Wilson Velásquez, 38, was arrested and put in the process of deportation despite lacking background and having provisional work permit, according to his wife. Velásquez Colindres family
Wilson, Kenya and her three minor children arrived two years ago to the United States from Puerto Cortés, a coastal city of some 130,000 inhabitants north of San Pedro Sula, in Honduras.
Although they entered illegally – it was then when Wilson was imposed by the shackle and movement restrictions – they were in the process of regularizing their immigration status in the United States.
Kenya says her husband already had an identification card, social security number and work permit.
He worked in a business of sale and repair of tires near his home in the suburbs of Atlanta, and attended promptly to the appointments required by the immigration authorities, he says.
He assures that her husband lacks criminal records and never had problems with the law, not even traffic infractions.
Like other foreigners who have irregularly entered the United States, Wilson had an electronic shackle on his ankle to track their real -time location while their migratory case is resolved.
It was this device that, according to Kenia, led to his arrest.
Of humble origin, Kenya and Wilson are deeply religious and went to Mass every Sunday in the suburbs of Atlanta. Velásquez Colindres family
“It was a normal day in the church: it was sung, praised God and the preaching was heard, when Wilson’s phone began to sound,” he recalls about what happened on Sunday.
As Wilson could not answer the call or leave because the pastor was preaching, he remained sitting in his chair.
It was then that the shackle on his ankle began to vibrate, which, together with the previous call from an unknown number, missed the couple.
After a second incoming call, the Honduran migrant decided to leave the temple to see what was happening.
«There they arrested him. I realize when he sends me a message that tells me to go out because migration is with him, ”explains Kenya.
«When I leave outside they have him handcuffed and mounted in the car, and I tell the officer, ‘What about my husband?’ And he replies that they are grabbing the people who are shackling and will renew the shackles. With that excuse they took it, ”he adds.
After more than 24 hours without knowing anything from her husband, she finally received a brief call on Tuesday in which Wilson told her her situation.
«He called me and told me that I was detained here in the same Atlanta and that they told him it will be sent to another place and from there he will be deported, but I have the confidence in God that it will not be so, because Here is a wife and three children who need it, ”he says.
His situation is, in any case, very complicated, since he would have limited time and ensures a lawyer capable of urgently addressing a case like this.
The end of the “sanctuaries”
Migratory agents can now stop undocumented in schools, churches and hospitals. Getty images
While arrests are not something new – they were practiced, although with less intensity and media coverage, in the government of Joe Biden – it is the fact that they are carried out in places considered so far sanctuaries, as educational centers, educational centers, hospitals and churches.
Donald Trump’s government announced Tuesday 21, one day after assuming command, the elimination of the rules that limited the arrests of migrants in these spaces.
The measure reversed guidelines in force since 2011 for the Customs Immigration and Control Service (ICE) and since 2013 for the Office of Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Both had remained in force for the four years of Trump’s first mandate between 2017 and 2021, which emphasizes the hard line approach of their new administration.
The incoming government claimed that the decision seeks to “empower” immigration agents to stop undocumented people, including “murderers and rapists,” according to a statement from the National Security Department.
The agency argued, among other things, that the previous restrictions allowed criminals to hide in these “sanctuaries” to avoid being captured.
Until now it has been a relatively common practice among the United States churches to offer protection to migrants in an irregular situation that fear being arrested.
BBC Mundo sent an email to the ICE Press Office with several questions about its criteria for the arrest of migrants and this specific case, but until the moment of publication of this article did not receive an answer.
An atmosphere of fear
The deprotection of churches, schools and hospitals is part of a series of executive orders signed by Trump, which also include the suspension of the refugee intake system and the elimination of tools that facilitated the legal entry and inclusion of foreigners who wish to reside in the country.
Donald Trump signed several executive orders to facilitate the arrest and deportation of migrants in an irregular situation. Getty images
Defenders of the rights of migrants criticized the new measure and warned of their impact on vulnerable families.
Practicing arrests in churches, educational and health centers «could have devastating consequences for immigrant families and their children, including American citizen children, by deter them from receiving medical care, seeking help in case of disaster, attending school and performing daily activities », Said Olivia Golden, executive director of the Center for Law and Social Policy, in a statement.
He added that “if the presence of ICE near those places becomes more common, it also increases the probability that children can witness the arrest or other encounters of a father with ICE agents.”
In fact, this is what happened in the Church of Atlanta, where the three younger children of Wilson Velásquez attended his father’s arrest in charge of migratory agents.
The pastor of his church, as well as representatives of organizations, have declared in the past days that, since the arrival of Trump and the application of hard line measures against migration, there is an environment of generalized fear among foreigners, much of much of They Latin Americans, who are in the United States trying to regularize their legal situation.
Organizations say there is a lot of fear among migrants who work in the US while regulating their situation. Getty images
We asked Kenya Colindres if the days prior to her husband’s arrest already feared the possibility of being arrested or deported.
«The truth, yes, we were afraid. Seeing the videos of how they arrested people there was fear, but we trusted in God that we were not going to happen to us. And, from one day to another, then everything changed, ”he replies.
(Tagstotranslate) Deportations (T) Donald Trump (T) Georgia
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