Mexico’s top prosecutor said the ranch, which some groups searching for missing relatives had called an “extermination camp,” had been used by a cartel for training and recruiting.

Until a decade ago, California agave plants were more likely to be found in a plush Santa Barbara garden than in a fertile San Joaquin field. But in the last few years, farmers have begun cultivating this drought-resistant plant, which is essential …

The D.H.S. secretary’s appearances on Mexican television blaming migrants for societal ills in the U.S. have drawn a sharp rebuke from Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum.