NYC says it will support Bronx student from Venezuela detained after attending immigration hearing
New York City said it is standing behind a Bronx high school student from Venezuela who was detained last month by immigration agents after attending a routine court hearing.
The city filed an amicus brief on behalf of Dylan Lopez Contreras, a 20-year-old student at Ellis Preparatory Academy, arguing that he is being detained without cause and in violation of his right to due process.
Contreras has no criminal history and was pursuing a green card, according to the city's Monday news release. He is being held at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania.
"Dylan Lopez Contreras was going through the exact legal proceeding that we encourage new arrivals to go through in order to be able to work and provide for their families — and even accessed the center that we created for migrants to be able to avoid city shelters and become independent," Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement.
"But instead of being rewarded for following the law, he was punished for doing what we all asked him to do," the mayor added.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a post on X that Contreras illegally entered the country more than a year ago, and that under the Biden administration, he was encountered at the border and released into the U.S. He was detained on May 21 and placed in expedited removal proceedings.
"Biden ignored the law and chose to release millions of illegal aliens, including violent criminals, into the country with a notice to appear before an immigration judge. ICE is now following the law and placing these illegal aliens in expedited removal, as they always should have been," DHS said.
"If individuals have a valid, credible fear claim, they will continue in immigration proceedings, but if no valid claim is found, aliens will be subject to a swift deportation," the DHS added.
DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the city's amicus brief.
The New York Legal Assistance Group, which is representing Contreras, said he came to the U.S. legally to seek asylum and is arguing for his immediate release.
The brief said that using Contreras' mandatory immigration hearing as an opportunity to detain him "threatens to deter people from accessing the court system on which local governance depends."
Detaining migrants immediately after their court hearings has become one of the tactics used under President Donald Trump's mass deportation operation. Billy Botch, who works for the American Friends Service Committee Florida, previously told NBC News that the arrests happen almost immediately after the person's case is closed or dismissed.
Contreras arrived in the city in the spring of 2024, according to the brief. He has accessed multiple services intended to help immigrants, including visiting a city asylum help center and attending a program at Ellis Prep to help him learn English, the brief stated.
He was also working part-time to help support his family, the brief added.
Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., said Contreras was "by every standard, contributing to his community and making good on the promise of the American dream." Torres demanded an explanation from the Trump administration.
City council member Carmen De La Rosa said Contreras should be "in school with his friends, not shuffled around a disgraceful immigration system."
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South Wales Guardian
5 hours ago
- South Wales Guardian
Teenager who died in ‘hit and run' had just arrived in UK ‘for a better future'
Abdullah Yaser Abdullah Al Yazidi was walking along Staniforth Road, in the Darnall area of Sheffield, on Wednesday afternoon when he was hit by an Audi car which appeared to be driving on the wrong side of the road at three electric bikes. The car also hit one of the bikes, leaving an 18-year-old man with serious injuries, before leaving the scene. Police are continuing to question a 20-year-old man on suspicion of murder and attempted murder after he was arrested in Kent on Thursday. On Friday, South Yorkshire Police said a second man, aged 26, who had been arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender has now been re-arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder. Relatives and friends of Abdullah said he was devoted to his family and would 'light up their faces with a big smile'. He arrived in the UK from Yemen two or three months ago, and had devoted himself to learning English ahead of starting at college in September. Abdullah's relative Saleh Alsirkal runs the corner shop on Staniforth Road which the teenager visited just before the crash. He said he had had a hospital appointment earlier in the afternoon and popped into the store, as he often did, before heading off to find some food. Mr Alsirkal said: 'His dad brought him over to change his life, to get a better future for his son, but this has happened and destroyed everything. 'God bless him. He's is in a better place than this place. Good has chosen him.' He said: 'I want to thank everybody for their support. Everyone has come together and this has helped the family.' Mr Alsirkal said Abdullah was a 'kind boy' who just wanted to look after his family, including his three sisters. He said he was really enjoying learning English. 'Every time he had a new word to learn he was so excited about it,' he said. 'It meant a lot to him and he learned quick. Sometimes he would stay in the shop just so he could talk to people. He tried to be friends with everyone.' He said: 'He wanted to be the main guy for the family. He was 16-years-old but he was a clever man. I would call him a man.' Abdullah's friend Oasmah Thabet said: 'What I can tell you for certain about him is that he really cared for his family. 'You can really tell the character of somebody by the support they give to their family. 'It just shows the gratitude he had, and he spread that gratitude to the people around that community. 'To the people who would come around and just say hello to him, he would light up their faces with a big smile.' Mr Thabet said: 'He was here for a few months and was starting the learn English as well. 'I'd like to think that we related in the sense that both our families migrated from Yemen to here. 'The reason our family came here was for a better life – to live the dream. 'For something to happen like this and for your dreams to be cut so short, it's a tragic loss for the family and it's a just a shock that can't be described.' He said that every family in the area was thinking 'what if it's my kid next'. 'That's something that no parent should ever feel,' he said. Detectives have said they believe a grey Audi drove towards three electric bikes, colliding with one rider, who suffered serious injuries which are not thought to be life-threatening, before hitting Abdullah. Detective Chief Inspector Benjamin Wood said: 'This is a heartbreaking case in which a completely innocent boy has lost his life. 'Our thoughts remain with Abdullah's family and our priority is securing justice for them. 'A murder investigation has been launched and we have a team of detectives working around the clock. 'I am renewing our message to not share footage of this incident which may cause further distress to Abdullah's loved ones.' Mr Wood asked for anyone with footage or information to contact officers and said he was keen to hear from the riders of two electric bikes who were in the area at the time. Two people, a man, aged 46, and a woman, aged 45, arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender have both been bailed pending further inquiries, police said.
The Guardian
5 hours ago
- The Guardian
Kristi Noem: the made-for-TV official executing Trump's mass deportations
Little more than a year ago, Kristi Noem's political prospects appeared to be in freefall. The then South Dakota governor was criss-crossing the country on an ill-fated book tour, widely seen, at least initially, as an audition to be Donald Trump's running mate. Instead, Noem found herself on the defensive – a position Trump never likes to be in – after revealing in her memoir that she had shot the family's 'untrainable' hunting dog, a 14-month old wirehair pointer named Cricket. Even in Trumpworld, where controversy can be a form of currency, the disclosure shocked. In the weeks that followed, she faded from contention and the breathless veepstakes rumor mill moved on. By the time Trump selected JD Vance as his vice-presidential nominee, Noem's path forward on the national stage was unclear. But a year is a lifetime in politics, the saying goes. It is even more true today, in Trump's warp speed Washington, where Noem now leads the sprawling department at the heart of the president's hardline vision to carry out largest deportation campaign in American history. Since assuming office as the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in January, Noem has played a starring role in the second Trump administration, executing the White House's immigration agenda with fierce loyalty Trumpian defiance and a made-for-TV style. Her approach has been hailed by supporters as a full-throttle push to 'Make America Safe Again' and condemned by critics as theatrical posturing with cruel – and possibly unlawful – consequences. The department oversees a vast portfolio, with a workforce of 260,000 spread across 22 federal agencies, including the Secret Service, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) and the nation's premier cybersecurity agency. Yet immigration has dominated her tenure. In her first days in office, Noem, 53, revoked several Biden-era programs and policies – among them initiatives crafted in response to a global rise in migration that brought record numbers of people to the US-Mexico border and helped seed the political ground for Trump's comeback in 2024. She has also deputized personnel from across federal agencies and enlisted local law enforcement to expand the administration's deportation operations. And she has been front and center in many of the administration's most closely watched legal clashes, including in the case of a Maryland man mistakenly deported to a prison in El Salvador. On Friday, in a stunning reversal by the administration, he was returned to the US, where he now faces criminal charges. 'Justice awaits this Salvadoran man,' Noem declared on X. At the department, Noem has embraced the role of high-profile surrogate. She has toured the southern border on horseback, wearing a cowboy hat, and on an ATV, camera in tow. During a recent international tour, Noem met with world leaders, served a Memorial Day meal to coast guard personnel at a base in Bahrain, and squeezed in a camel ride. While in Poland, she delivered a highly unusual endorsement of the nationalist presidential candidate, Karol Nawrocki. 'Donald Trump is a strong leader for us, but you have an opportunity to have just as strong of a leader in Karol, if you make him the leader of this country,' she said at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Warsaw. (He won.) But it has hardly been entirely smooth sailing. During a recent Senate hearing, Noem botched a question about habeas corpus – the legal right of people detained by the government to challenge their detention, guaranteed in the constitution. When she claimed habeas corpus was the president's 'constitutional right' to deport people, the Democratic senator of New Hampshire Maggie Hassan, interjected: 'That's incorrect.' Such is the trajectory of an administration official in Trump's 'central casting' cabinet – a camera-ready cast that includes Fox News personalities, a wrestling impresario and a Kennedy – all of whom serve at the pleasure of a president who prizes public displays of adulation and, perhaps above all else, unblinking execution of his agenda. DHS maintains that under Noem's stewardship, the department has returned to its 'core mission of securing the homeland'. 'The world is hearing our message,' said DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin, pointing to record-low border crossings since Trump took office. 'Thanks to President Trump and Secretary Noem, we have the most secure border in history.' But critics say her approach marks a striking departure from the way past secretaries have led the department. 'The secretary went before Congress and gave an incorrect definition of habeas corpus,' said Nayna Gupta, policy director at the nonpartisan immigration advocacy group the American Immigration Council. 'That level of incompetence paired with the political theater, I think, is quite distinct from prior administrations.' Noem's first months on the job have played out like a rolling production, broadcast across the official social media accounts of the homeland security secretary. Noem, dressed in tactical gear, accompanied agents on a pre-dawn raid in New York, live-tweeting the operation as it unfolded. In February, she toured a nascent tent camp at Guantánamo Bay erected as part of the administration's costly – and controversial – mission to detain people at the US navy base in south-eastern Cuba. In April, Chaya Raichik, the far-right activist behind the LibsofTikTok account, joined Noem for a 'sting operation' in Phoenix. In a social media post, a flak jacket-clad Noem cheered the arrests of 'Human traffickers. Drug Smugglers. 18th Street Gang members' while toting a semi-automatic rifle pointed toward an agent's head. 'Kristi Noem doesn't know how to hold a gun or run the Department of Homeland Security,' the Arizona senator Ruben Gallego, a Democrat who served as a lance corporal in the US Marines, chided on X. At a recent Senate hearing, Noem defended her travel, saying that her on-the-ground presence 'meant the world' to staff and personnel after four years of what she has described as neglect by Biden administration officials. But even allies have occasionally winced at the pageantry. Conservative media personality Megyn Kelly said Noem was doing an 'amazing' job protecting the homeland, but, on an episode of her eponymous podcast, begged her not to 'cosplay Ice agent'. The former Fox News host, gesturing to her own cascading tresses and studio make-up, said of Noem: 'She looks like I look right now, but she's out in the field with her gun being like: 'We're gonna go kick some ass.'' 'Just stop trying to glamorize the mission,' Kelly advised. Noem has long been deliberate about shaping her public image. As governor in 2019, she installed a 'six-figure TV studio' in the basement of South Dakota's capitol building, according to a local news investigation. (Noem's office told the outlet the expense was far less than flying to the nearest studio for her frequent Fox News appearances.) In her second term, she starred in a series of workforce recruitment ads, appearing as a nurse, a plumber and a highway patrol officer in an effort to attract job seekers to the state. 'Kristi Noem, you might say, is very public-facing,' said Jon Schaff, a political science professor at Northern State University in South Dakota, who has observed Noem's political career. 'She likes the celebrity aspects of politics.' It's a trait she shares with her boss, the former host of The Apprentice. As his homeland security chief, Noem said Trump asked her to cut a series of ads that amplify the administration's message. She obliged. In February, DHS launched a multimillion dollar international ad campaign in which Noem warns undocumented immigrants living in the country to 'leave now' or the government will 'hunt you down'. DHS says the ads have had an impact. While the department did not provide statistics, Tom Homan, the border czar, recently told reporters that at least 8,500 people have self-deported through the government's 'CBP Home' app and estimated that 'thousands' more were leaving without notice. In March, Noem delivered the message in person. Amid a legal standoff over the administration's decision to deport scores of Venezuelans to El Salvador under an 18th-century wartime law, the secretary traveled to the country. Wearing combat boots, an Ice baseball cap and a $50,000 Rolex on her wrist, she toured a notorious Salvadorian prison holding scores of Venezuelan migrants deported from the US. Standing in front of a cell packed with prisoners bare from the waist up, Noem spoke into the camera: 'If you come to our country illegally, this is one of the consequences you could face.' On Wednesday, a federal judge ruled that the men sent to El Salvador must be given a chance to challenge their removals, finding that many had likely been imprisoned on the basis of 'flimsy, even frivolous, accusations' of gang membership. DHS said it provides adequate due process to all deportees. In public statements, officials at DHS and the White House repeat that their mass removal effort targets the 'worst of the worst'. 