Some Central Americans Picked Up in US Raids Get Deportation Pause Suzanne Gamboa - NBC News Latino
go to original January 6, 2016

Members of Latino and immigration assistance organization 'We Are CASA' protest with immigrants and their supporters on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 30 December 2015. (Shawn Thew/EPA)

A handful of families picked up in New Year's weekend immigration arrests and who were being readied for removal from the country now have their deportations on hold.

George Tzamaras, a spokesman for American Immigration Lawyers Association, said Wednesday the families' attorneys put forward a defense that the immigrants had not received all their due process, that mistakes were made in their legal proceedings and that they had ineffective counsel.

Patricia Zapor, a spokeswoman for Catholic Legal Immigration Network, said four families were in line for deportation and had been taken to Dilley, Texas, detention center to be deported. Flights to return migrants to their countries were scheduled for today but it was not immediately clear whether those families were to be on them.

The arrests have drawn opposition from Latinos and immigration groups.

"Raiding people's homes to forcibly break families apart is not what our country stands for," Rep. Linda Sanchez, chairwoman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said in a statement. "Our federal government should not be separating parents from their children."

The California Democrat said Congress must ensure the families are advised of their rights and provided counsel and that comprehensive immigration reform is the only way to solve the problem of increased illegal immigration.

...There has been a recent increase again in arrivals from Central America and Mexico.

Read the rest at NBC News Latino

Related: Bernie Sanders Demands President Obama End ‘Inhumane’ Roundups Of Immigrant Families (Think Progress)

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