#Houston immigration bond attorney

[zavalaimmigrationtx]

Houston Immigration Court: Understanding the Deportation Process

Navigating removal proceedings at the Houston Immigration Court can be complex and intimidating. Having an experienced immigration attorney guide you through the process is essential. Here’s a quick overview of what to expect:

The deportation process typically starts with being served a Notice to Appear by immigration authorities like ICE or CBP, specifying the charges. Attending the first Master Calendar hearing is mandatory, where you’ll be advised of your rights. An immigration judge will then schedule an individual merits hearing.

During merits hearings, judges consider evidence and testimony to decide on removal. They can administratively close cases, grant voluntary departure, cancel removal, or order deportation. There are often multiple hearings involved before a final ruling.

Those fighting removal should seek legal counsel to assess defenses and build their case. Options include asylum, cancellation of removal, adjustment of status, or proving the charges are unfounded. Attorneys also advocate for bond and present mitigating factors to judges for the best outcome.

Having an attorney represent you before the Houston Immigration Court can mean the difference between being allowed to stay in the U.S. or being deported. It’s vital to work with a firm experienced in deportation defense. At Zavala Law Firm, our skilled immigration lawyers have helped hundreds fighting removal to successfully resolve their cases, keeping families together. Don’t go it alone. Contact us today for expert guidance.

[akaraboonline]

Texas mass shooting suspect captured, officials say

An long manhunt ended with the capture of a suspect in a mass shooting that occurred last week near Cleveland, Texas, and left five people dead, including a 9-year-old boy. Francisco Oropesa, 38, was apprehended at a property near Cut and Shoot, Texas, at around 7 p.m. local time after a multi-day manhunt, according to a tip from the public, Montgomery County Sheriff Greg Capers announced at a news conference on Tuesday night. Capers stated, "He was found hiding in a closet, underneath some laundry. According to Capers, he was arrested and lodged in the Montgomery County Jail on five murder charges. His bond was set at $5 million. Capers noted that he will be moved to the San Jacinto County Jail in Coldspring. According to the San Jacinto County District Attorney's Office, the apprehension was assisted by the FBI, Border Patrol, and U.S. Marshals. The suspect was located as a result of a public tip, according to Jimmy Paul, the Houston division's lead associate special agent for the FBI. Paul said, "We're overjoyed that the individual had the confidence and bravery to call in that tip. Authorities declined to say whether the house where Oropesa was discovered belonged to the suspect's acquaintances or family. According to Capers' previous statements, the suspect shot his neighbors on Friday night after they requested that he cease firing into his yard. North of Houston, in the vicinity of the town of Cleveland, the attack took place. Location of Cut and Shoot: 17 miles west of Cleveland. The victims, who ranged in age from 9 to 31, were earlier described as being from Honduras and being between the ages of 9 and 31. "From the neck up," he claimed, all of them were shot. They were Sonia Guzman, 28, Jonathan Caceres, 18, Diana Velasquez, 21, Obdulia Molina, 31, and Daniel Enrique Lazo, 9. Ten persons were present at the house at the time of the shooting, but only four were harmed. Despite being found in the house covered in blood, three kids were unharmed, according to Capers. According to Capers, police found the AR-15-style rifle that Oropesa was thought to have used in the shootings on Saturday. Additionally, investigators discovered some clothing and a cellphone they believe to be the suspect's. Oropesa, a citizen of Mexico, was deported from the United States in 2009 after an immigration judge in Houston issued a removal order. Over the following seven years, after re-entering the nation, he was detained and expelled multiple times, CBS News has learned. Oropesa was previously found guilty of drunk driving in Montgomery County and received a jail sentence as punishment. A warrant was issued for Oropesa last year after his wife requested a protective order against him, Capers added in a statement Tuesday night. To the best of my knowledge, Capers said, "we got a warrant for him." "The constable departed this county and was unable to reach the subject, so he went to serve him in another county. A few days later, the victim "went to the San Jacinto County district attorney's office and filed a non-prosecution statement." Read the full article

[penaimmigrationlaw]

Standard post published to Craig L. Peña - Houston Immigration Attorney at November 18, 2022 18:00

The Law Office of Craig L. Peña - Houston Immigration Attorney is focused on providing zealous and personalized representation in the area of immigration law. Mr. Pena has over 30 years of experience representing clients in all types of immigration matters. The firm provides a wide range of immigration services, including but not limited to family-based immigration, employment-based immigration, naturalization, removal defense, asylum, and bonds. The firm is dedicated to providing excellent customer service. We understand that the immigration process can be stressful, and we are here to help you every step of the way.

https://houston-abogado-inmigracion.negocio.site/posts/971890245657516481

Learn more

source https://local.google.com/place?id=14732409372461045509&use=posts&lpsid=3917285143891782610

[immigrationlwyer]

Abogados de inmigracion en odessa TX

WE ARE C. ANTONIO DELGADO LAW OFFICES IN L.A. We provide the highest level of legal representation. Throughout my career, I have offered guidance and assistance related to the specific needs of my clients in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Houston, San Francisco, Orange, and San Diego. It is my top priority to protect your interests.

In addition to Adjustment of Status, Appeals, Political Asylum, Cancellation of Removal, Immigration Court, Labor Certification and PERM, Deportation Defense, Immigration Bonds, Waivers, Family Petitions, Removal Procedures, FBI Registration, Renewal of Residence, Representation in Immigration Court, Representation and many more.

If you have questions or want to discuss your immigration case, call us for a consultation and make an appointment with one of our attorneys.

Read More.. abogado antonio delgado

[governmentagencynews]

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – A south Texas man admitted to smuggling noncitizens who were trapped in a travel trailer, following an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Corpus Christi and the U.S. Border Patrol (BP).Gaston Perez, a 40-year-old Brownsville resident, pleaded guilty in the Southern District of Texas, Nov. 1, to transporting unlawfully present noncitizens within the United States. On June 30, Perez drove a truck hitched with a recreational vehicle (RV) into the Javier Vega BP checkpoint near Sarita, Texas. Shortly after, a K-9 alerted law enforcement to the RV. Further inspection revealed multiple individuals trapped in the back of the travel trailer. They were unable to exit on their own due to the slide outs being drawn in and not having power to extend them. Authorities used jumper cables to restart the RV battery and operate the slide outs. Five people were located in the back of the trailer including two inside a bed. Three additional individuals were discovered in the front of the RV. Law enforcement used a backscatter machine to scan the travel trailer and found two anomalies inside a wooden entertainment console. They removed a television set and discovered two more individuals sweating profusely. A total of 10 unlawfully present noncitizens were located in the RV. One of them told authorities she felt like she was going to faint as she was getting out of the trailer. Perez is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 15, 2023. At that time, he faces up to five years in prison and a possible $250,000 maximum fine. Perez was allowed to remain on bond pending that hearing. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Liesel Roscher and J. Parker Gochenour are prosecuting the case. HSI is a directorate of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the principal investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), responsible for investigating transnational crime and threats, specifically those criminal organizations that exploit the global infrastructure through which international trade, travel, and finance move. HSI’s workforce of over 10,400 employees consists of more than 6,800 special agents assigned to 225 cities throughout the United States, and 93 overseas locations in 56 countries. HSI’s international presence represents DHS’s largest investigative law enforcement presence abroad and one of the largest international footprints in U.S. law enforcement. For more news and information on HSI Houston’s efforts to investigate human smuggling in Southeast Texas follow us on Twitter @HSIHouston.