'We are focusing on dangerous criminals,' Noem said during a Sunday appearance on Fox News. 'We are going out there and ensuring that people that repeatedly break our laws are being held accountable.' But the far-reaching campaign has ensnared legal residents, children with cancer and even US citizens. In multiple instances, the administration has blamed 'administrative errors' for deporting Salvadorians who had court orders protecting them from removal. This week, the government returned to the US a Guatemalan man wrongfully deported to Mexico. 'The administration wants to project fear and cruelty, with no limits as to how far they will go,' said Vanessa Cárdenas, executive director of the pro-immigration advocacy group America's Voice. 'It's working in the sense that it is creating fear. There are pockets of communities that are changing their whole lives to adjust to the fact that our government is now using all its levers to go after immigrants.' A self-described 'farm kid' who took over her family's ranch after her father's sudden death, Noem catapulted to national prominence during the Covid pandemic. As governor of South Dakota, she mirrored Trump's handling of the virus, denouncing mask mandates and stay-at-home orders even as her state struggled, at times mightily, to contain its spread. In 2020, Noem feted Trump in South Dakota with a star-spangled Independence Day celebration. It was then that Noem famously gifted him a 4ft replica of Mount Rushmore that depicted his likeness alongside the faces of the four presidents carved into the granite over the Black Hills of South Dakota. 'At that point, she went all in and being Maga really became a part of her image,' Schaff said. Noem worked studiously to burnish her national profile, becoming a regular presence in conservative media. She adopted Trump's rhetoric, especially on border security. Despite South Dakota's considerable distance from the US-Mexico border – roughly 1,000 miles north – Noem made the issue a top priority. 'South Dakota is directly affected by this invasion,' she declared in an address last year. In 2021, Noem deployed South Dakota national guard troops to Texas to assist with the state's border enforcement efforts. Yet residents recall that she did not deploy them to help recovery efforts after historic summer floods. Until recently, Noem was banned from setting foot on tribal lands in her state, after accusing tribal leaders of complicity with drug cartels – an allegation they strongly deny. During her Senate confirmation hearing, held days before Trump was sworn in, Democrats questioned her credentials for leading the vast department responsible for border enforcement, disaster response and federal protection. Noem acknowledged her nomination may have come as a 'bit of a surprise'. But she said she had asked Trump directly for the position because it was his 'No 1 priority'. The job, she said, required someone 'strong enough' to carry out the president's hardline immigration agenda. So far, Noem has proven to be a faithful executor, carving out a role that is part enforcer-in-chief, part high-wattage messenger. In an early interview, she vowed to leverage the 'broad and extensive' authorities at her disposal. With Noem at the helm, DHS has targeted blue states and cities over their sanctuary city policies, escalated the administration's feud with Harvard by moving to block the university from admitting international students, and departed from longstanding precedent to allow immigration enforcement in sensitive locations, such as places of worship, schools and hospitals. In visceral scenes, masked Ice agents in plain clothes have arrested foreign students and academics on the streets. Internally, Noem has administered polygraph tests to uncover leaks to the press about upcoming immigration raids. She works with Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff and chief architect of Trump's immigration strategy, as well as 'border czar' Homan, both empowered by the president to help meet the administration's immigration crackdown. Though Noem frequently touts the administration's success removing, in the secretary's words, 'dirt bags' and 'sickos', the White House has expressed disappointment with the pace of deportations. In a tense meeting with immigration officials last month, Noem and Miller announced an aggressive new target: demanding that federal agents more than triple their arrest figures from earlier this year to 3,000 people a day. Internal emails obtained by the Guardian show senior officials at Ice have instructed staff to 'turn the creative knob up to 11' as the agency scrambles to ramp up arrests. On Tuesday, Ice reportedly detained more than 2,200 people in a single day – an agency record. Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement that the president was 'thankful for Secretary Noem's partnership in fulfilling one of his most important promises to the American people: deporting illegal aliens'. She continued: 'The Trump administration takes this promise seriously and will continue working to supercharge the pace of deportations and Make America safe again.' As the Trump administration turns to increasingly aggressive deportation tactics, federal courts are pushing back, with Noem's DHS at the center of the legal firestorm. In a ruling last month, a federal judge found DHS had 'unquestionably' violated a court order on deportations to third countries. In response to the growing number of challenges to the administration's immigration policies, Noem has largely channeled the president's defiant posture. 'Suck it,' she gloated on X, after a lawsuit against the department involving detained migrants was voluntarily dismissed. While courts have hindered Trump's mass removal effort, the supreme court handed the administration a major victory last week, temporarily allowing the US to strip provisional legal protections from hundreds of thousands of immigrants who left dangerous and unstable countries, potentially exposing them to deportation. On Wednesday, Trump unveiled a sweeping new travel ban targeting 12 countries, many of them majority-Muslim or African, framing the order as a response to the recent attack at an event in Boulder, Colorado, honoring Israeli hostages. In a video posted on social media, Noem announced that US immigration authorities had taken the family of the Egyptian national charged in the attack into federal custody. Within 24 hours, a federal judge blocked their deportation, citing constitutional concerns and warning that their swift removal could violate their due process. 'The actions of this secretary have been manifestly and almost universally determined to be unlawful and unconstitutional,' said Paul Rosenzweig, a former deputy assistant secretary for policy at the DHS. Noem, he said, seemed to be operating on 'political basis alone,' reorienting the department around Trump's priorities. 'This isn't working like it's supposed to,' he said. On Capitol Hill, the Republican-controlled Congress is racing to deliver Trump his 'big, beautiful bill' that would unlock tens of billions of dollars for mass deportations, detention facilities and construction of the border wall. House Republicans, who zealously investigated – and ultimately impeached – Noem's predecessor, Alejandro Mayorkas – have so far shown little appetite for serious oversight inquiries of Trump's cabinet officials. Outside of Washington, public concern is rising. A recent survey found nearly half of Americans believe the administration's deportation polices have 'gone too far'. If Republicans lose the House in next year's midterms, Noem's leadership of DHS would likely face much tougher congressional scrutiny. One Democrat, the representative Delia Ramirez, has already called for Noem's resignation. 'The theatrics of terror and erosion of our constitutional rights are daily DHS violations under Secretary Noem,' Ramirez, who sits on the House homeland security committee, said. Yet the secretary, now firmly re-established at the center of Trump's orbit, appears undeterred. Her embrace of the spotlight – and unflinching execution of Trump's vision – has some wondering whether she's looking even farther ahead, perhaps to 2028, where the battle to become Trump's heir is already taking shape. 'Past secretaries of DHS have wanted to be, not seen, but heard,' Rosenzweig said. 'I'll put it another way, Noem is the first DHS secretary who's running for president.'
Scottish Sun
7 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Daughter reveals chilling phone call made hours after mum vanished 15 years ago – as cops find body buried in garden
A body was found and a woman has been charged with murder NEW EVIDENCE? Daughter reveals chilling phone call made hours after mum vanished 15 years ago – as cops find body buried in garden Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A MYSTERY phone call could prove vital in cracking the cold case of a mum who vanished 15 years ago, The Sun can reveal. Izabela Helena Zabłocka went missing in August 2010, aged 30, after moving to Derbyshire from Poland the previous year. 9 Missing mum Izabela Zabłocka and her daughter Kasia Credit: Kasia Zabłocka 9 Izabela left Poland in 2009 to work in Derby Credit: PA 9 Police launched a murder investigation and said they found human remains Credit: Splash 9 But an investigation wasn't opened by British cops until last month, thanks to a baffling miscommunication gaffe. Once the probe finally kicked into gear, officers made five arrests before finding remains in a back garden and charging a woman with murder on Friday - all within a matter of a couple of weeks. Anna Podedworna, 39, also faces charges of preventing a lawful burial and perverting the course of justice. Now, Izabela's daughter, Kasia, who was just nine when she vanished, has told The Sun about an odd phone conversation she had in the hours after her mum was first reported missing. Kasia and her grandmother would speak to Izabela every day over the phone after her move to Britain - but when she suddenly stopped, they became frantic with worry. The young girl had been continuously trying to contact her mum when an unknown woman answered and told her she didn't know Izabela and hung up. Kasia told us: "It was a conversation of a few seconds, I was only a child. "The woman, as far as I remember, told me that she doesn't know my