US immigration says it did not deport Chilean man living in Pennsylvania, refuting report
The Morning Call of Allentown, Pennsylvania, reported that Luis Leon, 82, ended up in Guatemala after being handcuffed in a Philadelphia immigration office, where he went to replace his lost green card June 20. The report, which said he won asylum in 1987, relied on family accounts.
The Morning Call reported Sunday that Leon was recovering from pneumonia in Guatemala and did not plan to return to the United States, according to his granddaughter. A phone message left Monday at a number linked to the granddaughter was not returned.
The Department of Homeland Security said it had no record of Leon appearing for an appointment in or near Philadelphia June 20 and said he legally entered the U.S. in 2015 as a visitor. A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman, Jason Koontz, said the agency didn't deport Leon anywhere.
The Guatemalan Migration Institute said in a statement Sunday that it coordinates with ICE on all deportations from the United States and that no one matched Leon's name, age or citizenship.
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Winnipeg Free Press
9 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Ion Iliescu, Romania's first freely elected president after 1989 revolution, has died at 95
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Ion Iliescu, Romania's first freely elected president after the fall of communism in 1989, who later faced charges of crimes against humanity for his role in the bloody revolution, has died. He was 95. Iliescu, who held de facto military authority during the anti-communist revolt, assumed power after Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, and his wife Elena, were executed on Dec. 25, 1989. More than 1,100 people died during the uprising, 862 of them after Iliescu had seized power. He repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. Twice re-elected, in 1992 and 2000, Iliescu had largely withdrawn from public life by 2017. In recent years, his health had declined. In 2019, he underwent heart surgery, and he was diagnosed with lung cancer in June. The hospital in the capital, Bucharest, where Iliescu had been receiving medical treatment since Jun. 9, said on Tuesday that he died at 3.55 p.m. local time after medics 'made all efforts to provide him the necessary care and treatment.' Romania's government also confirmed his death and extended its condolences to his family and those close to the former president. It added that it would announce plans for a state funeral soon. In a statement on its official website, Romania's Social Democratic Party, or PSD, which Iliescu founded, called it 'a very sad day for Romania.' 'A prominent figure of the Romanian Revolution and the history of contemporary Romania, Mr. President Ion Iliescu will remain for all of us a symbol of the politician and statesman,' the statement read. 'He had the courage to confront Ceausescu and his dictatorship, and directed Romania irreversibly on the Euro-Atlantic path.' 'He was a strong leader, loved by most, contested by others, as happens in democracy,' it added. In 2018, military prosecutors charged Iliescu with crimes against humanity for failing to prevent 'numerous situations' in which civilians were needlessly killed during the revolution. Prosecutors alleged he had spread false information through state media, creating a 'generalized psychosis' that fueled chaos and bloodshed. The charges against Iliescu, who served as a minister in the communist government until he was sidelined in 1971, refer to a five-day period during the uprising, after Ceausescu had fled Bucharest on Dec. 22, 1989. At the time of Iliescu's death, he had never been convicted, and the case remained open. In January this year, Iliescu's legal woes mounted when prosecutors charged him with crimes against humanity in a second case. Prosecutors allege he implemented policies that led to a violent crackdown on civilian protesters in Bucharest in 1990, who were demanding the removal of former communists from power. Iliescu had called on coal miners from the Jiu Valley to 'restore order' in the capital. At least four people were killed. Despite maintaining good relations with the Soviet Union until its collapse in 1991, Romania became a member of the NATO military alliance in 2004 during his last presidential term. After his last term ended, he served as a lawmaker in the Social Democratic Party, Romania's most dominant political party since communism ended 35 years ago. For two decades after the revolution, Iliescu was Romania's most consequential political figure who helped define the country's new democratic institutions and its Constitution, said Cristian Andrei, a Bucharest-based political consultant. 'His legacy spans from the one to oust Ceausescu to being himself a break in Romania's development and transition to full functioning democracy and market economy,' he told The Associated Press. 'He was later accused by a growing number of Romanians of being the continuator of the Communist apparatus … trying to hold on to power in an authoritarian-communist style.' After Nicusor Dan's victory in Romania's tense presidential rerun in May, Iliescu congratulated the new pro-Western leader in a blog post, noting that Romania 'is going through a complex period' and faces economic, social, and geopolitical challenges. 'Romania needs coherence, dialogue and a firm commitment to strengthening democratic institutions and its European path,' he said. 'I am convinced that you will exercise this responsibility with dignity and a sense of duty to the nation.'