[endangered-justice-seeker]

provides legal services and representation to detained parents. It's seeking volunteers to represent low-income individuals and families.

On Saturday, a Democratic state representative tweeted that border patrol officials told him that they were not accepting donations for immigrant children. Still, we’ve compiled a list of organizations that are mobilizing to try to help children separated from their parents and asylum seekers at the Texas-Mexico border:

http://www.americangateways.org/ - provides legal services and representation to detained parents. It's seeking volunteers to represent low-income individuals and families.

https://www.facebook.com/angrytiasandabuelas/ - delivers financial support to local shelters; transportation to and from bus stations, airports and shelters; and emergency food, water, clothing and toiletries to individuals and families seeking asylum. They are accepting donations. 

https://annunciationhouse.org/ - shelters families detained and separated by ICE on the El Paso/Juarez border. 

https://www.houstonimmigration.org/members/bakerripley/ - is providing free or low-cost legal services throughout the Houston immigrant community. 

https://www.catholiccharitiesrgv.org/Home.aspx - provides a place for men, women and children to rest, have a warm meal, shower, change into clean clothes, as well as receive medicine and other supplies. 

http://www.dmrs-ep.org/ - says it’s the only full-service immigration legal aid clinic serving low-income immigrants and refugees in the southwestern U.S. 

https://immigrantfamiliestogether.com/ - works to bond out asylum seekers and reunite them with their children. It also provides food to families and government and foster-agency-approved housing to expedite reunifications. The group is accepting donations. 

https://www.immigrantjusticenow.org/current-initiatives - is working to provide supplies, like bus tickets, Pedialyte, shoes, prepaid cellphones and underwear, to immigrant families and children. 

https://interfaithwelcomecoalition.org/ -  assists refugees, asylum seekers and at-risk immigrants. They have an overnight shelter at Travis Park Methodist Church and help migrants get transportation — buses or planes — as they travel to other places through San Antonio. 

http://njfon.org/ - provides free and low-cost legal services to immigrant individuals and families in Texas. 

https://supportkind.org/ - partners with major law firms, corporations and bar associations to create a nationwide pro bono network to represent unaccompanied children through their immigration proceedings. Volunteers don’t need to have immigration law experience. 

https://lppshelter.org/ - in San Benito runs a shelter for people in the legal process of seeking asylum, residency or some other legal alternatives.   

https://las-americas.org/ - provides legal representation to asylum seekers. It’s accepting donations. 

https://www.raicestexas.org/ - is a nonprofit that provides free and low-cost legal services to immigrant children, families and refugees in Texas. It’s accepting donations and volunteers at its website. 

https://www.americanbar.org/groups/public_interest/immigration/projects_initiatives/south_texas_pro_bono_asylum_representation_project_probar/ - s looking for volunteers and attorneys (even ones not experienced in immigration law) to provide legal services to asylum seekers detained in South Texas. 

https://texascivilrightsproject.org - is looking for bilingual attorneys who can help represent detained and separated parents during their immigration proceedings. 

http://www.trla.org/ - provides legal advice and prepares detainees for credible fear interviews at the Dilley detention center. They recently expanded to another detention center in the Houston-area. 

http://www.cilacademy.org/ - has pro bono attorneys representing children in immigration-related proceedings. It’s also providing specialized training to legal service providers and volunteers who are serving unaccompanied immigrant children. 

https://hrionline.org - provides free legal services to immigrants who are seeking asylum in the U.S. and immigrants who are victims of violence. 

https://migrantcenter.org/ - is providing free and low-cost legal services for detained asylum seekers in Texas. 

https://vvbhcoalition.com/ - supports refugees by providing them with access to phones, restrooms, showers, laundry and warm meals. 

https://www.theyoungcenter.org/ - is accepting donations that will go toward providing more child advocates for immigrant kids inside the detention centers weekly and accompany them to immigration proceedings. 

https://togetherrising.org/ - is collecting money that'll go toward defenders, prosecutors and advocates who are working to reunify immigrant children with their families. 

PLEASE SHARE THIS USEFUL INFORMATION IT COULD SAVE LIVES!!!

[jamespartica]

Immigration Services and Solutions Provided by Top and Best Immigration Attorney in Houston TX

For those, who are living in any state of the United States of America and the visa is all set to expire, unexpected worries often take place and persuade them to look for the right professionals for visa renewal. The same concern often takes place among non-US immigrations, who look for the best immigration attorneys in Houston TX or in other states to get the right solutions in real time manner.

If you are one of them looking for the best immigration attorney in Houston TX, you will have some better options to fulfill your requirement by reaching at the Law Firm of Sunita Kapoor, PC.

Here, you will get the right solutions for different immigration issues like deportation or removal that include Bond Hearing, Deportation/Removal Defense- Cancellation of Removal and much more.

Other services offered by them include employment based like Green Card Cases with the emphasis on PERM Labor Certification, I-140 and Family based for Immediate Relative Petition (Marriage to US Citizen), or Preference Petitions and K1/K3. Not to mention Petition for Fiancee or spouse and work Visas like H-1B, L-1, R-1, TN, H-2B, E-3 as well as Investors Visa like E-2, EB-5, VAWA, Asylum, TPS and Citizenship.

You have to make a contact as per your requirement and get the right solutions. It is better to schedule an appointment. Free consultation is also provided with certain terms and conditions.

[myattorneyusa]

18 New Immigration Judges Sworn in on May 10, 2019

Introduction

On May 10, 2019, the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR) held an investiture ceremony to swear in 18 new immigration judges [PDF version]. One of the 18 new immigration judges will serve as an assistant chief immigration judge with supervisory responsibilities. Each of the 18 new immigration judges was selected by Attorney General William Barr. The 18 new immigration judges will serve on 9 immigration courts across the country.

In this article, we will examine the biographies of the new immigration judges — sorted by immigration court — with reference to the EOIR news release. To read about previous immigration judge investiture ceremonies, please see our article index [see article].

Abbreviations:

Department of Justice (DOJ)

Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)

Immigration Courts With New Immigration Judges From May 2019 Investiture

Cleveland Immigration Court (Ohio) [1 new ACIJ and 1 new IJ]

Boston Immigration Court (Massachusetts) [3 new IJs]

Conroe Immigration Court (Texas)

Elizabeth Immigration Court (New Jersey)

Fort Worth Immigration Adjudication Center (Texas) [2 new IJs]

Miami Immigration Court (Florida) [3 new IJs]

Philadelphia Immigration Court (Pennsylvania)

San Antonio Immigration Court (Texas)

San Francisco Immigration Court (California) [4 new IJs]

James. F. McCarthy III, Assistant Chief Immigration Judge, Cleveland Immigration Court

1995-2019: Private practice.

