Numbersusa.com | Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) was joined by five other House Members on Tuesday denouncing the Senate Gang of Eight's amnesty bill, S.744. Rep. King was joined on the steps of the Capitol by Reps. Mo Brooks of Alabama, John Fleming of Louisiana, Paul Gosar of Arizona, and Steve Stockman and Louie Gohmert of Texas. The six Congressmen said they were concerned about the huge negative impact an amnesty for 11 million illegal aliens would have on the national debt, and they said they stood by the rule of law.

NYT | An airplane belonging to the attorney general’s office crashed on Tuesday in central Mexico, killing all six people on board, the authorities said. The dead included the crew, two federal agents and a prosecutor who were returning to Mexico City from Zacatecas State after helping with the arrest of people suspected of being members of the Zetas, one of the country’s most violent gangs. The cause of the crash is under investigation. The plane, a Beechcraft King Air 300 built in 1985, had unspecified mechanical trouble Monday night, forcing it to return to Zacatecas and delaying the return of the group, the attorney general’s office said in a statement.

Pewglobal.org | On the eve of President Barack Obama’s visit to Mexico, the United States is enjoying a resurgence of good will among the Mexican public, with a clear majority favorably inclined toward their northern neighbor and more now expressing confidence in Obama. A national opinion survey of Mexico by the Pew Research Center, conducted March 4-17 among 1,000 adults, finds that roughly two-thirds (66%) of Mexicans have a favorable opinion of the U.S. – up from 56% a year ago and dramatically higher than it was following the passage of Arizona’s restrictive immigration law in 2010, when favorable Mexican attitudes toward the United States slipped to 44%.

Numbersusa.com | A recent Gallup Poll shows that immigration is a low priority for Americans. According to the poll, Americans believe the most important problem facing the country today is the economy, followed by unemployment/jobs and dissatification with the government. Despite the Senate releasing an 844-page immigration reform bill last night, immigration ranked 7th on the list with only 4% of Americans thinking the issue is most important.

Fox News | The Department of Homeland Security has started releasing hundreds of illegal immigrants held in local jails in anticipation of automatic budget cuts, in a move one Arizona sheriff called politically motivated -- and dangerous. Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu said Tuesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement released more than 500 detainees in his county alone over the weekend. A spokesman for Babeu told FoxNews.com that ICE officials have said they plan to release a total of nearly 10,000 illegal immigrants.

Numbersusa.com | Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) has introduced the first immigration bill into the 113th Congress - the Birthright Citizenship Act that would end the practice of giving automatic citizenship to every child born in the United States. H.R.140 would require at least one parent of newborns to be a U.S citizen or legal permanent resident in order to receive automatic citienship. The bill was introduced with 13 original cosponsors.

CBS | A gun found at the scene of a shootout between a Mexican drug cartel and soldiers where a beauty queen died was part of the botched “Fast and Furious” operation, CBS News reports. Authorities had said that Maria Susana Flores Gamez was likely used as a human shield and that an automatic rifle had been found near her body after the Nov. 23 shootout.

Christian Science Monitor | Mexico to charge police officers in attack against CIA agents After an ambush that injured US CIA operatives, the Mexican government has indicated they are close to charging police officers, who they say may be corrupt. Mexico City. Mexico said on Wednesday it was close to charging police officers with deliberately targeting two US agents in an August attack that caused serious embarrassment to the Mexican government.

AP | A Mexican man pleaded guilty Tuesday in the killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent during a 2010 firefight near the Arizona-Mexico border. The first-degree murder plea on Tuesday by Manuel Osorio-Arellanes, of El Fuerte in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, marks the first conviction in the December 2010 death of Agent Brian Terry. Osorio-Arellanes faces up to life in prison.

NYT | The Mexican Navy confirmed on Tuesday that it had killed Heriberto Lazcano, the founder and the principal leader of the Zetas, one of the most violent criminal gangs to terrorize the country in years. But in a striking twist, an armed group quickly stole the body, a state prosecutor said Tuesday, leaving authorities struggling to explain how such a major blow against Mexico’s criminal organizations could turn into an illustration of their persistent strength.

KVOA | A Border Patrol agent was shot to death Tuesday in Arizona near the U.S.-Mexico line, the first fatal shooting of an agent since a deadly 2010 firefight with Mexican bandits that spawned congressional probes of a botched government gun-smuggling investigation.The agent and a colleague were on patrol in the desert near Naco, Ariz., about 100 miles from Tucson, when shooting broke out shortly before 2 a.m., the Border Patrol said. The second agent was shot in the ankle and buttocks, and was airlifted to a hospital.

Daily Caller | Documentary filmmaker Fleming Fuller has produced a full-blown re-enactment of the events the night Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was killed. Terry was murdered in 2010 with Operation Fast and Furious weapons that the Obama administration allowed to fall into the hands of Mexican drug cartels.

Fox News | For the first time, Mexican victims of crimes tied to the botched Operation Fast and Furious are being identified, including teenagers killed in a 2010 massacre.  A new report finds dozens of weapons recovered in Mexico have been connected with the ill-fated and ill-conceived anti-gunrunning program. While some Mexican authorities estimate 300 of their citizens have been injured or killed by Fast and Furious guns, little has been known about those weapons south of the U.S. border until now.

NYT | The inmates were massed in the prison carpentry workshop when somebody gave the signal. Wedging themselves into a tunnel almost 10 feet below ground, 131 prisoners slid one by one along 23 feet to emerge at the base of the north watchtower. There they bound and gagged three guards, according to an account provided by prison administrators, cut through a wire fence and walked to freedom.