Latest news with #Colombian-Venezuelan
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
'Have mercy': Families plead as migrants arrested at routine DHS check-ins
Outside a nondescript building in downtown Manhattan, Ambar was pleading to God and immigration authorities that her husband Jaen would not walk out the doors of the Elk Street facility in handcuffs. "It's the only thing I ask of God and them, to have mercy for his family. I don't have anyone else. I'm alone with my daughter, I don't want to be separated from him," Ambar told ABC News with tears welling up as her daughter Aranza kept herself distracted on an iPad. But her prayers were not answered. That afternoon, Jaen and two other men were brought outside by masked agents in plainclothes and quickly ushered into unmarked vehicles, with Ambar wailing and making a last plea. Aranza, 12, tried to push past the agents to prevent them from leading him toward the vehicles, tears streaming down her face. ABC News observed the emotional moments as an uncontrollably distraught Ambar threw herself on the ground pleading for her husband to be released. The masked individuals did not respond to multiple questions asked by ABC News regarding what agency they belonged to, why they were covering their faces, and which authority was being invoked to detain the men. But Jaen's lawyer, Margaret Cargioli, says his detention follows a growing pattern of migrants being detained during check-ins with the Department of Homeland Security and being quickly deported under expedited removal. DHS did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for comment. In 2023, ABC News did a sit-down interview with the Colombian-Venezuelan family about their tearful reunion after being separated at the border by U.S. authorities in Texas. Jaen, Ambar and Aranza made the dangerous journey from Colombia hoping to seek asylum in the U.S. "[It was] traumatic," Jaen said during the interview. "It was a risky decision. We knew we had someone to take care of, our daughter. As a family, we felt we didn't have another option." MORE: In a new tactic, ICE is arresting migrants at immigration courts, attorneys say Once they reached the border the family said they were separated and were placed in different types of removal proceedings. Ambar and her daughter said they were eventually released and placed on a bus to Los Angeles, funded by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's Operation Lone Star. Jaen was issued a removal order under the expedited removal process, but Cargioli and other attorneys with Immigrant Defenders Law Center were able to successfully challenge the separation and he was released on humanitarian parole for one year. Cargioli says Jaen has petitioned for asylum, a renewal of parole and a stay of removal but all are pending. Jaen was scheduled for a check-in on June 16 as part of the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP) — an alternative to the detention program run by ICE -- but was unexpectedly told to come in on June 3 or 4, Ambar told ABC News. That raised major red flags for his legal team, who has been monitoring increasing incidents of the Trump administration detaining migrants in the interior of the country and placing them on "expedited removal." The process allows the government to remove migrants in a streamlined manner without requiring them, in some cases, to go before a judge. Under the Biden administration, the process applied to migrants who had entered the U.S. within 14 days and within 100 miles of the border. Under the Trump administration, it has been expanded to apply to migrants anywhere in the interior who have arrived within two years. Jaen and his family entered the United States on June 4, 2023, exactly two years before his latest detention, leading Cargioli to fear he's being placed in expedited removal. Despite asking the ISAP officers where he was going to be detained, and if it was through expedited removal, the attorney says she has not received an answer. Jaen spoke with Ambar on the phone after his detention and said he did not know where he was, but that he was being held at a facility close to where he was detained, Ambar said. MORE: Families separated by Trump's 'zero-tolerance' policy at risk due to lapse in legal services, ACLU argues Ambar and Aranza have an asylum hearing scheduled for June 2028. Cargioli believes Jaen would be with his family if they had not been separated at the border. "If he had not been separated from his family at that stage and put into expedited removal, he would have his case in immigration in New York, in immigration court with her, with both of them," she told ABC News. ISAP check-ins are carried out through a government contractor called BI Incorporated, according to DHS reports. Jaen has been regularly checking in at the Elk Street office since his initial detention, Ambar said. Families with loved ones checking in stand outside the facility hoping they will not be detained. On Wednesday, ABC News saw one woman cry with joy when a relative and her baby walked out with no handcuffs in sight. Another woman was shocked to see her mom being quickly led into one of the vehicles waiting outside the building. "Mom what happened, what is this," the woman asked. The masked agents did not respond to her repeated questions about why her mom was being detained. "I don't understand," the woman yelled. "She didn't do anything. She has a work card." "Who do we speak to…what is going on," she asked as the agents closed the car door and drove off with her mother.