1983-1995: Assistant city solicitor and chief trial counsel for the city of Cincinnati, Ohio.

1983-1995: Judge advocate for the U.S. Navy.

1981-1983: Private practice.

1977-1981: Active duty judge advocate for the U.S. Navy.

Law degree from the Ohio State University College of Law in 1977.

ACIJ McCarthy immediately assumed supervisory duties at the Cleveland Immigration Court upon being sworn in. His legal experience comes exclusively from private practice, the U.S. Navy, and from working for the city of Cincinnati, Ohio.

John M. Furlong Jr., Immigration Judge, Boston Immigration Court

2013-2019: Deputy district director for USCIS, DHS, in Boston, Massachusetts.

2006-2013: Deputy chief counsel for ICE, DHS, in Boston, Massachusetts.

1996-2006: Assistant chief counsel for ICE, DHS, in Boston, Massachusetts.

Law degree from Suffolk University in 1994.

IJ Furlong has over two decades of experience as a lawyer for ICE and USCIS.

Lincoln S. Jalelian, Immigration Judge, Boston Immigration Court

2009-2019: Assistant chief counsel, Office of the Chief Counsel, ICE, DHS, in Boston, Massachusetts.

2008-2009: Assistant attorney general in the Office of the Attorney General of Massachusetts.

2004-2008: Trial attorney in the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section, Criminal Division, DOJ.

2002-2003: Resident legal advisor at the U.S. Office in Pristina, Kosovo.

1992-2004: Assistant district attorney in the Middlesex County District Attorney's Office in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Law degree from Boston University School of Law in 1992.

IJ Jalelian has worked as both a state and federal prosecutor prior to his decade-long stint as an attorney for ICE.

Jennifer A. Mulcahy, Immigration Judge, Boston Immigration Court

2002-2019: Assistant chief counsel for the Office of Chief Counsel, ICE, DHS, in Boston, Massachusetts.

Law degree from Suffolk University School of Law in 2001.

IJ Mulcahy worked for seventeen years as an ICE attorney prior to becoming an immigration judge.

Taresa L. Riley, Immigration Judge, Cleveland Immigration Court

2009-2019: Assistant U.S. attorney, Northern District of Ohio, DOJ, in both the Cleveland and Akron offices, finishing her service as the Attorney-in-Charge, Criminal Division, of the Akron Branch Office.

2008-2009: Assistant prosecuting attorney for the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office in Cleveland, Ohio.

2003-2008: Senior law clerk for the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio.

1999-2003: Law clerk and judicial attorney for Judge John R. Adams in the Court of Common Pleas in Summit County, Ohio.

Law degree from the University of Akron School of Law.

IJ Riley has extensive experience as a federal prosecutor and law clerk prior to taking the immigration bench.

Holly A. D'Andrea, Immigration Judge, Conroe Immigration Court

2011-2019: Assistant U.S. attorney with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas, DOJ, in Brownsville, Texas.

2016-2017: National border and immigration legal issues coordinator with the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, DOJ, in Washington D.C.

2008-2010: Assistant prosecuting attorney, assistant county counselor, and city attorney in Washington County, Missouri.

2007-2008: Private practice.

Law degree from Saint Louis University School of Law in 2006.

IJ D'Andrea was a federal and former local prosecutor with a one year stint as a DOJ lawyer dealing with border and immigration issues.

Jason L. Pope, Immigration Judge, Elizabeth Immigration Court

2014-2019: Assistant chief counsel, Office of the Chief Counsel, ICE, DHS, in Baltimore, Maryland.

2007-2012: Private practice specializing in immigration law.

Law degree from Syracuse University College of Law in 2006.

IJ Pope has experience as an ICE attorney and as an immigration lawyer in private practice.

Jacob D. Bashore, Immigration Judge, Fort Worth Immigration and Adjudication Center

2006-2019: Attorney and circuit judge with the U.S. Army.

Law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 2006; Master of Laws degree from The Judge Advocate General's Legal Center and School in 2011.

IJ Bashore's experience comes exclusively as an attorney and judge for the U.S. Army.

Marium S. Uddin, Immigration Judge, Fort Worth Immigration Adjudication Center

2016-2018: Assistant chief counsel with the Office of the Chief Counsel, ICE, DHS, in Dallas, Texas.

2015-2016: Assistant district attorney with the Dallas County District Attorney's Office in Dallas, Texas.

2011-2015: Assistant public defender with the Dallas County Public Defender's Office in Dallas, Texas.

2010-2011: Criminal defense and immigration attorney in private practice.

2005-2010: Assistant district attorney with the El Paso District Attorney's Office in El Paso, Texas (also from 2001-2002).

Law degree from The University of Texas School of Law in 2000.

IJ Uddin brings a variety of experience to the immigration bench from her stints as an ICE attorney, prosecutor, public defender, and immigration attorney in private practice.

Michelle C. Araneta, Immigration Judge, Miami Immigration Court

2000-2019: Prosecutor with the Pima County Attorney's Office in Tucson, Arizona.

1995-1999: Prosecutor with the District Attorney's Office in Riverdale, California.

1991-1995: Associate attorney practicing tax and bankruptcy in Orange County, California.

1989-1991: Law clerk for Judge David N. Naugle of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California [PDF version].

Law degree from California Western School of Law in San Diego in 1989.

IJ Araneta brings over two decades of experience as a local prosecutor and additional experience in the area of bankruptcy law to the immigration bench.

Thomas M. Ayze, Immigration Judge, Miami Immigration Court

2008-2019: Assistant chief counsel, Office of Chief Counsel, Office of Chief Counsel, ICE, DHS, in Miami, Florida.

2007-2008: Fraud, detection and national security immigration officer with USCIS, DHS, in Miami, Florida.

2003-2007: Asylum officer with USCIS, DHS, in Miami, Florida.

1988-2010: Judge advocate in the U.S. Air Force (active duty 1988-2002; reservist 2003-2010)

Law degree from the University of Florida Levin College of Law in 1988.

IJ Ayze has a wealth of experience with ICE and USCIS, including a four-year stint as an asylum officer. IJ Ayze also served for over two decades as a judge advocate for the U.S. Air Force.

Abraham L. Burgess, Immigration Judge, Miami Immigration Court

2012-2019: Assistant chief counsel, Office of Chief Counsel, ICE, DHS, in Texas and California.

2003-2011: Judge advocate for the U.S. Army.

Law degree from Boston University School of Law in 2002.

IJ Burgess' experience is split between a seven-year stint as an ICE lawyer and an eight-year stint as a judge advocate for the U.S. Army.

