Browse Stories in immigration

By Isaac Stanley-Becker, The Washington Post A federal judge in San Diego on Tuesday barred the separation of migrant children from their parents and ordered immigration officials to reunify within 30 days families that have been divided as a result of a zero-tolerance policy enforced by the Trump administration until last week. Judge Dana Sabraw of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California granted a preliminary injunction sought by the American Civil Liberties Union.

San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller said the separation of immigrant families at the border "is immoral, is evil, is sinful." His remarks came at the COPS/Metro Alliance Assembly on June 18, 2018, at Our Lady of the Lake University. "To use children as pawns to deter people from coming is inhuman and shows the decadence that we are in, in our country," he said.

By Michael E. Miller, The Washington Post   "‘They just took them?’ Frantic parents separated from their kids fill courts on the border" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.

To see and feel the anguish of a Syrian child refugee, look no further than the Portraits of Compassion exhibit on the walls of the banquet hall at San Antonio’s Trinity Baptist Church, on view until the end of April 2018. The painting, titled “...the least of these...,” is a hauntingly poignant portrait of a Syrian child. His eyes beseech us, in their sad determined gaze, to seek our humanity, wondering what went wrong.

By Julián Aguilar, The Texas Tribune Editor's note: This story has been updated throughout. A panel of three 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges ruled Tuesday that most of the state’s immigration enforcement legislation, Senate Bill 4, can remain in effect while the case plays out, handing a victory to Gov. Greg Abbott and Republican supporters of the law.

Elected leaders and pro-immigrant groups came together on the steps of San Antonio City Hall on March 14, 2018 and vowed to keep fighting the anti-immigrant law, SB 4 one day after judges on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld most of the Texas law. (scroll down to watch complete video of the 30-minute event)

by Giulia Afiune, The Texas Tribune Update: Rosa Maria Hernandez was released to her parents the afternoon of Nov. 3. More in this story from KSAT-12 news  and this story from Univision.

Tragedy struck Sunday, July 23, 2017 when dozens of immigrants were trapped in a semi-trailer truck parked in a Walmart parking lot in San Antonio. The men, women, and children put on the rig in Laredo had been promised that their trip would include air conditioning. Not only did they not have air conditioning, but no air to breathe or water to drink as well. It was certainly a horrifying and gruesome end to the lives of 10 people who have died thus far and a horrendous experience to survivors who no doubt contemplated their death over several hours that felt like an eternity.

Updated: by Julián Aguilar, The Texas Tribune A federal district judge ruled against the state of Texas and halted major provisions of a controversial state-based immigration enforcement law just days before it was scheduled to go into effect.

By Maria Gardner If a federal judge does not block the anti-immigration law, San Antonio police will have to write new rules in the manual and retrain the force in immigration law, Police Chief William McManus told members of COPS/Metro Alliance.  Senate Bill 4, the “sanctuary cities” ban, allows local and campus police to question a person’s legal status and makes it a crime for officials such as McManus to have policies that are inconsistent with the law.