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Gulf Today
3 days ago
- Politics
- Gulf Today
These immigrants fled violence, now harsh reality calls
Carolyn Komatsoulis, Kevin Fixler, Tribune News Service Gregory Bastos remembers being kidnapped along with a friend and beaten by Venezuelan forces for his political activism, not knowing whether he would die. The experience was traumatising, he said, sitting at a cafe in downtown Boise with his wife, Oriana Bastos. The Venezuelan-born couple, both 27, didn't wait long before they crossed the border to Colombia, took a bus to the capital, Bogotá, and flew to Mexico. The two turned themselves in at the US border to request asylum and were detained briefly. Since then, they've been waiting four years for an asylum court date. When a hearing was set for April 10, the two Idaho residents felt like there was an end in sight, finally. But their slot was cancelled a week beforehand because of a judge reassignment, they said, plunging them back into uncertainty. It's been a long road, starting from nothing. Away in the US, Oriana missed the death of her grandmother back home, she said, choking up. Oriana and her husband were both attorneys in South America, but have worked in restaurants and at a hospital locally. She said they've struggled in a different culture, with a different language and with people who aren't always welcoming. And since President Donald Trump retook office, the couple has been dealing with his rhetoric and the ever-changing news cycle. 'He doesn't have any idea what it means to be an immigrant,' Oriana said, in Spanish. 'It's life or death.' Asylum is an internationally recognised protection for people who face persecution in their home countries. The process has long been time consuming. But with the Trump administration's hardening attitude toward immigrants, local lawyers said asylum-seekers are struggling with a more hostile bureaucracy and a chaotic environment. Trump and other members of his administration have said they are trying to make America safer by deporting people and improving security at the US-Mexico border. Gregory and Oriana aren't alone in dealing with the judge's reassignment. Idaho cases are heard in Portland, according to local immigration lawyers, but a Washington state immigration judge used to hear Idaho cases remotely. Then scheduled hearings for Idaho cases started getting cancelled this spring, said Neal Dougherty, a Nampa-based immigration attorney with Ramirez-Smith Law. No official explanation was given. Department of Justice spokesperson Kathryn Mattingly did not answer questions about why those cases were cancelled. Dougherty said, after the reassignment, court dates are now scheduled as far out as 2030. In the past, his clients would wait just two or three years, he said. Some people, like Gregory and Oriana, are still waiting to be rescheduled, he said. Such legal challenges to local asylum-seekers affect more than just Latino communities. People from many other nationalities who are trying to establish legal residency or US citizenship are in the same dilemma. Eddie Hamdard, 30, a native of Afghanistan, received a path to US citizenship through a special immigration visa programme after he assisted the American military during its 20-year war in his home country. He arrived to the US in 2015 and became naturalised in 2020. But he has witnessed past US pledges to grant legal status to his immediate family members stall, and grown more and more frustrated by evolving policies, including sudden changes once Trump re-entered the White House in January. Hamdard, who lives in Boise, has been able to navigate a patchwork of US immigration systems to find routes for his mother, sister and older brother to join him in Idaho. But the status of those applications long remained in flux. And Hamdard has remained unable to find a successful path for his sister's husband. The lack of stability and reliable help and information over the years has severely impacted his and his family's mental health, he told the Statesman. 'My brother feels abandoned by the system he once trusted, while my brother-in-law faces life-threatening risks daily in Afghanistan,' Hamdard said last month. 'Many Afghans perceive US immigration policies as humiliating and dismissive of their sacrifices during US military operations, amplifying feelings of betrayal within our community.' Gregory and Oriana's home state of Táchira, in western Venezuela on the Colombian border, is well-known for its longtime opposition to the country's regime. Both of them protested against the government as part of the political party Acción Democrática. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro took office in 2013 and has presided over the largest economic decline outside of wartime in decades. His critics say he stole an election last year and has imprisoned, tortured and kidnapped people. Millions of Venezuelans have already left in the years since his ascension. Recently, several members of his opposition fled to the US, and the top opposition leader remains in hiding. Inside Venezuela, Gregory and Oriana said they met as law students at a local university. They got married in the US in 2022. 'I believe that us Venezuelans, we don't lose faith,' Oriana said, tearing up. 'That one day it will change and we can go back once again.' Now to be lawyers again, they'd have to save up to attend law school in the US. It's very expensive, they said, especially amid all of their other expenses, including taxes, vehicle costs and sending money home. A dangerous country alone isn't enough for people to qualify for asylum, said J.J. Despain, managing attorney for the Wilner & O'Reilly Boise office. People have to show specific and credible fears to receive protection in the US. Immigrants can either apply on their own or raise asylum as a defense to deportation. For many hoping to stay in the country, asylum is their only legal option, driving up the number of applications, Despain said. The US has just under 2 million open asylum cases, according to the Transaction Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University. Asylum is under the purview of Congress, not the executive branch. But that didn't stop Trump from issuing orders with immediate impacts on asylum-seekers. In his first days, Trump signed an executive order prohibiting people from seeking asylum through the border with Mexico. His administration also shut down a mobile app called CBP One, which had allowed asylum-seekers to schedule appointments. The administration then cancelled the legal status of around 1 million people who had previously entered the country using the app, including some who had pending asylum applications. A recent memo laid out a plan for judges to dismiss asylum cases without a hearing. 'All that matters is if you're an immigrant, you're an enemy,' Oriana said. Trump campaigned on mass deportations and stopping the flow of immigrants into the country. In recent years, public opinion in the US has shifted to a more anti-immigration stance, according to recent Gallup national polling. That changing public opinion is part of what Gregory, Oriana and Hamdard said they find so discouraging about the current political climate. 'The systemic delays and anti-immigration policies have left my family in chaos — struggling to navigate complex legal processes while facing employment barriers and emotional distress,' Hamdard said.