Winnipeg Free Press
39 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Gaza aid truck drivers face increasing danger from desperate crowds and armed gangs
Truck drivers trying to deliver aid inside Gaza say their work has become increasingly dangerous in recent months as people have grown desperately hungry and violent gangs have filled a power vacuum left by the territory's Hamas rulers. Crowds of hungry people routinely rip aid off the backs of moving trucks, the local drivers said. Some trucks are hijacked by armed men working for gangs who sell the aid in Gaza's markets for exorbitant prices. Israeli troops often shoot into the chaos, they said. Drivers have been killed in the mayhem. Since March, when Israel ended a ceasefire in its war with Hamas and halted all imports, the situation has grown increasingly dire in the territory of some 2 million Palestinians. International experts are now warning of a 'worst-case scenario of famine' in Gaza. Under heavy international pressure, Israel last week announced measures to let more aid into Gaza. Though aid groups say it's still not enough, getting even that amount from the border crossings to the people who need it is difficult and extremely dangerous, the drivers said. Driving aid trucks can be deadly Thousands of people packed around the road Monday as two trucks entered southern Gaza, AP video showed. Young men overwhelmed the trucks, standing on the cabs' roofs, dangling from the sides and clambering over each other onto the truck beds to grab boxes even as the trucks slowly kept driving. 'Some of my drivers are scared to go transfer aid because they're concerned about how they'll untangle themselves from large crowds of people,' said Abu Khaled Selim, vice president of the Special Transport Association, a nonprofit group that works with private transportation companies across the Gaza Strip and advocates for truck drivers' rights. Selim said his nephew, Ashraf Selim, a father of eight, was killed July 29 by a stray bullet when Israeli forces opened fire on crowds climbing onto the aid truck he was driving. Shifa Hospital officials said they received his body with an apparent gunshot to the head. The Israeli military said it was unaware of the incident and that 'as a rule' it does not carry out deliberate attacks on aid trucks. Earlier in the war, aid deliveries were safer because, with more food getting into Gaza, the population was less desperate. Hamas-run police had been seen securing convoys and went after suspected looters and merchants who resold aid at exorbitant prices, Now, 'with the situation unsecured, everything is permissible,' said Selim, who appealed for protection so the aid trucks could reach warehouses. The U.N. does not accept protection from Israeli forces, saying it would violate its rules of neutrality, and said that given the urgent need for aid it would accept that hungry people were going to grab food off the back of the trucks as long as they weren't violent. Flooding Gaza with renewed aid would ease the desperation and make things safer for the drivers, said Juliette Touma, communications director at UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees. The danger for drivers is growing Ali al-Derbashi, 22, was an aid truck driver for more than a year and a half, but he quit after his last trip three weeks ago because of the increasing danger, he said. Some people taking aid off the trucks are now carrying cleavers, knives and axes, he said. He was once ambushed and forcibly redirected to an area designated by Israel as a conflict zone in its war against Hamas. There everything was stolen, including his truck's fuel and batteries, and his tires were shot out, he said. He was beaten and his phone was stolen. 'We put our lives in danger for this. We leave our families for two or three days every time. And we don't even have water or food ourselves,' he said. In addition to the danger, the drivers faced humiliation from Israeli forces, he said, who put them through 'prolonged searches, unclear instructions, and hours of waiting.' The war began Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 others. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, according to the latest figures by Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians and operates under the Hamas government. The threats come from everywhere Nahed Sheheibr, head of the Special Transport Association, said the danger for the drivers comes from everywhere. He accused Israel of detaining drivers and using them as human shields. The Israeli military did not comment on the accusation. In recent days, men linked to a violent Gaza clan fired at drivers, injuring one, and looted a convoy of 14 trucks, he said. They later looted a convoy of 10 trucks. Hossni al-Sharafi, who runs a trucking company and was an aid driver himself, said he is only allowed to use drivers who have no political affiliation and have been approved by Israel to transport aid from crossings. Al-Sharafi said he was detained by Israeli forces for more than 10 days last year while transporting aid from the southern Kerem Shalom crossing and interrogated about where the truck was headed and how the aid was being distributed. Israeli officials did not comment on the accusations. Some drivers spoke of being shot at repeatedly by armed gangs. Others said their trucks were routinely picked clean — even of the wooden pallets— by waves of desperate people, many of whom were fighting each other for the food, while Israeli troops were shooting. Hungry families who miss out on the aid throw stones at the trucks in anger. Anas Rabea said the moment he pulled out of the Zikkim crossing last week his aid truck was overwhelmed by a crowd. 'Our instructions are to stop, because we don't want to run anyone over,' he said. 'It's crazy. You have people climbing all over the cargo, over the windows. It's like you're blind, you can't see out.' After the crowd had stripped everything, he drove another few hundred meters and was stopped by an armed gang that threatened to shoot him. They searched the truck and took a bag of flour he had saved for himself, he said. 'Every time we go out, we get robbed,' he said. 'It's getting worse day by day.' ——- Associated Press writers Julia Frankel contributed to this report from Jerusalem and Sally Abou Aljoud from Beirut. Mariam Dagga contributed from Khan Younis, Gaza Strip.
