Latest news with #CortezMartinez
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
DACA recipient returns home to Kansas City metro after deportation to Mexico
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — On Monday, FOX4 shared how a Roeland Park, Kansas man was after visiting family in neighboring Mexico. Evenezer Cortez Martinez is a DACA recipient and has had renewal status for over a decade. His latest application was valid through October 2026. More KC-area orgs impacted by cuts to Museum and Library Services It was a short trip he was allowed and approved to take, according to his attorneys. Yet, he was denied returning home after touching down in Dallas. He was sent back to Mexico City the same day. 'We've been telling people to be very cautious about traveling, and I think a lot of these things that are occurring are so unprecedented, in terms of, normalcy seems to be up in the air a little bit,' Rekha Sharma-Crawford, a Kansas City attorney, said Tuesday. As of Tuesday, he's back with his Kansas family. 'I feel safer here,' Cortez Martinez shared with FOX4 on the emotional embrace with his family at the airport. 'There's peace in my heart, like how happy.' Cortez Martinez says being in Mexico City felt frustrating, not knowing what would be next. He was gone a little over two weeks, on a trip that was only supposed to last a few days. He was in Mexico City to visit a grandparent's grave. 'When I was little, he would always take me with him and show me around what he used to do and all that,' Cortiz Martinez said about his grandfather. 'I wanted to show my respect to him because he was the one who helped me out, too.' His legal counsel, Rekha Sharma-Crawford, said the situation he was in shouldn't have been an issue at all. 'He had all the proper requirements. He met all the proper requirements. He did all the things correctly,' Sharma-Crawford said. 'There really shouldn't have been anything that required, not only for him to go through what he went through, and what his family went through, but for the courts to have to intervene in order to get us a favorable resolution.' Cortez Martinez was back home within a week of the Sharma Crawford legal team on the case. The reason he was denied re-entry was regarding a past 'order of absentia', one that Cortez Martinez says he never knew about. 'They just told me I had that order of removal; I think it was. Like I was telling my lawyer, and I was even telling CBP (Customs and Border Protection), I didn't know I had that order,' Cortez Martinez shared. 'I was surprised also. I had been renewing every two years, and I never had that problem.' 'It's not just a number. It's not just rhetoric. It's not just political speech. It's real life, a real family,' Shama-Crawford shared with FOX4 Wednesday. 'These moments, it's what keeps us going, I really do think that. We are grateful that we were able to connect with him and his family and we were able to get him the help that he needed.' Parents of boy who fell to death from Independence Towers file lawsuit Sharma-Crawford tells FOX4 the lawsuit has now been resolved. 'I'm just grateful that God is good. He put the right person to help me during this process,' he said, talking about Sharma-Crawford and her assistant, Fernando. 'Thank you for that team. They went beyond helping me come back.' Sharma-Crawford said, 'The goal was to have the government recognize the validity of the documents that he held, and the legality of the documents that he held, and that's what occurred here.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Man deported after visiting family grave in Mexico is back in Kansas City
Evenezer Cortez Martinez is back on U.S. soil, landing in Kansas City Tuesday afternoon after being deported. The DACA recipient and Kansas father of three feared that he wouldn't be able to return from Mexico, a country he left at the age of 4. His Roeland Park family embraced in a tearful and joyful reunion at Kansas City International airport. U.S. Customs and Border Protection had stopped Cortez Martinez at the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport more than two weeks ago, after he took a short trip to Mexico to visit his grandfather's grave. He was trying to return to Kansas City. Instead, he was detained and questioned, then put back on a plane to Mexico City on March 23. Cortez Martinez is a recipient of DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. He had never been back to his birth nation, having been brought to the U.S. by his parents as a toddler. His farmworker father tended grapevines in California. Prior to his scheduled trip to Mexico, Cortez Martinez had applied for and received permission to travel and return to the U.S., a process called 'advance parole.' Kansas City-area man deported after visiting grandfather's grave in Mexico His case is an example of an immigrant who 'did everything the right way' and still ran into problems, said Rekha Sharma-Crawford, the Kansas City-based immigration attorney who filed a lawsuit April 2 on behalf of Cortez Martinez with the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Texas. The case, first reported by The Beacon, drew national attention. 'The lawsuit has been dismissed because you are home and that was really the point of the lawsuit,' Sharma-Crawford told her client at the airport. The government had asked for time to respond, indicating that the issue could be resolved without the judge hearing the case, said Sharma-Crawford. There seemed to be some confusion at the time when he was detained in Dallas, Cortez Martinez recalled, because a supervisor had been called over. Still, Cortez Martinez said he was told that he'd been ordered removed in absentia on June 11, 2024, and that his documents allowing him to travel had been issued in error. Cortez Martinez said he was never made aware of that order. 'I never got any notice,' he said. 'I check everything because there is all of the paper that we get for DACA renewal.' His current DACA is valid until October 2026. Cortez Martinez will now have an opportunity to resolve the re-calendaring of removal proceedings in Kansas City's immigration court, said Sharma-Crawford. 'I trust you,' Cortez Martinez said to Sharma-Crawford. 'Let's talk as soon as possible.' His children carried a poster they'd made, each signing a note to their father. They also brought mylar 'Happy Birthday' balloons. Cortez Martinez turned 40 while he was gone. Several other family members also had recent birthdays. Laughing, Cortez Martinez hugged his wife and declared, 'We'll have one single party.' This article first appeared on Beacon: Kansas City and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Yahoo