Mary C. Lee, Immigration Judge, Philadelphia Immigration Court

2015-2019: Assistant chief counsel for Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, ICE, DHS, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

2003-2015: Assistant chief counsel for Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, ICE, DHS, in Baltimore, Maryland.

2010-2013: Assistant chief counsel for Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, ICE, DHS, in Atlanta, Georgia.

2009-2010: Judicial law clerk in the Superior Court of New Jersey.

2000-2006: Served in the U.S. Air Force.

Law degree from Rutgers University in 2009.

IJ Lee served for nearly a decade as an ICE attorney in three different locations prior to being sworn in.

Rifian S. Newaz, Immigration Judge, San Antonio Immigration Court

2018-2019: Private practice.

2011-2018: Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas, DOJ, in El Paso, Texas.

2004-2010: Assistant district attorney for the Harris County District Attorney's Office in Houston, Texas.

Law degree from the University of Texas School of Law in 2004.

IJ Newaz's experience comes primarily as a prosecutor at both the federal and state levels.

Nicholas R. Ford, Immigration Judge, San Francisco Immigration Court

2003-2019: State of Illinois circuit court judge assigned to the criminal division of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Chicago, Illinois.

1997-2003: Judge assigned to the central bond court division of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Chicago, Illinois.

1991-1997: Assistant state's attorney assigned to the federal trial division of the Cook County State's Attorney's Office, Chicago.

1988-1991: Assistant state's attorney assigned to the major narcotics task force in the Cook County State's Attorney's Office.

Law degree from the University of Iowa College of Law in 1988.

IJ Ford has extensive experience as a state judge in Chicago from 1997-2019. Prior to serving as a judge, he was a prosecutor for nearly a decade.

Susan Phan, Immigration Judge, San Francisco Immigration Court

2015-2019: Assistant chief counsel for the Office of the Chief Counsel, ICE, DHS, in San Francisco, California.

2012-2015: Assistant general counsel for the State Bar of California, in San Francisco.

2009-2014: Special assistant U.S. attorney and assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California in San Francisco, and for the Eastern District of California in Fresno.

2005-2019: Assistant attorney general with the District of Columbia Attorney General's Office in Washington, D.C.

Law degree from the University of California, Los Angelis in 2004.

IJ Phan brings experience as an ICE attorney and as a federal and local prosecutor to the immigration bench.

Jason M. Price, Immigration Judge, San Francisco Immigration Court

2007-2019: Assistant chief counsel for the Office of Chief Counsel, ICE, DHS, in San Francisco, California.

2006-2007: Assistant public defender for the Maryland Office of the Public Defender in Hagerstown, Maryland.

2000-2005: Active duty judge advocate for the U.S. Air Force.

Law degree from the West Virginia College of Law in 2000.

IJ Price has extensive experience as an ICE lawyer, public defender, and judge advocate.

Jennifer M. Riedthaler Williams, Immigration Judge, San Francisco Immigration Court

2017-2019: Judicial magistrate with the Lorain County Domestic Relations Court in Elyria, Ohio.

2001-2017: Assistant prosecuting attorney with the Lorain County Prosecutor's Office in Elyria, Ohio, in the felony criminal division and the juvenile and felony non-support division.

Law degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Law in 2001.

IJ Williams worked as a magistrate judge and local prosecutor prior to taking the immigration bench.

Please visit the nyc immigration lawyers website for further information. The Law Offices of Grinberg & Segal, PLLC focuses vast segment of its practice on immigration law. This steadfast dedication has resulted in thousands of immigrants throughout the United States.

Lawyer website: http://myattorneyusa.com

[immigrationattorney110]

Law Firm in Houston

Our experienced and reliable team of attorneys will provide you with the help you need to get your immigration process sorted out quickly

[rightsinexile]

These jurisdictions have become “asylum free zones”: In some US jurisdictions, the denial rate for refugees seeking asylum is as high as 98%

This article was written by John Washington, a writer and translator based in Arizona, and was originally published by The Nation on 18 January 2017. The article is reprinted here with permission.

If you’re scared for your life, persecuted because of your religion or your politics; if you’ve been a victim of torture at the hands of your government; if you have been repeatedly abused or raped by your spouse, and you’re seeking refuge in a land of the free, don’t go to Atlanta. Don’t go to Charlotte, either. Nor will you be likely to find safe harbor in Houston, Dallas, Omaha, or Las Vegas.

According to a petition filed before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in December by various immigration attorneys and law clinics, those American cities, which oversee immigration jurisdictions that cover large swathes of Southern and Western states, including parts of both Carolinas, Georgia, Nebraska, Nevada and Texas, have effectively become “asylum free zones,” where “asylum seekers are systematically denied protection,” regardless of the dangers they’re fleeing. According to David Baluarte, professor of law at Washington and Lee University, and director of Immigrant Rights Clinic, the judges’ actions in these asylum-free zones are not just an abrogation of our country’s moral duty to take in those fleeing for their lives—they also constitute a “violation of international human-rights obligations.”

Nationally, the average asylum-denial rate in courts overseen by the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) rose last year to around 57%—but in the jurisdictions cited in the IACHR petition, that rate was as high as 98%. According to the petition, these jurisdictions are violating the asylum seekers’ mandatory protection of non-refoulement, a principle originally enshrined in the 1951 Refugee Convention and incorporated into US law in the 1980 Refugee Act. Non-refoulement, a concept developed after the refusal of nations to offer protections to refugees fleeing genocide in Nazi Germany, is a promise not to throw anybody back into whatever danger they’ve just escaped from. But judges in Charlotte and Atlanta, among other cities—by systematically discouraging potential asylum applicants from applying in the first place, and overwhelmingly denying their claims when they do—are deporting people back into situations of grave and often mortal danger.

Sarah Owings, an immigration attorney who has been practicing immigration law in Atlanta for a decade, described to me one Mexican woman’s asylum appeal. The woman cited extreme domestic abuse, including her husband’s “tying her to her bed like a dog.” The woman had already tried to relocate inside of Mexico (impossibility of internal relocation is a requirement for asylum) but was found and abused again by her husband. Despite this, an Atlanta judge denied her asylum claim.

Though it’s impossible to weigh the validity of the woman’s fear with just a few facts, her claim, according to Owings, should not have been automatically dismissed. What’s more, her case reflects the general trend alleged in the IACHR petition: “Credible reports indicate that refugee claims based on gender violence and other persecution perpetrated by non-state actors, such as gangs and other criminal organisations, are disfavoured.”

According to the petition, a judge in Atlanta told another asylum seeker, “Well, if they really wanted to kill you, don’t you think they would have?” The remark is akin to telling a cancer survivor: “If it was so serious, don’t you think you’d be dead?”

In essence, families in states outside of the jurisdictions covered by the Atlanta and Charlotte courts live under a different legal regime. This differential, the petition alleges, is “arbitrary and capricious,” denying asylum seekers equal protection before the law. The disparity in grant rates, however, is not only geographic. The petition also mentions a 2007 study, “Refugee Roulette,” which describes how Colombian asylum applicants in Miami had a “5% chance of prevailing with one of that court’s judges and an 88% chance of prevailing before another judge in the same building” (emphasis added).

