 BORDER NEWS
In 1998, Amarilys Silverio-Santos and her husband Joseph Santos, a US citizen, pled guilty to conspiracy to act as agents of the government of Cuba. They admitted to infiltrating Cuban exile groups, and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors agreed to intercede on Silverio-Santos’ behalf if the INS made efforts to deport her. This is important because she is deportable because she has been convicted of an aggravated felony. While Cuba does not ordinarily take deportees from the US, they may well take Silverio-Santos in order to punish her for cooperating with US authorities. However, as the plea agreement itself notes, it is not binding on the INS.
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Only two days after a group of 14 immigrants crossing the US-Mexico border were robbed and beaten shortly after entering the US, another group was robbed and beaten. Authorities believe the same people were responsible for each incident. They also believe that the robbers may be working with smugglers who lead the migrants into the robbers’ hands.
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A 16-year-old Cuban boy recently arrived in Florida without his parents. Remembering the furor over the Elian Gonzalez case, INS officials are moving cautiously in the case of Alexander Lopez. According to an attorney who is working on Lopez’ behalf, his parents want for him to stay in Miami with a godmother. The INS says that it has no plans to remove Lopez from the US.
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Last week a Mexican citizen who had been arrested by the Border Patrol escaped and has not been seen since. Saul Lopez Duarte was taken into custody after he was caught trying to reenter the US after being deported. Lopez was waiting in a van while other detainees were being taken into a facility. When agents returned for him, he burst out of the door and began running. Agents tried to hold him, but could not.
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Police in Puerto Rico detained a group of 33 immigrants from the Dominican Republic last weekend. The group included seven women, one of whom was pregnant. They were discovered in a boat about two miles from the northern coast. These latest people bring the number of Dominicans deported from Puerto Rico this month to 170.
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In the wake of the devastating earthquake that recently hit El Salvador, the INS has announced that it would temporarily suspend deportations of Salvadorans. Advocacy groups are applauding the move, but they are also urging the government to grant Temporary Protected Status to Salvadorans. The Salvadoran Ambassador to the US says that he will ask the incoming administration to do this. The INS says that it will not resume deportations of Salvadorans until the government says that it will be able to accept them. However, Salvadorans currently in detention, about 1,100, will not be released.
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