Lawsuit filed after Kansas City metro man, DACA recipient is deported to Mexico
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Kansas man and his Kansas City based attorney have filed a lawsuit in the Dallas Division of the Northern District of Texas. Evenezer Cortez Martinez, is a Roeland Park, Kansas resident. He's also a DACA recipient. Among the defendants include the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection. There are also a few U.S. Officials in the suit too. Man sentenced in 2023 deadly stabbing in Olathe On March 23, 2025, Cortez Martinez arrived at the Dallas Fort Worth Airport on a flight from Mexico City. He was gone a couple of days while visiting family after his grandfather died. Court documents say he had his approved DACA application and a legally valid advance parole document (travel document)—which was valid until April 14, 2025—with him. After arriving in the United States, Cortez Martinez appeared for inspection different times and was questioned. He gave his documents to authorities. His attorneys say he 'cooperated and truthfully answered' officers questions. Cortez Martinez was then denied entry into the United States, indicating that he was 'inadmissible to the United States pursuant to section 212(a)(7)(A)(i)(I) of the INA as an immigrant without an immigrant visa based on the fact that [he had been] ordered removed in absentia on June 11, 2024.' They further determined that Mr. Cortez Martinez's advance parole document was issued in error, and therefore he was subject to an expedited removal order for failing to be in possession of a valid entry document, the suit states. Family of man killed in 2022 Missouri train derailment settles lawsuit with Amtrak It's unclear if there was a hearing in the June 2024 absentia situation, or what came from it. His attorneys allege denying his entry into the United States was based on an official's 'incorrect determination that the existence of a removal order in and of itself abated the ability of USCIS to issue a valid advance parole document.' They also say he had no hearing or opportunity to contest his denial for reentry into the US. He was escorted to another flight and was returned to Mexico the same day. Documents say Cortez Martinez had not been back to Mexico since he was four years old. Since this incident, his attorneys say his DACA benefits are at risk. His advance parole document (travel document) is also only valid until April 14 of this year. The defendants have prevented Cortez Martinez from having his case heard by an immigration judge, the suit says, along with any procedural due process. He had been in the United States for over 35 years. His latest DACA application was valid through October 22, 2026. The suit says it seeks 'declaratory, injunctive and mandamus relief to find that the Defendants actions were arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law when they confiscated Plaintiff's validly issued advance parole documents, improperly subjected him to expedited removal proceedings without hearing, and removed him from the United States on March 23, 2025 at the Dallas Fort Worth Airport.' Missouri contractor to pay nearly $300,000 after teen worker's deadly fall in 2023 Documents say officials also wrote the word 'deported' in his Mexican passport. 'Non-citizens who came to the United States as children and met several guidelines may request consideration for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), an exercise of prosecutorial discretion, providing temporary relief from deportation (deferred action) and work authorization. Once approved, DACA benefits also include the ability to seek advance parole for travel,' the lawsuit filed on April 2 reads. Rui Xu, Democrat for Kansas House District 25, posted remarks about this situation on Facebook Monday: 'A Roeland Park DACA recipient was deported last month by the Trump Administration after visiting his grandfather's gravesite. We knew this Administration's immigration policies would be cruel, but this is the ripping apart of a life, a family, and a community for no reason other than to stoke fear and score political points. This father grew up here. He went to school here, his kids go to school here. He contributed, he belonged, and he dared to believe that America was his home—because it was. There is no justice in this decision. We must keep fighting every day against the insane and cruel policies of President Trump.' You can learn more about DACA here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Kansas City-area man deported after visiting grandfather's grave in Mexico
A family photo of Evenezer Cortez Martinez, pictured on the far right, with his wife and children. The Roeland Park family is now awaiting a federal lawsuit filed on his behalf. Despite having DACA status and permission to travel, the husband and father was detained, deported and denied entry back to the U.S. after a trip to Mexico (photo submitted). Evenezer Cortez Martinez wanted to pay respects to a beloved grandfather who died last fall. He ended up deported, sent back to Mexico, a country the 39-year-old Kansas husband and father left at the age of 4. 'Everything was approved, and I arrived here with no problem,' said Cortez Martinez, a DACA recipient, in a phone interview from Cuernavaca, a city south of Mexico City. On March 23, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials stopped Cortez Martinez at the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport as he presented documents to board a flight back to Kansas City. He was held, questioned and put on a flight to Mexico City that evening. 'I asked them, 'Can I just call my lawyer and try to see if I can work things out,'' Cortez Martinez said. 'They said, 'No, you don't have that option.'' His attorney argues otherwise, filing a case Wednesday, April 2, with a Texas federal court. 'How many others are out there that this has also happened to, but who didn't have the ability to get counsel?' said Rekha Sharma-Crawford, the Kansas City-based attorney who filed the case in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Texas. 