Though part of the problem may lie in the subjective nature of adjudicating complex and unique cases in asylum-free zones, courtrooms have become hostile environments. As Baluarte explained to me, the EOIR’s hiring trend of putting former prosecutors or former Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials on the bench is basically “cementing the prosecutorial culture” into place in an environment that should strive for providing even-handed and equal protection. Judges have been known to “bully” clients away from even applying for asylum, Baluarte said. At initial hearings, called Master Calendar Hearings (before an asylum seeker actually begins defending a claim) judges will tell clients (who are typically without representation), “That doesn’t sound like a real claim,” or will schedule a hearing for the following day—effectively “setting people up for failure,” according to Baluarte.

Judges discouraging individuals from making asylum claims, rejecting established case law, or disallowing telephonic expert witnesses are examples of what the petition describes as sub-regulatory rules, which are individual judges’ de facto rules, and not nationally approved or consistent with other immigration courts. Owings explained the deleterious effects of one sub-regulatory rule to me: As there are no expert witnesses in the Atlanta area that can testify to Honduras country conditions—country conditions being a fundamental aspect of asylum cases—and Atlanta judges don’t allow telephonic expert-witness testimony, attorneys have to pay to fly experts in, which can be prohibitively expensive.

Other burdensome sub-regulatory rules include not following the standard guidelines for allowing change-of-venue requests (to less hostile or unsympathetic jurisdictions) or, instead of granting continuances (a chance for an attorney or a self-representing claimant to continue to work on the case) of 45 days, allowing clients just a few days to prepare their cases. One client whom Owings ended up representing was granted a continuance of only four hours. Judges also consistently deny granting bond, which forces clients to make their claims from behind bars.

These sub-regulatory rules, followed at the whim of individual judges, combine with what seems to be a higher evidentiary standard to qualify for asylum in Atlanta. According to the 1987 Supreme Court case INS v Cardoza-Fonseca, asylum applicants only need to demonstrate a “well-founded fear,” or a 10% chance of persecution (lower than other burdens of proof, such as those used in criminal proceedings). But in Atlanta, the evidentiary burden has gotten so high, according to Owings, that potential asylum seekers, even those with strong claims and legitimate fears, are not even bothering to go to court.

Founded in 1983, the EOIR is charged with adjudicating “immigration cases by fairly, expeditiously, and uniformly interpreting and administering the nation’s immigration laws.” Though there is no clear metric for fairness, a quick look at the numbers shows that there is nothing at all balanced in EOIR’s interpretation of the laws. And expeditiousness may actually be part of the problem.

In 2010, Jacqueline Stevens wrote in The Nation that as long as judges process a high volume of cases, the agency will ignore and even cover up serious misconduct, including the deportation of US citizens. Stevens wrote that one immigration judge told her, “I’m afraid there’s a premium on quotas and productivity, and not the truth.”

A year ago, ICE conducted a series of raids in both Atlanta and Charlotte, which attracted national attention. I asked Stephen Manning, one of the petitioners to the IACHR and director of the Innovation Law Lab, if there was a connection between asylum denials and the raids. He described a culture of “unhealthiness in the adjudication system” that leaks into the enforcement system, explaining how “ICE engages in powerful displays by knocking down people’s doors.” “In Atlanta,” Manning said, “ICE is ascendant. They simply don’t respect rule-of-law principles.” Most of the people whose doors were knocked down and were swept up in the raids had been denied asylum, or had been deterred from applying in the first place, creating a large pool of potential ICE targets.

Given the incoming Trump administration’s anti-immigrant and openly racist rhetoric, as well as the likely appointment of Senator Jeff Sessions as attorney general, the plight of asylum seekers may get worse. “If Sessions has his way,” Baluarte told me, “he could turn every jurisdiction in the country into an asylum-free zone.” Recently released data from Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) show that as the number of asylum seekers has gone up by almost 20% in the last year, to over 22,000 cases, the denial rate rose to 57%. In 2003, the number of asylum decisions reached nearly 36,000, with a denial rate of 62%, though it wasn’t until 2008 that a systematic study was conducted looking into geographic discrepancies. TRAC also reported that the number of asylum seekers representing themselves continues to increase, with 9 out of 10 self-represented claims being denied.

A Long Island law office, Amoachi and Johnson, affirmed the petitioners’ findings in an independent review of the Charlotte and Atlanta jurisdictions. Amoachi and Johnson cite two Charlotte judges who the Board of Immigration Appeals repeatedly found were denying respondents the right to apply for asylum. Bryan Johnson, writing in a blog post on the firm’s website, claims: “There is substantial evidence already available that both Judge Pettinato and [Judge] Couch, as a matter of practice, knowingly deprive unrepresented individuals of their right to apply for asylum.” Johnson told me that some of the judges he’s appeared in front of in court, in Atlanta, displayed “a total disregard for following the law.”

EOIR responded to the petition at the IACHR by saying, basically, that they were taking the petition seriously, and that they would study it. Baluarte countered by reminding the Commission that EOIR had already studied it, after a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report issued in 2008, following which there have been, Baluarte maintained, no substantive changes. In fact, last year the GAO published another report revealing essentially the same problems, and asylum-denial rates in both Atlanta and Charlotte, despite hearing more cases than ever, have gone up.

Kathryn Mattingly, assistant press secretary for EOIR, responded in an email, “EOIR takes seriously any claims of unjustified and significant anomalies in immigration judge decision-making.” Mattingly also cited annual programmes designed to train judges in asylum law and unbiased decision-making.

Elizabeth Matherne, a private immigration attorney in the Atlanta area, told me about one of her clients from Guatemala who, despite receiving direct threats, testified for a US Attorney against a fellow drug trafficker. The day before his testimony, his brother, in Guatemala, was stabbed as a warning. The man filed an asylum claim, expressing fear of returning to Guatemala. His case included an expert declaration, a letter from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent he worked with, and what Matherne described as credible testimony. The judge denied his claim and ordered him deported. In November, the man’s fears were realised when he was gunned down and killed in Guatemala. Nine days after his murder, his brother was murdered.

It can be hard to determine whether a fear is legitimate—that it’s not unfounded, overstated, or used as a stratagem to obtain legal status. But there is undoubtedly widespread violence and persecution in the countries the asylum seekers are fleeing, and, according to the IACHR petition, in some jurisdictions, judges are not even trying to validate these claims. In the case of Matherne’s client from Guatemala, at least, his fear was proven “well founded” when he was gunned down.

[rolandfontana]

Houston Bail Reform Gets Mostly Praise at Hearing

A proposal to end cash bail for most misdemeanor arrestees in Houston emerged seemingly unscathed from a fairness hearing Monday, despite concerns from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that it will give a free pass to undocumented immigrants, Courthouse News Service reports. Hailed as a guidepost for reforms across the U.S., the settlement hearing drew influential critics: Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg, three law enforcement unions and and Paxton’s office. Houston Police Officers’ Union attorney Mary Nan Huffman gave a lurid example of how the settlement could endanger the public by mandating that misdemeanor arrestees be released on personal recognizance bonds, with no upfront fee of more than $100.