3 days ago
- Politics
'Have mercy': Families plead as migrants arrested at routine DHS check-ins
Outside a nondescript building in downtown Manhattan, Ambar was pleading to God and immigration authorities that her husband Jaen would not walk out the doors of the Elk Street facility in handcuffs. "It's the only thing I ask of God and them, to have mercy for his family. I don't have anyone else. I'm alone with my daughter, I don't want to be separated from him," Ambar told ABC News with tears welling up as her daughter Aranza kept herself distracted on an iPad. But her prayers were not answered. That afternoon, Jaen and two other men were brought outside by masked agents in plainclothes and quickly ushered into unmarked vehicles, with Ambar wailing and making a last plea. Aranza, 12, tried to push past the agents to prevent them from leading him toward the vehicles, tears streaming down her face. ABC News observed the emotional moments as an uncontrollably distraught Ambar threw herself on the ground pleading for her husband to be released. The masked individuals did not respond to multiple questions asked by ABC News regarding what agency they belonged to, why they were covering their faces, and which authority was being invoked to detain the men. But Jaen's lawyer, Margaret Cargioli, says his detention follows a growing pattern of migrants being detained during check-ins with the Department of Homeland Security and being quickly deported under expedited removal. DHS did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for comment. In 2023, ABC News did a sit-down interview with the Colombian-Venezuelan family about their tearful reunion after being separated at the border by U.S. authorities in Texas. Jaen, Ambar and Aranza made the dangerous journey from Colombia hoping to seek asylum in the U.S. "[It was] traumatic," Jaen said during the interview. "It was a risky decision. We knew we had someone to take care of, our daughter. As a family, we felt we didn't have another option." Once they reached the border the family said they were separated and were placed in different types of removal proceedings. Ambar and her daughter said they were eventually released and placed on a bus to Los Angeles, funded by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's Operation Lone Star. Jaen was issued a removal order under the expedited removal process, but Cargioli and other attorneys with Immigrant Defenders Law Center were able to successfully challenge the separation and he was released on humanitarian parole for one year. Cargioli says Jaen has petitioned for asylum, a renewal of parole and a stay of removal but all are pending. Jaen was scheduled for a check-in on June 16 as part of the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP) — an alternative to the detention program run by ICE -- but was unexpectedly told to come in on June 3 or 4, Ambar told ABC News. That raised major red flags for his legal team, who has been monitoring increasing incidents of the Trump administration detaining migrants in the interior of the country and placing them on "expedited removal." The process allows the government to remove migrants in a streamlined manner without requiring them, in some cases, to go before a judge. Under the Biden administration, the process applied to migrants who had entered the U.S. within 14 days and within 100 miles of the border. Under the Trump administration, it has been expanded to apply to migrants anywhere in the interior who have arrived within two years. Jaen and his family entered the United States on June 4, 2023, exactly two years before his latest detention, leading Cargioli to fear he's being placed in expedited removal. Despite asking the ISAP officers where he was going to be detained, and if it was through expedited removal, the attorney says she has not received an answer. Jaen spoke with Ambar on the phone after his detention and said he did not know where he was, but that he was being held at a facility close to where he was detained, Ambar said. Ambar and Aranza have an asylum hearing scheduled for June 2028. Cargioli believes Jaen would be with his family if they had not been separated at the border. "If he had not been separated from his family at that stage and put into expedited removal, he would have his case in immigration in New York, in immigration court with her, with both of them," she told ABC News. ISAP check-ins are carried out through a government contractor called BI Incorporated, according to DHS reports. Jaen has been regularly checking in at the Elk Street office since his initial detention, Ambar said. Families with loved ones checking in stand outside the facility hoping they will not be detained. On Wednesday, ABC News saw one woman cry with joy when a relative and her baby walked out with no handcuffs in sight. Another woman was shocked to see her mom being quickly led into one of the vehicles waiting outside the building. "Mom what happened, what is this," the woman asked. The masked agents did not respond to her repeated questions about why her mom was being detained. "I don't understand," the woman yelled. "She didn't do anything. She has a work card."