'The law is on his side.' The case could become a test of the limits of the Trump administration's reach. Advocates argue the administration's zeal to deport is increasingly overstepping, scooping up immigrants, even those legally present, and not allowing due process. The lawsuit seeks 'declaratory, injunctive and mandamus relief to find that Defendants actions were arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law.' It's filed against the U.S. Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol and other government officials. U.S. Immigration officials do not generally comment on specific cases. But in a statement released to NPR recently, Customs and Border Protection argued it was merely enforcing the law. 'Those who violate these laws will be processed, detained, and removed as required,' CBP Assistant Commissioner Hilton Beckham said in the statement. Customs agents in Dallas told Cortez Martinez that he had been ordered removed in absentia on June 11, 2024, and that his documents to travel had been issued in error. Cortez Martinez said he had never been notified of a removal order, which is the legal term for what most people colloquially refer to as deportation. The Roeland Park, Kansas, resident is staying with the one Mexico relative he knows, an uncle. Cortez Martinez is believed to be the first Kansas City-area case of a DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) recipient caught in the Trump administration's vow to deport millions of people. The latest Trump plan is called Operation Take Back America. The lawsuit argues that Cortez Martinez has the right to appear before an immigration judge. 'Under current regulations, a holder of an Advance Parole document cannot be barred from the country (removed) without a formal removal hearing before an Immigration Judge,' the suit states. Advance parole is the process Cortez Martinez went through, with the aid of an attorney, to travel outside of the U.S. as a DACA recipient. His recurring two-year renewals of DACA had been approved by the government like clockwork. His current DACA is valid until October 2026. DACA was designed by the Obama administration in 2012. It was meant to be a carveout for immigrants known as 'Dreamers,' those who'd been brought to the U.S. as young children, without legal status. DACA is a temporary reprieve from deportation. It also allows for work authorization and for people to apply for travel outside of the country, through advance parole. The removal order the government cited is from June 2024. 'He's not hiding, Sharma-Crawford said. 'He's doing everything that he's supposed to be doing.' Cortez Martinez has lived in the Kansas City area for nearly 20 years. His wife, child and stepchildren are anxiously waiting for his return to their suburban home. Cortez Martinez's case is the first deportation of a Kansas City-area DACA recipient that Nubia Estefes is aware of occurring. 'It's one of our fears,' said Estefes, executive director of the Kansas Missouri Dream Alliance, an advocacy group for 'Dreamers.' Before Trump took office, a few other area DACA recipients traveled back to their birth nations on the same documents that Cortez Martinez used, advance parole. The trips were taken with counsel by attorneys, to ensure that nothing could be resurrected in their history as a rationale for deportation, Estefes said. 'It's personal discretion on the part of the officers,' she said of the scrutiny that occurs at Customs. News stories that even documented people have been deported are alarming the immigrant community. 'We're definitely siding with the cautious side,' Estefes said. 'If you don't have to go, if it's not life or death, I would suggest you wait it out.' El Centro, a Kansas social service agency, is also advising immigrants to be careful. Justin Gust, vice president of community engagement, said the agency is continuing the help with DACA renewal applications. But even immigrants who are legal permanent residents are being advised to take precautions, especially when traveling. 'It just seems like everything is unknown these days,' Gust said. 'What was a protected status, or a protected issue, is no longer protected.' People are disabling face recognition or a thumbprint to open their cellphone, as a safeguard against having their data combed for anything a customs agent might deem offensive to the Trump administration's goals. 'We're advising people that they really do need to talk to their lawyer first and don't go just to go, because you definitely need to know that you can come back,' Gust said. Cortez Martinez's sole memory of his native Mexico is a limited one, possibly bolstered more by family stories than a true memory. But his grandfather is central. Cornelio Martinez Dominguez owned a panaderia, a bakery. 'I've been told that every time the bread was ready, I'd run to my grandpa,' Cortez Martinez said. Through the years, he spoke with his grandfather by phone. But he'd never returned to Mexico. Sharma-Crawford first contacted the CBP Watch Commander at the Dallas Fort Worth airport, seeing if the office would intervene. She did not receive a reply. 'There are real questions if he was properly notified,' she said of Martinez's order of removal. Still, the existence of the order wouldn't negate his right to be granted advance parole, she said. Sharma-Crawford suspects that the Trump administration has begun re-calendaring removal cases that had previously been closed. 'I never got any notice,' Cortez Martinez said of the removal order. 'I never got any citations to go see a judge.' Cortez Martinez received the approval to travel from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in early March. The document is valid until April 14, 2025, according to the lawsuit. Still, he had been initially hesitant to take the trip. He only considered doing so, as his grandfather's health worsened. In November, his grandfather died before the paperwork was approved. The visit was shortened to a three-day excursion, just enough time to reach the cemetery a few hours outside of Mexico City, and then return to Kansas City. 'That's the grandpa I wanted to be able to say goodbye to,' Cortez Martinez said. This article first appeared on Beacon: Kansas City and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
