The number of people held in detention centers has tripled over the past decade according to Amnesty International. As federal immigration authorities have
detained more immigrants facing deportation there have been efforts to streamline the deportation process. Usually a hearing is held, the immigrant may not understand their defenses to removal, and a ruling is quickly rendered without legal counsel present.
City Bar Center Executive Director Lynn M. Kelly.
A new report by the City Bar Justice Center based in New York says nearly 40 percent of all detained immigrants interviewed in NYC’s Varick detention facility
have valid legal claims to remain in the country and defend against removal.
Lynn M. Kelly is the executive director of the City Bar Justice Center. She spoke with Latino USA’sMaria Hinojosa.
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From Patchogue, LI to Gualeceo, Ecuador
New townhouses in Gualeceo, Ecuador remain empty as their owners live and work some 3000 miles away. (Photo by C. Lane.)
Patchogue is located in New York’s Long Island. The village has been in the news lately, but not in a good way. Reports of local teens “hunting” Latino immigrants and roughing them up in recent years surfaced. This harassment of immigrants eventually resulted in the death of local resident Marcelo Lucero at the hands of several White teenagers.
On November 5, one of those teens, Nicholas Hausch, pled guilty to four charges stemming from his role in the attack that killed Lucero. Hausch agreed to testify against the other six defendants in exchange for leniency. He now faces the next 5 to 25 years in prison.
Maya Sanguicia and Jessica Ullua gaze on boys passing by on their motorbikes. Motorbikes are a status symbol in Gualaceo. (Photo by C. Lane)
Recently, WSHU radio producer and reporter Charles Lane decided to go beyond the headlines and take a closer look at the Latino immigrant community in Patchogue. What he found was an Ecuadoran community that had strong ties to its home base.
Lane traveled to Gualeceo, Ecuador and saw the economic prosperity that having remittances from North America bring to this community. Despite the economic benefits, however, families often are torn apart.
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Watch a slideshow from Gualeceo, Ecuador produced by Charles Lane.
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Charles Lane is a multi-media reporter working for WSHU, Long Island’s public radio station. His work has been funded by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Robeson Fund for Independent Media.