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Colombian-Venezuelan held in El Salvador not tied to gang, wife says
STORY: Deicy Aldana says her husband has no ties to criminal gangs. Yet, she says U.S. immigration authorities told her Andres Guillermo Morales was deported from the U.S. over the weekend. And now he, a Colombian-Venezuelan dual citizen, is being held in a high-security prison in El Salvador. "I'm so worried because he's a human being, and they are violating his rights. It's not fair what they are doing to him and the other Venezuelans for being Venezuelans." U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Morales' case. The Trump administration is facing a March 25 deadline to respond to a judicial request for more details on the deportations of hundreds of migrants to El Salvador. This is as U.S. District Judge James Boasberg considers whether officials violated his order temporarily blocking the expulsions. Trump had invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act. He said this allowed him to deport alleged members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. Those migrants are now being held in El Salvador, under an agreement with President Nayib Bukele's government. Families of some of the men said that ICE told them their loved ones have tattoos linked to the violent gang. "I don't know why they sent him there, just for having tattoos, tattoos that are not related to the Tren de Aragua... The tattoos that he had were the name of his mother, the name of his father.' On Thursday, Aldana told Reuters her husband had a legal work permit as part of his U.S. asylum application when he was arrested by ICE in early February. "He's a hard worker. He is a man who fights for his people. I don't know why they connected him to the Tren de Aragua if he has nothing to do with that. He doesn't have a criminal record in Colombia, and he doesn't have a criminal record in Venezuela; if he had one in the United States, they would have left him there to serve time, but he doesn't have any.' Reuters has independently verified Morales' work authorization and was not able to immediately find any U.S. criminal convictions. Aldana, a Colombian citizen, is now staying with her mother across the border in Venezuela. She returned from the U.S. with her two young daughters following her husband's detention. Aldana shared and Reuters confirmed paperwork showing her husband was raised along the two countries' border and has no criminal convictions in Colombia. She says Morales had a signed deportation order for Colombia and was told by that country's San Francisco consulate in that he would be deported to Bogota. "Yesterday, I spoke with the Colombian chancellery, where I explained that he had signed documents, and everything was ready for him to be sent to Bogota. I don't know why they sent him to El Salvador, they told me they were going to be on top of the case, they put me in contact with the consulate of El Salvador. Last night, I received an email from them telling me they would talk to the Salvadoran authorities and soon give him a response. Since then I know nothing more about him, I don't know where he is, I don't know how he is. He was sick, he hadn't received his medicines. I know nothing about him." The Colombian foreign ministry has told Aldana they are following the case. The ministry did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters. 'I will do whatever I can to get him out, to help him get out of where he is."
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Colombian-Venezuelan migrant held in El Salvador has no ties to feared gang, wife says
By Carlos Ramirez SAN ANTONIO DEL TACHIRA, Venezuela (Reuters) - A Colombian-Venezuelan migrant deported from the U.S. over the weekend and being held in a high-security prison in El Salvador has no criminal record or ties to a Venezuelan gang and his rights are being violated, his wife said on Thursday. President Donald Trump's administration is facing a March 25 deadline to respond to a judicial request for more details on the deportations of hundreds of migrants to El Salvador, as Washington-based U.S. District Judge James Boasberg considers whether officials violated his order temporarily blocking the expulsions. Trump had invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, which he said allowed him to deport alleged members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. The migrants are being held in El Salvador under an agreement with President Nayib Bukele's government. Deicy Aldana, 26, said her husband, 26-year-old Colombian-Venezuelan dual citizen Andres Guillermo Morales, had a legal work permit in the United States as part of his U.S. asylum application when he was arrested by ICE in early February. His work authorization was verified independently by Reuters. Aldana, a Colombian citizen, spoke to Reuters in the Venezuelan city of San Antonio del Tachira, just across the border from Colombia, where she is staying with her mother after returning from the U.S. following her husband's detention in an early morning raid in Denver. "He's a hard worker," said Aldana, as she held back sobs. "I don't know why they connected him to the Tren de Aragua if he has nothing to do with that, he doesn't have a criminal record in Colombia, he doesn't have a criminal record in Venezuela, if he had one