Huffman said a woman named Brittney was walking her baby in a stroller and noticed a man in a red truck kept driving by her. She got home, put the baby down for a nap and started folding laundry on her living room couch. Brittney looked out her window into the backyard and the man in the red truck was staring at her, holding a knife in one hand and his genitals in the other. “Without a bond hearing, no one would know his criminal history, how he’s committed rapes and been in and out of prison,” Huffman said. She said the proposed settlement, which has been preliminary approved by U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal, puts police at risk because when criminals reoffend and go on the lam, police may be the first people to encounter them. The deal “caters to criminals,” she said.

Houston Bail Reform Gets Mostly Praise at Hearing syndicated from https://immigrationattorneyto.wordpress.com/

[governmentagencynews]

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - A Texas woman plead guilty Nov. 2, for illegally smuggling a spider monkey, following an investigation conducted by Homeland Security Investigation (HSI), U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Kingsville Police Department.Savannah Nicole Valdez, 20, from Katy, Texas, pleaded guilty to smuggling wildlife into the United States without first declaring and invoicing it and fleeing an immigration checkpoint. “Smuggling in endangered species for commercial gain is a tragic crime against nature’s precious resources," said Craig Larrabee, Acting Special Agent in Charge, HSI San Antonio. "HSI takes every opportunity to join our federal, private sector and international partners to share our knowledge, experience and investigative techniques designed to protect and preserve threatened and endangered species." According to court documents, on March 21, 2022, Valdez attempted to enter the United States through the Gateway International Bridge in Brownsville, Texas. Officers observed a wooden box with holes inside the vehicle which Valdez said contained beer she had purchased in Mexico. When officers opened the box, they discovered a live spider monkey and referred Valdez to secondary inspection. Valdez, however, refused to comply with their instructions and instead sped off, running a traffic light and nearly colliding with officers and other vehicles. Later that day, agents found multiple online postings advertising the sale of the spider monkey in the Katy and Houston areas with Valdez’s phone number listed in the advertisements. On March 28, Valdez contacted law enforcement and turned herself in. She admitted to knowingly importing the monkey despite not declaring it and intentionally fleeing from law enforcement. The monkey was ultimately recovered and placed with an animal shelter in the Central Florida area. U.S. District Judge Rolando Olvera will impose sentencing on Jan. 25, 2023. At that time, Valdez faces up to twenty years in federal prison and a possible $250,000 maximum fine. She was permitted to remain on bond pending that hearing. Assistant U.S. Attorney Edgardo J. Rodriguez, Southern District of Texas, is prosecuting the case. HSI is a directorate of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the principal investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), responsible for investigating transnational crime and threats, specifically those criminal organizations that exploit the global infrastructure through which international trade, travel, and finance move. HSI’s workforce of over 10,400 employees consists of more than 6,800 special agents assigned to 225 cities throughout the United States, and 93 overseas locations in 56 countries. HSI’s international presence represents DHS’s largest investigative law enforcement presence abroad and one of the largest international footprints in U.S. law enforcement.

[ufcw]

Protecting your constitutional rights during a workplace raid

In the United States, every person — whether documented or undocumented — has the constitutional right to remain silent and refuse to answer questions of the police, FBI, or ICE, whether on the street, in a car, or at home.

Under the law, ICE must have proof you are not from the United States to deport you. They can use the following information against you:

If you run and ICE catches you

If you tell ICE where you were born or that you don’t have papers

If you carry false documents

If you carry papers from your country

If you are questioned by ICE, you are NOT required to reveal any information, such as your name, address, or home country. If you are questioned or detained, however, it usually is a good idea to give your name so that friends, family, or your attorney can locate you.

What you can do now

The targets of the mass raids are individuals who have been ordered deported.  Any individuals that were issued deportation orders because of failure to appear in court, should contact a reputable immigration lawyer, nonprofit, or immigrant rights organization to help them file a motion to reopen their order of deportation.

Gather and keep important documents in a safe place, make copies, and make them accessible to a trusted person.

Identify reputable immigration, family, and defense lawyers for rapid response. Speak to a family law attorney about the need to sign a power of attorney for the caretaking of children and handling finances.

Obtain travel documentation for all family relatives.

Carry a Know Your Rights card with contact information of reliable attorney and other emergency contacts. Memorize important phone numbers.

If you are stopped by ICE or if ICE comes to your home

DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR if an immigration agent is knocking on the door.

DO NOT ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS from an immigration agent if they try to talk to you. You have the right to remain silent.

DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING without first speaking to a lawyer. You have the right to speak with a lawyer.

If you are outside of your home, ask the agent if you are free to leave and if they say yes, leave calmly.

GIVE THIS CARD TO THE AGENT. If you are inside of your home, show the card through the window or slide it under the door. The cards read:

“I do not wish to speak with you, answer your questions, or sign or hand you any documents based on my 5th Amendment rights under the United States Constitution. I do not give you permission to enter my home based on my 4th Amendment rights under the United States Constitution unless you have a warrant to enter, signed by a judge or magistrate with my name on it that you slide under the door. I do not give you permission to search any of my belongings based on my 4th Amendment rights. I choose to exercise my constitutional rights.”

These cards are available to citizens and noncitizens alike.

During a workplace raid

To report a raid use United We Dream National Raid Hotline 1-854-363-1423 or send a text message to 877877.

ICE must have a judicial warrant (a warrant SIGNED BY A JUDGE) or the employer’s permission to enter the workplace.

ICE can enter a public place without a warrant.

Workers should stay calm.

Workers should not run. Union representatives should not warn workers that immigration has arrived or urge them to run.

A union observer should document (write, not film) events taking place during a raid.

Workers have the right to remain silent.

Workers have the right to an attorney.

Workers have the right to refuse to sign anything without talking to an attorney.

ICE is not supposed to take someone’s fingerprints unless ICE already has a reason to arrest them. Workers should NOT consent to being fingerprinted, and if they are, they should say out loud that they do not agree with being fingerprinted.

If ICE arrests you, you have the right:

To remain silent and refuse to answer questions. Anything you say may be used against you.

To understand the charges against you. If you need an interpreter, ICE must provide one.

To be represented by an attorney (at your own expense) and to receive a list of agencies offering free legal services before answering questions.

To refuse to sign documents, such as for voluntary departure. It is particularly important to consult with an attorney before signing if:

You are afraid to return to your home country

You have lived in the U.S. for at least 10 years

Your family members have amnesty or other papers

You already have a pending ICE case

You are accused of using false documents

To make a telephone call to an attorney, family member, consulate of your home nation, friend, or the union (memorize their phone numbers).

