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By: Erin Sheridan November 24, 2019February 15, 2020
Articles, U.S./Mexico Border

Photos: November

Photos from a visit to camps of asylum seekers living in Matamoros, Mexico on November 18.

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Articles, U.S./Mexico Border

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Attorneys Say Asylum Seekers At The U.S./Mexico Border Are Being Misclassified Under MPP
Tents Destroyed By Mexican Immigration Officials

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Update: Steven’s deportation tentatively halted Update: Steven’s deportation tentatively halted pending a ruling from the Fifth Circuit. Awesome news, but not over yet. Resources to help available at www.angrytiasandabuelas.com/free-pastor-steven. Link to story with ongoing updates in bio.
Update: Spoke to Steven. He knows this woman — h Update: Spoke to Steven. He knows this woman — he says her aunt works at the U.S. Embassy in Uganda and that this is the family that testified on false car theft charges against him (we have the acquittal documents) . . . @erin_sheridan (founder of this project, author of this post) got an email from an "influencer" in Uganda named @manuelapmulondo (she is on Facebook and Twitter as well) threatening to "let all the news agencies know of [Pastor Steven's] arrival and all police cases against him will be brought forward to get him arrested." Steven's attorneys have the documents, currently under seal at the Fifth Circuit, proving that he was acquitted of any and all charges in Uganda. Got a second email from a second person claiming similar things. This is the third email I've gotten, from people across the world claiming to know Steven from Uganda. Nothing new; all old charges. That they are reading my BLOG and The Brownsville Herald from across the globe two days before Pastor Steven's scheduled deportation and taking the time to email me, a reporter that is not well known, is alarming. Steven is well aware that the Ugandan government has “spies” living in the United States who track dissidents. His family and supporters have been alerted that one* of these people has apparently chartered a flight to Uganda in anticipation of his arrival to the airport. He will be murdered. He is 35 years old. The man is blind and is dying from untreated diabetes. This woman writes, "I personally will be among the people who will be with police at the airport to arrest him if he is deported". Visit www.angrytiasandabuelas.com/free-pastor-steven and CALL REPRESENTATIVES. He is pending deportation Tuesday.
Three bodies discovered in the Rio Grande between Three bodies discovered in the Rio Grande between Brownsville, Texas and Matamoros, Tamaulipas in less than 24 hours. Residents of the asylum camp past the Gateway International Bridge in Matamoros discovered the first body near the encampment on Wednesday afternoon. Matamoros residents located two more upriver near the Moderna neighborhood - one on Wednesday night and another on Thursday morning, reports stated. Link in bio.
New information on Pastor Steven Tendo. 44 U.S Rep New information on Pastor Steven Tendo. 44 U.S Representatives signed onto a letter sent to Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf asking for Steven’s immediate release on medical parole and to immediately halt his deportation. Steven on Thursday allegedly got a visit from two officials he has never met who ordered him against a wall and tried to take a new photograph to use for his deportation. He refused, and they allegedly threatened to prosecute him, to record him refusing to comply and then submit the video to a judge on his case, and called his deportation officer to report him. Link in bio.
A man from Guatemala seeking asylum in the United A man from Guatemala seeking asylum in the United States was found dead in the Rio Grande in Matamoros, Tamaulipas on Tuesday evening. A video taken by a reporter on scene in Matamoros showed Mexican law enforcement carrying a body bag up the steep dirt bank of the river just a few hundred feet from the camp of asylum seekers by the Gateway International Bridge. Link in bio.
Pastor Steven Tendo, 35, fled Uganda in 2018, soug Pastor Steven Tendo, 35, fled Uganda in 2018, sought asylum at the U.S./Mexico border in December of that year and has been in ICE detention in Los Fresnos, Texas since. His diabetes is out of control due to improper medication and diet. He is blind in one eye from cataracts caused by the diabetes and is losing vision in his other eye. He already contracted COVID, leaving his already compromised immune system with a dangerously low white blood cell count. Now, he might be at risk of losing his kidneys. He was first arrested and tortured for his political work in June 2012. Link in bio: “Around February 2018, I was arrested and severely beaten. I was wrongfully detained for approximately two weeks. I went into hiding once more because random killings had increased. I had also heard from sympathizers in the same system that the government was looking for me again to kill me. Around March 2018, things worsened for my country. The President had lifted the presidential age limit around Dec’ 17. This meant that the president could be president for as long as he lived. He established that the precedent could now become president as young as 18 years old and without no specific age to retire. This made the hopes that I had for my country fade away. I had endured so much because I truly believed that the Ugandan people could bring great change. I was very passionate about the work that I did and I wanted to continue to educate the people in order for the country to prosper. During the bi-elections, on one of their rallies in Bugiri, my brother Livingstone was beaten and shot to death by the government. They killed my brother because they wanted him to turn me in to the authorities. When I heard about this horrible news I decided that I needed to leave the country. I left Uganda in September 2018. I am extremely afraid to return to my country because I know that if I return, the Government will find me and kill me.” Photo: @ashastrategies
