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Much less than a week after deporting Venezuelans restrained at Guantanamo Bay, the Trump management has actually once more flown concerning 2 loads travelers to the united state marine base in Cuba. This moment, nevertheless, the travelers are from nations throughout the globe, consisting of from areas that agree to take them back, which has actually increased extra concerns concerning whom the federal government is selecting to send out there and why.
ProPublica and The Texas Tribune spoke with Angela Sequera, the mom of among the very first travelers sent out to Guantanamo. She defined her worry and despair upon finding out that her kid, Yoiker Sequera, had actually been moved to the center, which she recognized just as a location where terrorists were held and hurt after the 9/11 assaults. On Feb. 9, Sequera was waiting on her day-to-day call from Yoiker, that had actually remained in an El Paso migration apprehension center considering that he was billed with going into the united state unlawfully late in 2015. When the phone ultimately called, it had not been her kid however an additional detainee that informed her that Yoiker had actually been required to Guantanamo.
” It struck me like a container of cool water. I asked the male: ‘Why? Why? Why?'” Sequera remembered. She stated the detainee informed her that the federal government was attempting to connect Yoiker to Tren de Aragua, a well-known Venezuelan gang understood for migrant contraband and various other criminal offenses in Latin America.
She stressed. She could not recognize why this was occurring. She and several of the loved ones of 178 Venezuelans that were amongst the very first travelers moved to Guantanamo by the united state federal government rushed to attempt to communicate with their liked ones, searched the net and traded messages on an unscripted WhatsApp team.
ProPublica and The Texas Tribune acquired documents concerning Yoiker and 2 various other Venezuelans required to Guantanamo. A search of united state government court documents discovered that Yoiker and an additional male had no criminal offenses with the exception of prohibited access, while a 3rd had actually been founded guilty for attacking a government police officer throughout a trouble while in apprehension. “My kid is not a criminal. He has no document. He has absolutely nothing to do with gangs. He does not come from any type of Tren de Aragua,” stated Sequera, that shared documents from Venezuelan authorities that mentioned he did not have a criminal background.
On Feb. 21, after 13 days without learning through her kid, Sequera obtained a telephone call from Yoiker. He had actually been launched and was back in Venezuela, however he declined to review the moment he invested restrained at the marine base. “I assume he does it to not make me stress,” stated Sequera, that is amongst the complainants called in a legal action submitted by immigrants’ civil liberties supporters looking for lawful accessibility to the travelers in Guantanamo.
A speaker for the united state Division of Homeland Safety stated today that almost fifty percent of the Venezuelans initially restrained at Guantanamo were participants of the Tren de Aragua gang which several had major rap sheets. DHS did not offer proof to sustain that assertion.
DHS additionally stated in court filings this month that Guantanamo will certainly remain to “briefly home” travelers prior to they are “gotten rid of to their home nation or a secure 3rd nation.”
Migrants on current trips to Guantanamo have actually originated from El Salvador, Nicaragua, Egypt, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Guinea, Vietnam, Cambodia and Senegal, according to federal government information shown ProPublica and the Tribune. DHS did not reply to numerous ask for remark concerning one of the most current transfers.
” We remain to understand extremely little concerning the problems there, that the federal government is sending out there and why this is occurring,” stated Zoe Bowman, a lawyer with the El Paso-based Las Americas Immigrant Campaigning For Facility, which is additionally a complainant in the suit.
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