TxDOT El Paso is letting drivers know that I-10 East at Anthony will be closed overnight for two weeks so crews can place bridge beams.

According to TxDot El Paso, the closures are scheduled for Thursday, July 30, and from Sunday, August 2 through Thursday, August 6, near Anthony. Fourteen bridges are being rebuilt as part of this widening project. The seven eastbound bridges are now ready for beams. The first bridge is just past the state line, and the seventh is south of Vinton. Crews need to do a lot of prep work to make sure the beams are placed safely.

Crews will place the beams over the next two weeks. The seventh bridge will be the last one to get its girders. Right now, forms are still covering the caps as they continue to strengthen.

At the same site, workers are using hand tools to finish up the details.

To complete the beam work, I-10 eastbound will be closed overnight at Anthony for two weeks. Drivers will be detoured to South Desert, so please plan ahead. In lanes, crews are still carrying out work, and preparations are underway for future paving.

TxDot says once crews are done placing beams, they’ll continue with bridge work. Bridges on the westbound side still need work; they won’t be ready for placement until the fall.

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Nichole Gomez

El Paso, TX( KVIA-TV)- The El Paso Summer Coin Show will be taking place on Saturday, August 1 and Sunday, August 2 at the Airport Marriott, located at 1600 Airways Boulevard in El Paso, and we are inviting coin collectors, history enthusiasts, and families to attend.

Observe the interesting world of coins and numismatics. The exhibition will include dealers from Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and other states, providing a wide range of rare coins, currency, bullion, and collectibles.

The fee is $5 for a single day or $7 for two days and children can enter for free if they are with a paying adult.

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Carpio Griego

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (KVIA) — A professor at New Mexico State University wants to find a way to make ice cream stick around a little longer. Thanks to funding by Blue Bunny Ice Cream, Sergio Martinez-Monteagudo’s idea turned into a reality.

He developed the project with the help of six graduate students. ABC-7 spoke with three of them before they graduated this summer.

Muhemmad Azeem Urnrehmen Alvi, Nana Nkansah, and Olatunde Ojo all had their own projects to do as part of the team.

The concept sprouted when Martinez-Monteagudo realizing that there was a hole in the ice cream industry.

“We started talking about different innovation and what is new in terms of making ice cream that can provide a cutting edge,” Martinez-Monteagudo said. “I came up with some ideas, and one was to modify the proteins in a unique way so that you can bind water stronger so when it melts, it takes longer to separate.”

There was a secondary reason Martinez-Monteagudo began this research journey with his students: his concern for the issues of food waste and sustainability.

“One of the biggest problems in the world is food waste. So we reduce that and it has significant implications on sustainability, economic and overall well-being,” Martinez-Monteagudo said.

“When I think of it, we’re talking about next generation, not just myself when I leave,” Martinez-Monteagudo added. “It’s thinking about the next generation and following that has to have the resources to survive and basically have a quality of life.”

Martinez-Monteagudo worked with his team of graduate students to create the modified proteins this new ice cream required, which the lab equipment was eventually able to do even though it was on a small scale.

The equipment cracked the code by allowing the team to insert what in this case was ice cream mix and start a process that changes the proteins to allow them to have a stronger bond to water once they are re-frozen, the key to making the ice cream last longer.

One of the graduate students on the team, PhD candidate in Chemical Engineering Muhemmad Azeem Urnrehmen Alvi, told ABC-7 that once he found out about the project, he thought it was too “sweet’ to pass up.

“I was really excited when I started working on this project because I love the ice cream,” Alvi said. “I was working with the polymers and you can’t eat your research but in this case I can.”

The team was able to find a template for their product by sampling 36 kinds of ice cream and mapping out each ones melting curve.

By the end, they were able to produce a batch of ice cream that lasted three hours.

When research and hours in a lab can result in something like a potential change in the formula for a major manufacturer like Blue Bunny, Alvi told ABC-7 it makes him happy.

“That’s a different kind of happiness,” Alvi said. “From the ideation or conceptual basis, you think and then you research how to create that and then to have the product in your hands is the utmost happiness.”

There is another aspect to address the line waste concerns Martinez-Monteagudo outlined.

The alternative process involves extracting milk fat for the express use of re-using it in another batch of ice cream. Graduate student Nana Nkansah took charge of that job.

“This topic is not something that’s out there,” Nkansah said. “You could search online, but not really find data on how to extract fat from ice cream. So when we began, it was a little bit challenging because it’s kind of noville because nobody’s doing it.”

Nkansah showed ABC-7 some of the final product, which only filled half a mason jar. He said the purity was essential for the ability to re-use this fat.

But before any fat extraction was possible, the team needed to add proteins for stabilization, which was Olatunde Ojo’s job.

Ojo’s equipment is able to map the movement of the proteins and track the time until the foam returns to a liquid state.

In all, that allows Ojo to track how long the batch lasts before it melts.

The team’s work aims to make ice cream last longer, but also bring change by reducing food waste.

Martinez-Monteagudo knows these issues can’t be solved with just one blanket, but he hopes his work can be a step in the right direction.

“Every improvement helps it doesn’t matter if it’s small or big, the subtle changes that people don’t realize will be a lot easier to implement,” professor Martinez-Monteagudo said. “I want to inspire or create awareness that there are ways to solve problems. I will not be one big solution at one time, it will be step by step.”