Video taken by migrants still living on the levee Video taken by migrants still living on the levee showed pools of water beginning to form. Aid workers in Matamoros reported that most of the residents have still refused to evacuate to designated temporary shelter locations but have moved to higher areas on the levee. Erin Hughes, a civil engineer with a background in storm water drainage who helped develop a formal evacuation plan in the months leading up to hurricane season, said water was reaching GRM’s field hospital. “The water elevation gauge is 21.80 ft and it has started to overflow the banks at the GRM field hospital, as well as at some particularly low spots in the camp,” Hughes said late on Thursday afternoon. Link in bio.
Josue and his family sent a video on Tuesday taken Josue and his family sent a video on Tuesday taken during visit to the plaza near the international bridge, where the camp was originally located. “Good afternoon dear people who are going to see this video. We are immigrants in the camp close to the river. We are in the plaza across from the international bridge between Matamoros and Brownsville. We decided to step out because of the stress. Since we cannot handle being there, and decided to walk at least to the plaza where the camp used to be. We always remember about the things we suffered. This is the new park by the plaza. As you can see, we think we are going to calm down, but we don’t have the peace or tranquility we thought we’d have by coming here. We are very sad because we can’t handle being here anymore,” said Josue. “We ask for help to get out of here. What we want to tell you is that when we got here, many people — around 3,000 to 4,000 — were here. There are around 1,500 people now. This is our last resort and we want to give our children a better education, and to work. We don’t want anything free; we want a change of lifestyle for our children. This is the Puente Nuevo (Gateway) International Bridge. Thank you. Have a good afternoon, and we hope this video serves for people to know that there are still people here. I want to communicate immmigrants are still here. Families are here, as well as pregnant women and elderly people. We have been here for a year. Please help us. Thank you.” (Story on website).
“As for Tendo’s asylum case, he said the immig “As for Tendo’s asylum case, he said the immigration judge didn’t give him ‘any sound reason’ as to why the case was denied. ‘I think that there are a lot of anxieties when it comes to immigrants lately. Immigrants are dying in detention centers. When we try to raise our voices, they retaliate with force and raids and punishment and add more pain than what we are already experiencing. These people in Brownsville should know that yes, we are next to them, but there is a lot of pain in ICE detention. We live in suffocation. There is a lot happening inside this prison that has been hidden from the public or has been downplayed by the department. The situation is worse. There’s a lot of abuses of human rights. Some of them are physical tortures where we try to see a doctor, and they tell you you can visit in two or three months — it’s because of your skin color or where you are coming from,’ he said.” Link in bio.
First positive COVID-19 case confirmed in camp. Tw First positive COVID-19 case confirmed in camp. Two Haitian families arrived on Saturday night after escaping a kidnapping attempt. Camp residents were able to assist them upon arrival, but the family had their belongings and documents stolen during the attack three blocks from the camp.
Update from the Port Isabel Detention Center, wher Update from the Port Isabel Detention Center, where ICE has confirmed 64 positive coronavirus cases: “A spokesperson for Ahtna, Inc, an Alaska Native Regional Corporation that contracts detention facility workers at the Port Isabel Detention Center in Los Fresnos, Texas, confirmed on Saturday that one of their employees contracted at PIDC passed away on Thursday, June 25. Asked to confirm whether reports of a detention officer at the facility passing away due to COVID-19 were true, Ahtna’s corporate communications director Shannon Blue replied, ‘We can confirm that an Ahtna Support and Training Services employee at Port Isabel Detention Center passed away on June 25, 2020. Our heartfelt condolences go out to the valued team member’s family and loved ones. We will not be providing any further information out of respect for the family. Our focus right now is on supporting the employee’s family and helping our employees through the grieving process.’ Though Ahtna did not specify the cause of death, a City Commissioner in San Benito posted via a personal Facebook page Friday night that one of the county’s two reported coronavirus deaths was a detention officer at PIDC. Advocates in touch with detainees on Friday were also investigating reports of a death related to the facility. ICE declined to confirm the death, as the officer technically was not employed by the agency.” Link in bio.