To be released on bond and to have a hearing to reduce your bond if you cannot afford it.

To have a hearing before an immigration judge and to appeal any adverse decision by the judge. You have the right to stay in the U.S. while you appeal.

How can the UFCW help workers during workplace raids?

The union should enforce employer obligations on issues that affect immigrant members. The union could be liable for failing to represent members if it fails to challenge employer abuse. The union has no reason to determine the immigration status of a worker; unions must represent all workers regardless of status. However, a union representative must not assist a worker in presenting documents that the representative knows are false.

The union may request information about and bargain over employer I-9 audits.

Request information about the reason for and the scope of the audit, and request copies of any documents the employer received from any government agency.

The union may represent workers in reverification of work authorization documents.

Employers are only allowed to reverify identity and work authorization documents for expired documents, such as an expired work permit or visa, but not for a lawful permanent resident card with an expiration date. If the reverification is based on the expiration of the employee’s work permit, bargain for an unpaid leave of absence. Object to unlawful reverification of current workers such as non-citizen nationals, lawful permanent residents, refugees, asylees, or individuals with temporary protected status. Weingarten allows a union representative or steward to be present if an employer seeks to meet with a worker regarding employment authorization or other immigration issues. Grieve any adverse actions against workers based on unlawful reverification attempts.

If an employer gets a SSN “no-match” letter, the union can remind them that:

A “no-match” letter does not provide authority for an employer to terminate, suspend, lay off, or impose other discipline on an employee, and an employer who does may violate federal labor law.

The purpose of a “no-match” letter is to notify an employer when a reported employee’s name or social security number does not match Social Security’s records. The SSA has no authority to enforce the immigration laws, and the employer should give employees an opportunity to update their documents and information.

Ensure that contracts have provisions that state: “The Company will not discipline, discharge or otherwise act against any worker who is absent from work for up to [NUMBER] days because of arrest, detention or incarceration, and those days will not count against the worker’s time and attendance record.”

Engage with employers about immigration enforcement to establish protocols for their interaction with ICE in the workplace. (E.g. confirm that ICE may not enter private property without a warrant signed by a judge.)

Train members, stewards, and staff on the basic rights of individuals during an immigration enforcement action, the union’s rapid response plan, and family safety plans.

Establish relationships with local community leaders, allies, non-profits, immigrant rights groups, and legal service providers to be in communication during raids and mobilize the community to support workers and families.

Additional Resources

United Latinos of the UFCW Know Your Rights Resources

United Latinos App Available in the App Store and Play Store

Additional Know Your Rights Resources from CLINIC are available here:

Rapid Response Toolkit

Emergency Planning for Families

Know Your Rights 

Additional Know Your Rights materials in various languages from the ILRC are available here

A Know Your Rights video is available here.

Here is a list of local organizations that can support you and your community if you are impacted by a raid or other immigration enforcement activity:

Baltimore, MD

CASA Hotline 1-855-678-2272

Chicago, IL     

Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights: 1-855-435-7693 (1-855-help-my-family)The Southwest Organizing Project (SWOP): 773-471-8208 ext 120 The Resurrection Project: 312–666-3062 National Immigrant Justice Center: 1-855-435-7693 (1-855-help-my-family) West Suburban Action Project (Proyecto de Acción de los Suburbios del Oeste): 708-410-2000

Houston, TX

For Families and Their Education (FIEL Houston): 1-713-364-3435

Miami, FL

Americans for Immigrant Justice: (305) 573-1106 Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC): (305) 571-7254

New York, NY

New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC): 212-627-2227 Make the Road NY: Brooklyn: 718-418-7690

Queens: 718-565-8500 Staten Island: 718-727-1222 Long Island: 631-231-2200 Westchester: 914-948-8466

BAJI New York, NY — Telephone: (347) 410-5312 New Sanctuary NYC https://www.newsanctuarynyc.org/

Newark, NJ Make the Road NJ: 908-368-1196

San Francisco, CA SIREN: Text this number for rapid response: 201-468-6088 SF Rapid Response Network: 415-200-1548 Alameda County Rapid Response: 510-241-4011 San Mateo County Rapid Response: 203-666-4472 (203-NOMIGRA) Santa Clara Rapid Response: 408-290-1144 Marin County Rapid Response: 415-991-4545

Southern California: CHIRLA: 888-6CHIRLA (888-624-4752)

Atlanta, GA Los Vecinos de Buford Highway: 770-715-7200 Asian Americans Advancing Justice: 404-890-5655 Coalicion De Lideres Latinos (CLILA): 706 529 9216 GA Latino Alliance for Human Rights: 770-457-5232

Denver, CO Colorado Rapid Response Network: 1-844-864-8341 Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition: 303-922-3344

New Orleans, LA New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice: Message them on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NOWCRJ/

Washington, DC DMV Immigration Crisis Hotline 202-335-1183 CASA: 1-855-678-2272

  from Protecting your constitutional rights during a workplace raid

[newstfionline]

Accused of MS-13 and other gang ties, separated parents struggle to get their kids back

By Michael E. Miller and Aaron C. Davis, Washington Post, September 10, 2018

In Honduras, Carlos Castillo Estrada couldn’t escape MS-13. The violent international street gang robbed him once on a bus in San Pedro Sula, again as he rode in a van and a third time as he returned from the store, even stealing his groceries.

But when Castillo and his 12-year-old son fled to Mexico, he said they were threatened by drug traffickers.

So on June 2, the single father and his son walked across a border bridge in Eagle Pass, Tex., and asked for asylum in the United States.

Instead, they were among the more than 2,500 families separated under the Trump administration’s short-lived “zero tolerance” policy.

After public outrage and a class-action lawsuit, a federal judge ordered the government to reunite the families. But the July 26 deadline came and went for Castillo, who had been deported once before following a DUI.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement didn’t cite the DUI or deportation when he asked why he hadn’t been reunited with his son, he said. In fact, they wouldn’t tell him anything. Finally, the frantic father turned to a social worker at the shelter where his son was being detained 1,200 miles away.

The reason, he recalled her saying, was that ICE thought he was member of the 18th Street gang, MS-13’s rival.

“I was a victim of gangs,” he told The Washington Post in several telephone interviews from Port Isabel Detention Center in Texas. “They robbed me three times. I don’t know where [ICE] got that accusation.”

ICE spokeswoman Adelina Pruneda declined to discuss Castillo’s case, citing “ongoing litigation”--an apparent reference to the class-action lawsuit.

Six weeks after the deadline, more than 400 separated children remain in U.S. government shelters. Most of their parents have been deported, but several dozen remain in ICE custody, many barred from being reunited with their kids for deportation or released because of “red flags.”

Though most of these red flags are U.S. criminal records, some aren’t convictions at all but rather contested allegations of gang involvement in Central America.

One mother has been imprisoned without her son since March because of a warrant in El Salvador accusing her of ties to MS-13, according to her attorneys, who say the charge is baseless.