CTV News
39 minutes ago
- CTV News
Northern Ont. man denied Canadian residency because he worked for Ukrainian secret police
While denying him permanent residency, immigration officials said there 'is no evidence that Oleksandr Zahrebelnyi personally engaged in acts of subversion.' (File) A man who came from Ukraine to North Bay, Ont., in 2017 has been denied permanent residency in Canada because he was a former member of the Ukrainian Secret Service, known as the SBU. Oleksandr Zahrebelnyi was open about his role with the SBU when he applied for permanent residency, the Federal Court said in a decision dated July 29. Zahrebelnyi left the SBU and opened a meat processing plant in Ukraine in 2016. 'As conditions in Ukraine deteriorated, he opened a meat processing plant in North Bay … with two business partners and obtained a Canadian work permit in the entrepreneur/self-employed category,' said the court's decision. 'His spouse and three children eventually joined him in Canada.' 'The officer who refused his application acknowledged at several points in the decision that there is no evidence that (Zahrebelnyi) personally engaged in acts of subversion or had any knowledge of such acts perpetrated by the SBU.' — Federal Court decision The Federal Court ruling made it clear that Zahrebelnyi 'is not alleged to carry personal responsibility for committing acts of subversion or any other bases for inadmissibility to Canada.' 'His inadmissibility results from his admitted service and employment with the … SBU between 1998 and 2011,' the decision said. 'The officer who refused his application acknowledged at several points in the decision that there is no evidence that (Zahrebelnyi) personally engaged in acts of subversion or had any knowledge of such acts perpetrated by the SBU.' In a statement to CTV News, Zahrebelnyi said the decision to reject his application was 'unfair and unjustified.' 'It is very difficult to maintain and make any strategic decisions for the business, when the life of my family is in 'limbo,'' he said in an email. His business was thriving Zahrebelnyi employed 20 people at Canada Meat Group in North Bay, and had plans to hire as many as 150 people in an expanded operation, as reported by CTV News in 2022. But those plans were shelved in 2024. The decision to deny him permanent residency in Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act was made on April 10, 2024. The immigration official denied his application on the basis that Zahrebelnyi had been a member of the SBU, which had been 'engaging in an act of subversion against a democratic government, institution or process as they are understood in Canada.' He appealed that decision and said that the denial had a major negative impact on his family and his business. The appeal said the official misinterpreted the meaning of 'subversion' and the more than four years it took to make a decision was an abuse of process. However, the immigration official handling the case ruled that membership in an organization 'that has engaged in subversion against a democratic government, institution or process' was sufficient grounds to deny the application. 'Subversive' actions 'After a detailed analysis, the officer concluded that the SBU was engaged in political repression, obstruction of the media, and election fraud throughout the period of (Zahrebelnyi's) involvement with the SBU,' the court decision said. A central issue of the appeal was the interpretation of the word 'subversive.' The immigration officer interpreted the word as including actions to maintain the status quo in Ukraine, as opposed to actions that accomplish change. The goal of the law is 'the protection of Canadian democracy through the denial of admission to those who have posed a threat anywhere to democratic governments, institutions or processes as they are understood in Canada,' the court said. 'This goal is served by including organizations which may not be internally democratic but are democratic in function, as understood in Canada.' Those organizations include the free media, the electoral process and opposition parties. The intent of the SBU was, in part, to actively repress these groups. The immigration officer provided internet links that showed the SBU 'illegally surveilled and interfered with Ukrainian parliamentarians in the early 2000s.' Other links showed that agents were hired to collect information on investigative journalists 'that threatened the interest of the political and economic elites.' The appeal also argued that the length it took to get a decision was unreasonable -- more than four years after Zahrebelnyi made the application in 2020 -- and amounted to an abuse of process. But the Federal Court ruled that there was 'insufficient evidence that it was characterized by the disruption to family life, loss of work, business opportunities or severe psychological harm that would amount to an abuse of process.' 'In the present case, while there is evidence of anxiety caused by the delay, the other consequences are the result of the unfavourable result of the investigation into the principal applicant's inadmissibility rather than the delay itself,' the decision said. Read the full decision here.