Storms on Thursday brought more rain to Camp Digni Storms on Thursday brought more rain to Camp Dignity in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, where 2,500 asylum seekers live in tents along the Rio Grande. For several months, the area has been cordoned off by Mexico’s National Institute of Migration (INM) in an attempt to prevent the spread of coronavirus into the population. On Thursday, an asylum seeker living in the camp reported that a family might have COVID-19. Staff at Global Response Management, which provides full-time medical care from its mobile unit on the dirt levee, said a family of asylum seekers had been isolated and swabbed for PCR tests after displaying symptoms. On Saturday, GRM’s project coordinator Sam Bishop confirmed the organization was still waiting for the results from the health department in Matamoros.
“Attorneys representing Steven, a severely diabe “Attorneys representing Steven, a severely diabetic Ugandan pastor detained in Los Fresnos, Texas are fighting against a final order of removal issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement that would send him back to his home country, where he faces certain death. In a press release published on Wednesday, Angry Tias and Abuelas of the Rio Grande Valley reported that officials in Uganda got word of the young pastor’s imminent deportation, assumed he had already returned, and ‘took immediate action.’ ‘His sister was attacked and beaten so badly she was hospitalized with head injuries. There was a barrage of threats and intimidation against his family and friends. A Ugandan official risked her own safety to write and confirm not only Steven’s past torture, but the fact that as soon as he steps off the plane in Uganda, he will be taken away by security officers and killed. He would never arrive at the customs gate at all.” Link in bio.
A protest on the Gateway International Bridge ende A protest on the Gateway International Bridge ended early Tuesday morning without incident when Mexican authorities escorted a group of about 100 asylum seekers requesting entry into the United States back to Matamoros, Tamaulipas.
“Odd guidance implemented by the Executive Offic “Odd guidance implemented by the Executive Office for Immigration Review in its last round of MPP postponements asked asylum seekers to present at a U.S. port of entry one month later than the date listed on the most recent notice to appear in order to obtain a reset hearing date. The small strip of paper Josue photographed was not marked with any official government seal or information. It stated simply, in Spanish, ‘To receive the date of your next MPP appointment, call the following number: 01800-898-7180.’ ‘A friend went to the court date today and they only gave her this paper and told her to call this number. She returned to the immigrant camp to get a borrowed phone to call. She has called many times and they don’t answer. This is what they give us immigrants, this is very unfair,’ said Josue of the document.” Link in bio.
Josue, an asylum seeker in Matamoros, describes hi Josue, an asylum seeker in Matamoros, describes his latest interaction with CBP. “I present myself. I walk in a line towards the American police. When I present myself, behind me comes a person, a videographer from England filming me. When I present myself and I give the documents to the official and he sees that the videographer is filming, he leaves and does not allow his name to show, as he has on uniform — last name Reyes.” Link in bio.
ICE on Friday reported 34 positive COVID-19 cases ICE on Friday reported 34 positive COVID-19 cases among detainees at the Port Isabel Detention Center in Los Fresnos, Texas. 31 of those detainees were under isolation or monitoring. The news prompted U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela, Jr. to address a second letter to ICE Acting Director Matthew T. Albence asking the agency to follow its own pandemic protocol and immediately release all non-violent detainees from the facility. Link in bio.
A 31-year-old man from Cuba detained at the Port I A 31-year-old man from Cuba detained at the Port Isabel Detention Center in Los Fresnos, Texas sued Immigration and Customs Enforcement this week, alleging the agency refused to release him even though he won withholding of removal from an immigration judge in November. Story on website.
“One detainee told Herrera that three dormitorie “One detainee told Herrera that three dormitories — A3, A4, and A2 — were preparing to hunger strike on Sunday morning. He estimated there were 40 detainees in each dormitory and 120 individuals planning to participate in the hunger strike. Asked what ICE tells him when he communicates his concerns, answered, ‘That’s why we’re going on hunger strike — because ICE won’t show their face. We want to talk to them, we want to tell them that we’re afraid for our health, and they won’t show up. There’s no way to communicate with them.’ Another detainee told Herrera ICE says, ‘If you get sick, you get sick.’”
“Norma Herrera, Rapid Response Community Organiz “Norma Herrera, Rapid Response Community Organizer with Rio Grande Valley Equal Voice Network (EVN), held her phone up to reporters as she spoke with two groups of detainees inside the facility over the ICE-monitored phone system. The estimates detainees gave the crowd regarding the number of confirmed COVID cases at PIDC varied, but two clear counts — 27 and 5 confirmed cases, 5 employee cases, 240 detainees quarantined, and 120 detainees preparing to hunger strike — indicated the number of cases is rising steadily and is already higher than what ICE has reported publicly.”
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