in the United States they would have left him there to serve time." Aldana shared paperwork showing her husband, who has a Colombian mother and was raised along the two countries' border, has no criminal convictions in Colombia. Reuters confirmed the authenticity of the document with its own records search. Reuters was not able to immediately find any U.S. criminal convictions for Morales either. "I'm so worried because he's a human being and they are violating his rights," Aldana said. "It's not fair what they are doing to him and the other Venezuelans for being Venezuelans." Families of some of the deported men have reported that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) told them their loved ones have tattoos linked to the violent gang. Morales, who worked for an air conditioning company and then a cement company, had multiple tattoos, Aldana said, but none were connected to any gang. He had his parents' names on his arms, with a clock next to his father's, as well as a star and music notes on his neck and a Bible verse on his ribs. ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Morales' case. Aldana, who has two young daughters, said she was told during a call with ICE that her husband is in El Salvador. Morales had a signed deportation order for Colombia and was told by that country's consulate in San Francisco that he would be deported to Bogota, said Aldana. She said her husband later told her he had signed paperwork changing his deportation to Venezuela. The Colombian foreign ministry has told her they are following the case, Aldana said. The ministry did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters. "I will do whatever I can to get him out," she said. "I have proof to show he's not a criminal."
Reuters
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Colombian-Venezuelan migrant held in El Salvador has no ties to feared gang, wife says
SAN ANTONIO DEL TACHIRA, Venezuela, March 20 (Reuters) - A Colombian-Venezuelan migrant deported from the U.S. over the weekend and being held in a high-security prison in El Salvador has no criminal record or ties to a Venezuelan gang and his rights are being violated, his wife said on Thursday. President Donald Trump's administration is facing a March 25 deadline to respond to a judicial request for more details on the deportations of hundreds of migrants to El Salvador, as Washington-based U.S. District Judge James Boasberg considers whether officials violated his order temporarily blocking the expulsions. Trump had invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, which he said allowed him to deport alleged members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. The migrants are being held in El Salvador under an agreement with President Nayib Bukele's government. Deicy Aldana, 26, said her husband, 26-year-old Colombian-Venezuelan dual citizen Andres Guillermo Morales, had a legal work permit in the United States as part of his U.S. asylum application when he was arrested by ICE in early February. His work authorization was verified independently by Reuters. Aldana, a Colombian citizen, spoke to Reuters in the Venezuelan city of San Antonio del Tachira, just across the border from Colombia, where she is staying with her mother after returning from the U.S. following her husband's detention in an early morning raid in Denver. "He's a hard worker," said Aldana, as she held back sobs. "I don't know why they connected him to the Tren de Aragua if he has nothing to do with that, he doesn't have a criminal record in Colombia, he doesn't have a criminal record in Venezuela, if he had one in the United States they would have left him there to serve time." Aldana shared paperwork showing her husband, who has a Colombian mother and was raised along the two countries' border, has no criminal convictions in Colombia. Reuters confirmed the authenticity of the document with its own records search. Reuters was not able to immediately find any U.S. criminal convictions for Morales either. "I'm so worried because he's a human being and they are violating his rights," Aldana said. "It's not fair what they are doing to him and the other Venezuelans for being Venezuelans." Families of some of the deported men have reported that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) told them their loved ones have tattoos linked to the violent gang. Morales, who worked for an air conditioning company and then a cement company, had multiple tattoos, Aldana said, but none were connected to any gang. He had his parents' names on his arms, with a clock next to his father's, as well as a star and music notes on his neck and a Bible verse on his ribs. ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Morales' case. Aldana, who has two young daughters, said she was told during a call with ICE that her husband is in El Salvador. Morales had a signed deportation order for Colombia and was told by that country's consulate in San Francisco that he would be deported to Bogota, said Aldana. She said her husband later told her he had signed paperwork changing his deportation to Venezuela. The Colombian foreign ministry has told her they are following the case, Aldana said. The ministry did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters. "I will do whatever I can to get him out," she said. "I have proof to show he's not a criminal."