mother, doesn't know who Izabela is, and hung up." Soon after that, Kasia recalls, the phone was disconnected. Her family - who don't speak English - relayed all of this to Polish cops at the time but the trail eventually ran cold, without any answers about what had happened. Derbyshire Constabulary say the first they heard of Izabela was last month when Kasia, now 25, after years of appeals for help, got in touch on a whim. Body found in search for missing woman who vanished 15 years ago – as suspect, 39, arrested over 'murder' She was as surprised as anyone that British cops hadn't been involved in the case at all - assuming Polish forces must have been liaising with them all these years. And Izabela's case might not be the only one to slip through the cracks. Speaking to The Sun, former top Scotland Yard cop Peter Bleksley said: 'Given all the circumstances, my question is how many more? How many other cases are like this in the UK?' He said it's so easy for someone to move to the UK and then after months or even years disappear but because they're not part of a stable support network, are never reported to police. He added: 'How many more have entered communities, but are murdered and done away with but no one is going to miss them?' Of course, Izabela's family, particularly daughter Kasia, never did give up looking - but were let down by authorities again and again. Speaking to The Sun after remains were found in the garden of a home in Princes Street - a road where Izabela had lived - last week, Kasia had said: 'I definitely want to know the truth as soon as possible.' Her mum, who had called back home every day prior to vanishing on August 29 2010, had communicated to the family she planned to return home imminently. Have YOU got a story or an amazing picture or video? Email exclusive@ and you could even get PAID It's understood Kasia's grandmother had even sent her daughter money to buy a plane ticket but she never arrived and her phone was suddenly deactivated after the strange call. When they reported her missing to Polish cops, it seems they simply assumed she'd made it back to her homeland. They told Izabela's family they checked hospitals and prisons, and over the years did collect DNA samples, including hair from her wedding veil. However, Kasia said the case was then archived in the mid-2010s, and her loved ones feared they would never learn what happened. Mr Bleksley said: 'In terms of the Polish police, they paid it absolute lip service. Not in a hospital, not in a jail, don't really care.' In contrast, he said the investigation by Derbyshire Constabulary 'moved at break neck speed', which is a credit to those involved. 'From it getting reported, even having heard her name for the first time, it's only days until someone has been arrested, re-arrested, and now in custody,' he continued. 'In stark contrast to the Polish police, Derbyshire have taken it very seriously, they must have made a considerable amount of enquiries to rapidly make arrests and nail the correct address, start excavating and unfortunately find remains.' He said he hoped 'despite the passage of time' the remains 'provide a treasure trove of forensic evidence'. 9 Ex Met detective Peter Bleksley Credit: Peter Bleksley 9 Police and forensics searching a property on Princes Street on June 3 Credit: SWNS 9 Kasia spoke to a mystery woman over the phone the day after her mum vanished Credit: Getty Mr Bleksley went on to say: 'It smacks to me that somebody was desperate to tell the police what they knew, and they had been waiting for that knock on the door all that time.' He said the excavation 'will be absolutely painstaking' because 'any tiny microscopic' piece of forensic evidence 'will be crucial to nailing the case'. 'This is almost like a textbook test of modern forensic science,' he added. Asked if he believes Izabela - if the remains prove to be hers - was killed by someone she knew, Mr Bleksley said: 'That is very difficult to speculate. The fact that arrests were made so swiftly, indicates to me that these were people that were known to each other - that I will say… 'I'm not being intentionally flippant here but they are going to solve this. 'Somebody, I feel, is desperate to tell people what they saw. That's why it's galloped forward so quickly. Someone's almost gone 'oh I thought you'd never come - right okay, this is what I saw, this is who did it.'' Mr Bleksley added: 'As much as we criticise our police, and as much as we at times fall short and fail us all, by and large, when it comes to the big, serious, major investigations, they do very well.' He pointed to examples of Brits who have lost loved ones abroad and they've remained unexplained, including Madeleine McCann. 'We sometimes have a lot to be grateful for when it comes to our police force investigating serious crime,' he said. Mr Bleksley also added that had Madeleine - who vanished while on holiday in Portugal in 2007, aged three - gone missing 'under similar circumstances' in the UK, 'that case would have been solved a very long time ago'. During his career he's worked with police forces across the world, including the US, Belgium, France and the Netherlands, sometimes undercover. He championed British forces, in comparison, for their work ethics and systems of investigation. Asked if whilst working in other countries he recognised blindsides in local cops' working, he said: 'I did, which is why I was called in so often to help foreign law enforcement with their cases.' The existence of the likes of Europol, Interpol and the National Crime Agency designed to help police communicate internationally, it may appear archaic that a case like Izabela's can fall through the cracks. 