LatINNOVATE

10/09/2018

AP Investigation: Deported parents can lose custody of kids

As the deportees were led off the plane onto the steamy San Salvador tarmac, an anguished Araceli Ramos Bonilla burst into tears, her face contorted with pain: "They want to steal my da

09/20/2018

Federal agency says it lost track of 1,488 migrant children

Twice in less than a year, the federal government has lost track of nearly 1,500 migrant children after placing them in the homes of sponsors across the country, federal officials have acknowledged. The Health and Human Services Department recently told Senate staffers that case managers could not f...

09/03/2018

DesMoines Register

As anti-immigration movement adopts Mollie Tibbetts for its cause, her father objects and tells Latino community, 'My family stands with you.'

06/10/2018

Immigrant business owner who arrived with nothing, bids a grateful goodbye to US after twenty years.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nilson Canenguez is facing the prospect of being forced to return to his native El Salvador in the coming months after nearly 20 years in the U.S. But he's not g

06/10/2018

A federal judge on Saturday temporarily blocked the deportation of a New York pizza shop worker to his native Ecuador after he was arrested while making a delivery to a Brooklyn Army base.

Attorneys for The Legal Aid Society obtained the temporary stay for Pablo Villavicencio after a hearing in Manhattan federal court.

The 35-year-old married father of two young girls was arrested on June 1 while making a delivery to the garrison in Fort Hamilton. A routine background check revealed there was a warrant for his arrest for immigration law violations.

Federal Judge Alison Nathan granted the stay until July 20. Villavicencio will remain in Immigration And Customs Enforcement custody in New Jersey until his case goes to court.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo had asked federal homeland security officials to look into the case, saying recent detentions raise significant legal questions.

In a letter to the ICE office in New York, the Democrat said Villavicencio's "expedited removal serves no legitimate public safety purpose and the circumstances leading to his arrest and detention raise serious legal and policy concerns."

Villavicencio's wife, Sandra Chica, is an American citizen and their daughters, ages 2 and 3, were born in the U.S.

When he arrived at Fort Hamilton, guards requested identification and he produced a city identification card. A background check showed that Villavicencio had been ordered to leave the United States in 2010, but stayed.

The Legal Aid Society, a not-for-profit organization that provides free services to clients who cannot afford them, said Villavicencio has no criminal record.

Haskins said attorneys worked through the night preparing the emergency stay request that was argued in court on Saturday afternoon.

"Although we are disappointed that Pablo will remained detained, today's stay is a victory for him and his family, and also for due process and the fair administration of justice," said Gregory Copeland, the supervising attorney of Legal Aid's Immigration Law Unit.

"This decision is also a reminder that the judiciary can still serve as a powerful check when other branches of government make hasty, cruel and reckless decisions."

The attorneys said they will work with Villavicencio to help him secure valid immigration status.

https://www.legalaiddc.org

https://www.legalaidnyc.org

Making Justice Real

06/10/2018

Authorities have confirmed that a Honduran man was found dead in a Texas jail cell of an "apparent su***de" last month, but made no mention of details in a Washington Post report that the man was enraged after his wife and son were separated from him.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued a statement Saturday confirming the death of Marco Antonio Munoz. The CBP statement says Munoz was apprehended at the Weslaco, Texas, border station on May 11 and transferred to the Rio Grande Valley immigration processing center. The Post report, citing unnamed Border Patrol agents, said he was with his wife and 3-year-old son and separated from them, but the federal statement made no mention of family members.

The statement says that while Munoz was being processed, he "became disruptive and combative" and was transferred to the Starr County jail. He was found unresponsive in his cell on May 13.

The Trump administration has been sharply criticized for separating families of immigrants arriving in the country illegally.

11/19/2017

Argentina's Navy detected seven brief satellite calls Saturday that officials believe may have come from a submarine with 44 crew members that hadn't been heard from in three days.

The communication attempts "indicate that the crew is trying to re-establish contact, so we are working to locate the source of the emissions," the Navy said on its Twitter account, adding that the calls lasted between four and 36 seconds.

Argentine authorities clarified that it has not been confirmed the calls came from the submarine, the ARA San Juan, though that is the working hypothesis.

Earlier Saturday, Navy spokesman Enrique Balbi said the area being searched off the country's southern Atlantic coast has been doubled as concerns about the fate of the submarine and its crew grew.

"We are not discounting any hypothesis," Balbi said, adding that possibilities to explain the submarine's disappearance include "a problem with communications" or with its power system.

Authorities last had contact with the German-built, diesel-electric sub on Wednesday as it was on a voyage from the extreme southern port of Ushuaia to Mar del Plata.

Argentine President Mauricio Macri said in a tweet that the country will use "all resources national and international that are necessary to find the submarine."

Pledges of help came from Chile, Uruguay, Peru and Brazil, as well as the United States, which sent a NASA scientific aircraft and a Navy plane. Britain was sending a polar exploration vessel, the HMS Protector, which British officials said should arrive Sunday.
The U.S. Navy ordered its Undersea Rescue Command based in San Diego, California to deploy to Argentina to support the search for the submarine. The command includes a remotely operated vehicle and vessels capable of rescuing people from bottomed submarines.

Admiral Gabriel Gonzalez, chief of the Mar del Plata Naval Base, said they are coordinating "with units from the United Kingdom and the United States." Britain and Argentina fought a war in 1982 over the Falklands Islands, which are called the Malvinas in Argentina.

Relatives of the crew members gathered at the Mar del Plata Naval Base in the hopes of hearing news about their loved ones.

"We feel anguish. We are reserved but will not lose our hope that they will return," Marcela Moyano, wife of machinist Hernan Rodriguez, told television network TN.

She said she spoke with her husband when the submarine departed and is still sending him WhatsApp messages, though he has not responded.

From the Vatican, Argentine Pope Francis said he was making "fervent prayers" for the crew.

09/14/2017

Trump delivers shock rebuke to Colombia over co***ne surge

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump is threatening that he may decertify Colombia as a partner in the drug war unless it reverses a record surge in co***ne product

09/14/2017

09/13/2017

Associated Press

09/13/2017

BOSTON (AP) — Francisco Rodriguez-Guardado's first son was born just days after he was taken into custody by federal immigration officials for deportation back to his native El Sa

08/24/2017

Reynosa, Mexico's Cesar Monjaraz, bottom, slides around the attempted tag by Maracaibo, Venezuela, catcher Luis Rodriguez to score during the second inning of an international elimination baseball game at the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pa., Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2017. Mexico won 8-0