Lelo Self-Deports:Â The Washington farmworker and union activist Alfredo âLeloâ Juarez Zeferino arrested and detained by ICE this March while driving his partner to work in Mount Vernon has decided to leave the country âvoluntarily.â Not that anyone who chooses self-deportation has much agency in the context of Trumpâs mass deportation plan, but his attorney told The Seattle Times it could make a future return to the US easier. Back in March, activists told me Lelo has been organizing since he was a 14-year-old kid. Itâs an enormous loss for farmworkers in Washington, particularly those in his Mexican Mixteco community.
Immigrant Rights Melt Like ICE: Immigration and Customs Enforcement says millions of undocumented immigrants wonât get a bond hearing when they fight their deportation in court. Acting director Todd M. Lyons told officers in a July 8 memo to hold undocumented immigrants âfor the durationâ of their months- to years-long immigration proceedings. In the rare cases immigrants are released on parole, itâll be up to an officer instead of a judge. Congress has allocated $45 billion to jail immigrants over the next four years.
Whatâs Happening With That? In Florida, the Trump administration is packing migrants into cages at "Alligator Alcatraz.â Republicans call the facility âsafe and secure.â Democrats say it's âinhumane.â Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz told reporters cages are âwall-to-wall humans, 32 detainees per cage.â Detainees say there are worms in the food, human waste overflows from toilets on the floor, and air conditioners are abruptly shut off at night. (According to the National Weather Service, temps will be in the high 80s and low 90s this week.) According to public records reviewed by The Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times, hundreds of the "vicious" and âderanged psychopathsâ the federal government says it is holding there have not been charged with a crime.
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