Another has been separated from her daughter for more than two months after telling an asylum officer that 18th Street made her hide weapons in Honduras.

Other separated parents have been released but still struggle with the aftershocks of being labeled gang members.

“It’s very much a theme of this administration that all Central Americans carry the threat of gang violence,” said Denise Gilman, director of the University of Texas Immigration Clinic, who has represented parents stripped of their children because of gang accusations. “Casting Central American asylum seekers as gang members, even when most of them are fleeing gang violence, not perpetrating it, really affects their ability to get a fair day in court.”

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has said being a victim of gang violence is no longer grounds for asylum in the United States.

For Raquel Cañas Mejia, ICE’s claim that the single mother is an MS-13 member was less of a shock than an old nightmare suddenly resurfaced.

The 33-year-old had crossed the Rio Grande with her two sons on June 20, the day President Trump announced an end to his family separation policy. They spent 10 days together at a family detention center in Dilley, Tex., where she said her youngest son was given drugs that made the autistic 9-year-old unresponsive.

But on July 1, as the first wave of separated families were already being reunited, Cañas’s was torn apart. When she asked immigration officials why they were taking away her sons, she said one replied: “You know why.”

It wasn’t until later that ICE appeared to confirm her fear: the very man she was fleeing in El Salvador had upended her hopes for a new life in America.

Three years earlier, Cañas had been brutally beaten by three police officers in her hometown of San Vicente, El Salvador. In police reports, court testimony and interviews with asylum officers and reporters, Cañas’s version of events is consistent. A sergeant with a grudge against Cañas spotted her in a restaurant and dragged her outside, where he and two other officers sprayed her with Mace and pistol-whipped her until her arm shattered, she said. Then they arrested her and told her to repeat their version of events.

In his police report, the sergeant claimed Cañas was an “active member” of an MS-13 clique who had insulted the officers and rushed at them with a knife.

“It’s an absurd accusation, made by the police to justify why they beat me,” Cañas said.

After surgery, more than 20 stitches and seven days in the hospital, Cañas reported the incident to prosecutors. The officers, not Cañas, were charged with assault, and she testified against them repeatedly.

After the sergeant was arrested for murder last year, she said she was approached this spring by a stranger with a message from the sergeant.

“The sergeant said that if I didn’t leave in a week, I would be killed,” Cañas told an asylum officer, according to a copy of her interview.

Cañas suspects the sergeant’s accusation against her somehow made its way to ICE.

All ICE will say is that on June 30, it received information that Cañas is a “documented MS-13 gang member.” ICE spokeswoman Sarah Rodriguez refused to say where the accusation came from other than “an official source” and a “government database.”

But at a July 31 hearing, ICE did not mention the MS-13 allegation to an immigration judge, who granted her a $5,000 bond.

Other parents also claim unreliable information from Central America has kept them apart from their children.

Julie Pasch, a lawyer with the South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project, said contested gang allegations have long been used to split families at the border but that the recent outrage over “zero tolerance” has put the practice under new scrutiny.

“It’s very difficult for these parents to prove that they don’t have these gang affiliations,” Pasch said. “Generally speaking, they don’t have an opportunity to see what the evidence is and thus have no opportunity to contest it.”

Lee Gelernt, the lead attorney in the American Civil Liberties Union’s class-action lawsuit, said families separated because of gang accusations reveal how little proof is needed in the immigration system compared with U.S. criminal courts.

“You’re only supposed to be able to take a child from their parent if it’s such a serious crime that it bears on your fitness as a parent,” he said. “The state of New York couldn’t walk into family court and say, ‘We suspect the father is part of a gang, so we’re going to take the child away.’ “

Yet that’s exactly what happened to Cañas, whose older son was recently released to relatives in California but whose autistic son remains in a shelter near Houston. Cañas is living nearby so she can visit him twice a week. When he’s not asleep from medication, he whispers to her that he wants to leave.

“I lie to him and tell him we’ll be together soon,” she said, sobbing. “I’m not a criminal. I have the right to be reunited with my children.”

After three months behind bars, Castillo was also desperate to have his son back. He lost the boy’s mother when she died giving birth to their second child in Honduras, he said. The baby died, too.

His son felt betrayed and abandoned by his father, and had begun acting out at the shelter, Castillo said. The 37-year-old had given up on raising his son in the safety of the United States, instead asking only that they be deported together, as soon as possible.

But on Friday, a day after The Post asked HHS about his case, Castillo was taken out of his cell and to a visitor’s room, where his son was waiting for him.

“We were crying,” Castillo recalled. “It was an incredible emotion.”

Even more incredible was that he and his son were then allowed to leave. After months of silence over his case, including the apparent gang accusation against him, ICE had suddenly granted Castillo “humanitarian parole.”

“I always said the accusation wasn’t true,” he said by phone from a South Texas hotel room on Saturday morning, as his son slept nearby. On Sunday, the two would begin a long bus trip to New York, where Castillo would have an immigration hearing in three months.

Castillo didn’t know if the gang allegation would resurface.

“I don’t have any idea what’s going to happen,” he said of the hearing. “But it’s not the same being locked up as it is being free. In three months, I can get a lot of proof to show the judge. That’s what I’m planning to do.”

[investmart007]

HOUSTON | Girl who fueled opposition to splitting families joins mom

New Post has been published on https://is.gd/c0zKSC

HOUSTON | Girl who fueled opposition to splitting families joins mom

HOUSTON — A 6-year-old girl from El Salvador who became a face of the Trump administration’s practice of separating immigrant families at the border has been reunited with her mother.

Alison Jimena Valencia Madrid and her mother, Cindy Madrid, were separated after U.S. authorities detained them June 13 for illegally entering the United States near Harlingen, Texas.

Audio of the agonized child crying when she was separated — first published by ProPublica and later by The Associated Press — galvanized opposition to the separation of families. Alison pleaded with Border Patrol agents to call her aunt, whose phone number she offers from memory.

President Donald Trump reversed course on the splitting up of families on June 20 after a “zero tolerance” policy on illegal entry took effect in the spring.

The joyful reunion occurred early Friday in Houston. It was initially going to happen in Phoenix, where Alison was staying in a government-backed shelter, said family attorney Thelma Garcia. Madrid, 29, was released on bond from an immigration detention center in Port Isabel, Texas, not far from where she was arrested.

Alison told reporters that she felt desperate after being separated and that it felt good to reunite. Her mother echoed that sentiment. “We are beginning to recover the time we lost,” Madrid said. “We are very happy to be together as family again.”

The mother and daughter plan to live with family in Houston and the mother will seek asylum, Garcia said. She may seek to move the case from immigration court in Harlingen to Houston. Madrid said she brought her daughter to the United States in search of a better life.

“I believe she has the capacity to get by here,” she said. The administration has said that up to nearly 3,000 children have been separated at the border. Dozens of children under 5 years old were reunified under a court-ordered deadline earlier this week. The government now faces a bigger deadline of July 26 to reunify more than 2,500 children 5 and older.

By Associated Press