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Yahoo
Idaho man who sold weapons to law enforcement charged with rape, attempted strangulation
A former international arms dealer who sold weapons to law enforcement and lives in Idaho was arrested last month in Canyon County after prosecutors alleged he raped and choked a woman. Jason Wong, who owned Nampa-based company Hurricane Butterfly, was arrested by the Canyon County Sheriff's Office in late February on a warrant after a grand jury indicted him on four felonies, court records showed. Wong, 52, was charged with attempted strangulation, forcible sexual penetration by use of a foreign object and two counts of rape, according to an indictment obtained by the Idaho Statesman. Wong declined to comment and hung up when reached by phone. He directed the Statesman to his attorney. His Boise-based private attorney, Michael Bartlett, denied the allegations against his client in a statement to the Statesman. He added that Wong no longer owns Hurricane Butterfly, which has sold weapons to law enforcement agencies across the country. 'Jason has made the difficult decision to relinquish his ownership interests in Hurricane Butterfly,' Bartlett said. 'This choice was not made lightly, but rather to protect the interests of his business partners and ensure that they are not adversely affected by the false allegations made against him.' Wong, who lived in the Seattle area until moving to Boise in 2020, was a prominent firearm vendor and was featured by several well-known social media personalities in the gun industry, including Idaho-based YouTuber Garand Thumb. In the days following his Feb. 25 arrest, an Instagram page publicized Wong's charges, and earlier this month, YouTuber FocusTripp, who makes content focused on the gun industry, posted a nearly 10-minute video surrounding the allegations against Wong. The video has garnered over 17,000 views. Since then, Hurricane Butterfly has deleted any social media platforms related to the company. Business records published on Idaho's secretary of state website and reviewed by the Statesman showed nine Idaho businesses tied to Wong, including several iterations of Hurricane Butterfly. Wong is still listed as the company secretary on two of the businesses. Hurricane Butterfly exports firearms, ammunition and explosives around the world, specifically focusing on the Asia Pacific region, according to the company's website. The company also imports weapons into the United States from other countries. It's unclear when Wong parted ways with Hurricane Butterfly. Bartlett didn't answer several questions sent by the Statesman, including when Wong sold his ownership interests, whether he's still involved with the company or whether he's still working in the gun industry. Wong is accused of raping the woman on two days in April 2024, according to the indictment. He also attempted to strangle her, prosecutors alleged. The Canyon County Prosecuting Attorney's Office declined to comment on the investigation since it's an ongoing case. Wong appeared at the Canyon County Courthouse for his initial hearing Feb. 26, when 3rd District Magistrate Judge John Meienhofer acknowledged that Wong had been charged with some 'very serious felony offenses,' according to an audio recording of the hearing obtained by the Statesman. Meienhofer said during the hearing that he didn't have any other information than what he called a 'bold indictment' that only detailed the charges against Wong. Meienhofer added that he didn't have the ability to modify Wong's $1 million bond because it had been set by the district court. Wong posted his bail that same day, court records showed. 'I wish I could take up more. I can't, but that's where we're at,' Meienhofer said toward the end of the hearing, acknowledging that a lot of people showed up to support Wong. 'Good luck to you Mr. Wong, and thank you everybody for appearing. You're all excused.' Meienhofer scheduled Wong's next hearing for March 24, according to online court records. 'Jason is innocent of these charges,' Bartlett said in the statement. 'We are confident the truth will prevail as we move forward in this legal process.' On top of importing and exporting firearms for individual purchase, Hurricane Butterfly sells less-lethal weapons to law enforcement across the country, according to its website. The company provided firearms for a live demonstration to the Mountain States Tactical Officers Association in Montana, the agency posted online. Wong attended a 2024 National Tactical Officers Association Tactical Expo in Kansas City, Missouri, and was pictured with leaders of the United States Deputy Sheriff's Association, according to a social media post from the organization. He also met Idaho Gov. Brad Little at a SHOT Show, an annual firearm trade show in Las Vegas, where Wong posed with the Republican governor, according to a screenshot of a now-deleted Instagram post from Hurricane Butterfly's account. Wong and Little were holding grenade launchers in the photo. 