'They can only be effective if the liaison through different countries is good,' said Mr Bleksley. 'In this case, it was appalling to the extent of being non-existent. 'If the Polish police had done their job properly, this case would've been solved years ago.' Asked if it is likely there will be some kind of watchdog probe into what went wrong in Poland, Mr Bleksley said: 'That I don't know, that would be a matter for the family, I'm sure for any forces in the UK, litigation would be pursued, of course, not to mention the complaints procedure. 'I don't know what the situation is in Poland with regards to that. He added: 'There's plenty more embarrassment for the Polish police force coming down the line if this case runs its course and ends up in a trial.' Asked if there's any chance Derbyshire Police were simply mistaken and, despite their assertions, ignored communications with Poland over the years about the case, Mr Bleksley said it's unlikely. 'Everything gets logged these days. Everything goes into the computer system and lives there forever. 'Derbyshire Police wouldn't have been as bullish as they have been by saying we had no trace of this if actually they didn't have any trace.' 'I did everything to publicise my mum's disappearance' Kasia told The Sun last week, prior to the remains discovery: "When Mum went missing, I was 9 years old, I was a child. "It was only when I became an adult that I took up the search for Mum again. "I did everything to publicise my mother's disappearance; it took me a lot of time, but I hope I will find out the truth." She went on to say: "My family reported the case to the Polish police 15 years ago, but now we are finding out that the British police did not receive the report during those 15 years, and they have only just started an investigation. "The Polish police only checked prisons and hospitals and didn't find anything significant, and after a few years, the disappearance case went to the archive." She continued: "I started looking for her on my own as soon as I became an adult. "I started publicising my mother's disappearance in Poland, in the media and on YouTube. I did everything I could, and Polish charities helped me with this. "I started making posters about my mother's disappearance. I wrote to the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in London, and they wrote back that they would check the prisons in England and Wales, but I did not receive any information on whether this was actually checked." The 25-year-old had hoped her mum had simply decided to start a new life, and she would suddenly appear with a new identity. However, those hopes were quashed when murder arrests were made, with Kasia admitting: "I'm very upset by the news I've received, and I'm so sorry that I received this message and not another one. "I've been looking for her for 15 years, and I hope I finally find out the truth." Izabela's last movements 2009 Izabela moves to the UK from Poland 2010 The factory worker is living in Princes Street, Normanton August 28, 2010 She contacts her family for the last time before she vanishes May 2025 Derbyshire Police launch a fresh appeal for information and launch a murder investigation May 28 Two women, aged 39 and 43, as well as a 41-year-old man, are arrested and released on bail June 2 Human remains are found in a garden of a house on the street where Izabela lived June 3 A 39-year-old woman, who was previously arrested on suspicion of murder, is rearrested June 6 Anna Podedworna, 39, has now been charged with murder, preventing a lawful burial and perverting the course of justice Two other women aged 39 and 43, and two men aged 41 and 48, were arrested on suspicion of murder and all remain on police bail pending further inquiries Detective Inspector Kane Martin, who is leading the investigation, said after the body was found: 'Izabela's family are at the forefront of our minds following this discovery and, whilst formal identification has not yet taken place, it is our belief that these remains do belong to Izabela." Mr Martin went on to say: 'We have spoken with Izabela's family in Poland, and they are aware. Our thoughts are with them at this extremely difficult time. 'Identification of the remains is likely to be a lengthy process, but we will issue updates when we are able. 'I know that reports of these findings will send shockwaves through the local community, and I understand the concern of residents. 'Officers will remain in Princes Street in the coming days, and anyone with concerns is encouraged to speak with them." DI Martin explained that a "dedicated team of detectives" would continue their investigation to "piece together information" about the days leading up to Izabela's death. Izabela worked at the former Cranberry Foods chicken and turkey factory in Scropton, around 10 miles west of Derby. Crimestoppers is offering up to £20,000 for exclusive information relating to the investigation that leads to a conviction, with the reward valid for three months until August 27. Anyone with information can contact the charity via its website, or by calling 0800 555 111. Do you know more? Email 9 Cops began searching Princes Street in Derby after making three arrests Credit: Google