Martinez-Monteagudo said working with the graduate students is why he got into into academia in the first place.

“The way I look at it is I’m working with the leaders of the next generation of leaders that this country needed that this place needs,” professor Martinez-Monteagudo said. “With my students, I put a lot of attention on the mentoring aspect. How are you going to critically think about how are you going to solve a problem?”

Watch “Meltless Mission” Thursday on ABC-7 at 6 p.m.

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Armando Ramirez

UPDATE (6:25 PM) — The El Paso Police Department has identified the motorcyclist as Isaiah Nathaniel Coronado.

PHOTO COURTESY: EPPD

Police says he is facing Evading Arrest Detention w/Vehicle.

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — The El Paso Police Department (EPPD) released body camera footage on social media Tuesday showing a high-speed chase involving a motorcycle.

EPPD said in the post the motorcyclist fled from officers near Zaragoza and I-10 East on July 16.

In the body camera footage, a motorcyclist can be seen passing the an officer on a motorcycle at a high rate of speed, who tried issuing a traffic stop.

The motorcyclist is seen in the video maneuvering around traffic in the area and eventually loses control of the motorcycle and crashes.

One officer’s body camera shows the officer ordering the motorcyclist to get on the ground and tackles the motorcyclist. More officers arrived at the scene and placed the individual in handcuffs.

Below is the edited video that the department released reminding drivers not to make a “minor mistake into a felony.”

(Courtesy: EPPD)

ABC-7 has reached out to the EPPD for more information regarding the chase.

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Gabrielle Lopez

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to keep Camp East Montana open for at least another year with Amentum Services, according to documents published last Wednesday. It argued full and open competition can’t be used, and no other contractor can meet the agency’s needs in the documents.

ICE plans to extend the contract with Amentum Services at a possible cost of $776 million, according to a notice.

Amentum was initially awarded the contract in March, which was at $452 million. The company took over Camp East Montana after the previous contractor, Acquisition Logistics, had its contract reviewed.

Amentum’s contract will be more than $1.2 billion if it operates the detention facility through September 2027, according to documents.

“The acquisition is critical to maintaining uninterrupted detention operations following contract termination, ensuring ICE’s statutory mandate for the custody and removal of individuals subject to immigration proceedings,” ICE said in the notice.

The notice also said the contractor must “demonstrate the capacity for rapid operational transition and sustained adherence to all regulatory and performance requirements.”

Acquisition’s contract was worth $1.2 billion and was set to expire in September 2027.

In the notice, ICE said Amentum meets the qualifications to provide “uninterrupted detention and facility management services at Camp East Montana.”

ICE also mentioned a lack of alternative bedspace available nationwide, and said no other contractor can provide services without “significant risk to detainee welfare.”

The agency said it tried looking into a different provider or moving detainees, but determined those choices “impracticable.”

In addition to risking detainees’ well-being, the notice said a lapse in contract could expose the government to substantial operational, legal and humanitarian risks.

“Therefore, Amentum is the only available responsible source that can fulfill the agency’s immediate and critical requirements,” the notice said. “The sole source action is necessary to maintain continuity of operations, protect detainee welfare, and uphold ICE’s statutory mandate.”

ICE said the government will continue to surveil the marketplace and conduct market research to look for possible measures for removing or overcoming competition barriers in future acquisitions.

In addition, the agency said it will monitor industry developments and Performance Work Statement (PWS) to make sure it meets operational needs and doesn’t restrict competition.

A DHS spokesperson sent ABC-7 the following statement:

“Camp East Montana is NOT closing. ICE has contracted with a new provider following the termination of the old contract inherited from the Department of War. ICE is always looking at ways to improve our detention facilities to ensure we are providing the best care to illegal aliens in our custody.

This new contractor will allow Camp East Montana to continue abiding by the highest detention standards WITH the ability to provide MORE medical care on-site. This contract also allows more on-site staff and a PRECISE quality assurance surveillance plan. ICE will have even more oversight of the contractors at this facility. Far from closing, Camp East Montana is upgrading.

Amentum has been a close partner with ICE in managing Camp East Montana, and was best suited to take over as the prime government contractor for this facility. The contract was awarded on March 13 and is currently in effect.

Amentum’s size, maturity and pedigree make them the right partner at the right time and we will work closely with them in their implementation of higher standards of medical care, more thorough case processing and intake procedures, and delivery of performance requirements according to well-defined accountability measures.”

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Gabrielle Lopez

SOCORRO, Texas (KVIA) — An off-duty police officer helped a 1-year-old child left alone in a running vehicle last Thursday, according to the City of Socorro. It happened at a Walmart on Horizon Boulevard and Darrington Road.

According to the city, a Walmart employee flagged down an off-duty Socorro Police Department officer. The officer asked emergency medical personnel and the Horizon City Police Department for help.

The child was evaluated at store.

The city said no one was arrested and an investigation will be presented through a non-arrest process for consideration of a charge of abandoning or endangering a child with intent to return.

“This incident serves as an important reminder that young children should never be left unattended inside a vehicle, even when the vehicle is running,” the city said. “Circumstances can change quickly, and a young child may be unable to protect themselves or seek help.”

The Socorro Police Department took the lead in the investigation.

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