'Does the governor of your state stop by SHOT show to chat, then take a photo with 40mm grenade launchers?' the post said. 'Ours does.' Little's spokesperson, Joan Varsek, told the Statesman in a statement that Little attends the trade show annually to support Idaho's munitions industry and visit with small business owners. 'Gov. Little takes photos with countless members of the public throughout the year and does not know Mr. Wong,' Varsek said. A U.S Army veteran, Wong initially worked as a lawyer but stopped practicing law to begin working in the firearm industry. In an interview with Gun Talk Media, he said there was 'no integrity in that profession.' By the late 2000s, Wong took over Hurricane Butterfly. During Wong's interview with Gun Talk Media at SHOT Show, the interviewer asked whether he switched fields because it's 'so much more exciting' working in the firearm industry. 'The ladies love it when you say, 'You're an international arms dealer,' ' Wong responded. In a nearly two-hour podcast episode that aired in 2023, Wong detailed his life as an international arms dealer. He was a guest on 'The Art and War Podcast,' which discusses topics involving gun culture and the government. During the episode, Wong said he always had an 'interest in firearms' but initially worked as an attorney in Washington on export compliance for several government agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Department of State. Once he took over Hurricane Butterfly, Wong said that in 2018, to combat lower sales years, the company began selling to law enforcement with a focus on less-lethal weapons, many of which are harder to source or can't be found at a local gun store. After George Floyd was killed at the hands of police, and racial justice protests erupted in cities across the U.S., Hurricane Butterfly was one of the companies on the West Coast that had inventory, Wong said. Law enforcement agencies in Washington and Oregon reached out to Wong looking for less-lethal weapons, including the Seattle and Portland police departments, he said, as well as agencies in New York and the Midwest. He was also one of several sellers that sold the Portland Police Bureau tear gas. The agency came under fire for spending nearly $50,000 on chemical munitions in response to the racial justice protests. Wong described one night in 2020 when his local agency at the time, the Tukwila Police Department, called him looking for weapons in preparation for a protest. He said he loaded up nearly all of his inventory and drove to the Westfield Southcenter in Tukwila, a suburb south of Seattle, where several agencies had set up a command post. 'I equate it to being like an ice cream truck,' Wong said during the podcast. 'We just started selling 40 millimeter munitions and tear gas grenades out of the back of the truck.' Wong's law license was suspended in March 2008 by the Washington State Supreme Court after he violated the Army's professional conduct rules for attorneys, according to a discipline notice posted by the Washington State Bar. In November 2006, while serving as a captain for the U.S. Army, Wong brought illegal drugs into the country from Cambodia — violating military law, according to the notice. Unopened blister packs of Rohypnol, commonly known as roofies, and Valium were discovered in Wong's possession, the notice said. Wong told another captain that he used the drugs for sleeping problems, according to the notice. The Food and Drug Administration has never approved Rohypnol for medical use, but other countries prescribe it for insomnia, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Roofies are often known in the U.S. as a 'date-rape' drug, according to the DEA. Washington State Bar Association spokesperson Jennifer Olegario told the Statesman in an email that Wong's law license was reinstated to active status in July 2008. His status changed to inactive in March 2021, she said. Wong also was suspended from practicing law before any military courts after the Army revoked his certification, according to the notice. It's unclear how long those suspensions lasted or whether Wong faced any additional military disciplinary action for the violation. A spokesperson for the U.S. Army didn't respond to an email seeking clarification. Wong wrote in an unrelated Washington court filing obtained by the Statesman that he left the Army in 2006 and that he's had 'increasing difficulty with anger management and conforming to acceptable normal behaviors.' He added in the 2010 filing that his medical condition is 'rooted' in his military service in Iraq. 'Stressful situations tend to aggravate the situation,' Wong wrote.
