News

COVID-19 Asylum Limits at US-Mexico Border to End May 23

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday that it is ending a policy that limited asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The government said it was already making plans to erect tents and take other steps to prepare for an expected influx of migrants.

  • Apr 1, 2022
  • 4:26 PM

Incarcerated Artist Has First Solo Show in Chicago

Juan Hernandez, a convicted murderer incarcerated in Illinois since the age of 16, will have his first solo art show at the Angelica Kauffman Gallery beginning April 2nd.

  • Apr 1, 2022
  • 3:30 PM

House Seeks Consensus Bill on Puerto Rico Status

A single staffer in House Majority Whip Steny Hoyer’s (D-MD) office has been tasked with the seemingly impossible job of combining an all-or-nothing proposition for statehood with an open-ended process for self-determination.

  • Apr 1, 2022
  • 2:43 PM

Rodeo (A Latino USA Podcast)

For this special episode, Latino USA goes to the rodeo—to “La Fiesta de los Vaqueros” in Tucson, Arizona, to be exact. Rodeo is a big deal in Tucson, so much so that schools shut down the last Thursday and Friday of February for Rodeo Weekend.

  • Apr 1, 2022
  • 10:21 AM

Migrants Hopeful, Suspicious at US Reopening to Asylum

More than a dozen migrants excitedly ran out of their dormitory at the Good Samaritan shelter in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico at the mere mention that the Biden administration may lift a rule that expels people at the border before they can request a chance at humanitarian protection in the United States.

  • Mar 31, 2022
  • 4:18 PM

From EL FARO ENGLISH: No New Ideas After El Salvador Homicide Crisis

Amid an ongoing state of exception in El Salvador, the Bukele-controlled legislature held its second emergency session in five days to approve sweeping increases in criminal sentences for gang leaders and underage members alike.

  • Mar 31, 2022
  • 3:56 PM

Senate Cafeteria Workers Organize Against Union

At least two senators were accosted at lunchtime on Wednesday by Capitol cafeteria workers demanding answers to what they say has been a heavy-handed unionization push by Local 23, which represents over 25,000 hospitality workers in 12 states and the District of Columbia.

  • Mar 31, 2022
  • 1:04 PM

Bolsonaro Regains Popularity as More Controversy Surrounds Brazil Government

Data shows that Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro worked an average of three hours and 10 minutes a day in January. It is hard to imagine that he decided to work more in February and March. In just over three hours, however, Bolsonaro was able to amass more controversies.

  • Mar 31, 2022
  • 11:36 AM

Few Changes Made in Puerto Rico to Access Health Information and Services in a Hurricane

The Department of Health, responsible for inspecting and approving the emergency evacuation plans of all the island’s hospitals, only keeps them for the three hospitals that it runs. The Pan American Health Organization states that access to information is essential to improve public management and citizen confidence in preparing for emergency events.

  • Mar 30, 2022
  • 12:10 PM

El Salvador Forces Encircle Neighborhoods in Gang Crackdown

Security forces intensified operations against El Salvador’s street gangs Tuesday with mass arrests, the cordoning off of neighborhoods and house-by-house searches under a state of emergency that has raised concerns among some organizations it could open the door to human rights abuses.

  • Mar 30, 2022
  • 10:46 AM

Formerly Undocumented Latina Now Congressional Staff Leader

Despite the legislative setbacks to level the playing field for undocumented immigrants, Patrica Ordaz remains committed to empowering staffers in any way she can. It was to this end that last month, the formerly undocumented immigrant born in Mexico City was elected president of the Congressional Hispanic Staff Association.

  • Mar 29, 2022
  • 11:34 AM

From EL FARO ENGLISH: Is Bukele’s Gang Truce Unraveling?

A number of civil liberties will be suspended for 30 days in El Salvador as a government response to the alarming spike in gang-attributed homicides. The violence casts further doubt on the efficiency of President Bukele’s security policy, already under scrutiny because of revelations of secret gang negotiations.

  • Mar 28, 2022
  • 4:36 PM

ICE to Stop Using Alabama Jail, Limit Use of 3 Others

Federal immigration authorities announced Friday that they’ll stop housing detainees at an Alabama jail with a history of problems and will limit the use of three other detention centers.

  • Mar 28, 2022
  • 1:50 PM

Land Defender Francia Márquez Might Become Colombia’s First Black Vice President

Leading presidential candidate Gustavo Petro announced Wednesday that the Black environmentalist lawyer Francia Márquez will serve as his running mate in May’s presidential elections. Márquez is the first Black woman to run in presidential elections in Colombia’s history.

  • Mar 28, 2022
  • 11:12 AM

Salvadoran Journalist, Detained by ICE for 15 Months, Granted Asylum

A Salvadoran journalist arrested in 2018 and detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for over 15 months has been granted asylum. “I escaped from El Salvador and came to the United States because of this country’s stand in defense of its First Amendment rights,” Manuel Durán told Latino Rebels on Friday.

  • Mar 25, 2022
  • 5:26 PM

Mexico President Brushes Off US Allegations of Russia Spies

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Friday brushed off comments by a senior U.S. military official who said there are more Russian spies in Mexico than anywhere else in the world.

  • Mar 25, 2022
  • 3:22 PM

From EL FARO ENGLISH: A Nicaraguan Ambassador’s Live Resignation

Nicaraguan Ambassador Arturo McFields denounced the Ortega-Murillo government as a “dictatorship” in an unexpected statement to the Organization of American States on Wednesday, announcing his departure from the administration. McFields urged other public servants to overcome their fear and do the same.

  • Mar 25, 2022
  • 1:24 PM

Ukrainian Refugees Spotlight Restrictionist Policies Toward Black and Brown Immigrants

The Biden White House announced Thursday that the United States will accept 100,000 refugees from Ukraine. The announcement came after over a year of leveraging former President Donald Trump’s racist immigration policies to deny entry to millions of non-white immigrants.

  • Mar 25, 2022
  • 12:09 PM

The Race to Save Melissa Lucio (A Latino USA Podcast)

In 2008, Melissa Lucio was convicted of capital murder after the death of her two-year-old daughter, Mariah Elizabeth Alvarez. She is the first Latina to be put on death row in Texas. Her family members and supporters believe she is innocent and did not receive a fair trial. Melissa has maintained her innocence.

  • Mar 25, 2022
  • 11:27 AM

Congress Punts on Diversity Visa Lottery Winners Denied by Trump Muslim Ban

Hundreds of thousands of immigrants won legal entry to the United States only to have their hopes dashed by then-President Donald Trump’s Muslim ban. Since then, immigration attorneys have spent countless hours and large sums of money lobbying Congress for diversity visa backlog relief, but to no avail.

  • Mar 24, 2022
  • 2:33 PM

Biden Administration Announces Changes to Speed Up Asylum Process

On Thursday, the Biden administration announced changes to the process for handling asylum claims at the U.S.-Mexico border, part of an effort to cut the timeframe down to months instead of years. The changes will allow asylum officers at the border to approve or deny asylum claims, which is currently limited to immigration judges.

  • Mar 24, 2022
  • 12:50 PM

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