John Burnett

Of the hundreds of migrants that U.S. border agents catch daily in the Rio Grande Valley, 20 percent are unaccompanied minors. Instead of catching lawbreakers, the agents say, they're baby-sitting.

Jeh Johnson, the secretary of homeland security, addresses questions about the flood of unaccompanied immigrant children and their detention in an immigrant system built for adults.

Vast numbers of Central American children are streaming into the U.S., overwhelming the agencies charged with their care. Outbreaks of chicken pox and scabies have been reported at some centers.

As part of the open carry movement, some gun rights activists in Texas have been carrying rifles into restaurants. Many national chains have responded by instituting no-guns policies.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske has released documents regarding the use of force along the U.S.-Mexico border.

A crackdown by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents on drug smugglers is causing trouble for private pilots. Pilots say they are sometimes enduring hours of questioning by police searching for drugs.

In earlier times, white missionaries traveled from Europe and America to sub-Saharan Africa to save souls.

Today, the trend has reversed. Evangelists from the global south are targeting Americans and Europeans they say are ripe for Christian renewal.

There is no greater example than the Redeemed Christian Church of God. ...

If an agent kills a Mexican across the border, what happens? Some argue not enough. It's hard to sue in these cases, and reports show the Border Patrol is rarely holding its own people accountable.

Iraqis vote Wednesday in the country's first national election since U.S. forces withdrew in 2011. Steve Inskeep talks to Prashant Rao, Iraq bureau chief for Agence France Presse.

Shooting deaths of foreign national is up along the Southwest border. The agency has been called to modify its use-of-lethal-force policy. But it has a culture of secrecy and lacks transparency.

Life, death and piety are the recurring themes in hauntingly beautiful alabados preserved by lay brothers called penitentes. "You have to feel them," one says. "You have to feel them in your soul."

A new religious statue in the town of Davidson, N.C., is unlike anything you might see in church.

The statue depicts Jesus as a vagrant sleeping on a park bench. St. Alban's Episcopal Church installed the homeless Jesus statue on its property in the middle of an upscale neighborhood filled ...

President Obama joined families and troops paying tribute to the three soldiers killed last week by a fellow soldier. Obama was there in 2009 after another mass shooting at the base.

President Obama is traveling to Fort Hood, Texas, on Wednesday to attend the memorial service for those killed in last week's shooting.

Attention is focused on the mental state of Army Specialist Ivan Lopez, who's accused of killing 3 people and injuring 16 at Fort Hood on Wednesday. A verbal altercation may have lead to the shooting.

Military officials say a soldier opened fire at the base killing three people before taking his own life. A senior officer says the shooter was being assessed for post-traumatic stress disorder.

After a horrendous October rollout, the ACA is viewed a little more favorably now. But the number of people who intensely oppose the law is 12 percentage points higher than those who strongly back it.

The IRS has not audited a church in five years. Some televangelists are taking advantage of that inaction to shield millions of dollars from public scrutiny.

Texans overwhelmingly choose cars and trucks for their commutes, but in cities like Houston, Dallas and San Antonio, policy leaders have incentives to support cycling. They say it's good for business.

NPR examines previously undisclosed financial records from Daystar Television. Those files raise issues as basic as the definition of "church" and as grand as the role of government in religion.