By Miriam Raftery

Photo via ACLU: Sammy Reyes-Mejia, 3, didn’t recognize his mother after being reunited following three and a half months of separation and being held in a federal detention center.

September 2, 2018 (San Diego) – Despite a court order to reunify all children separated from immigrant parents at the border, 497 children remain in federal custody, including 322 children whose parents were deported, the Hill reported on August 30th.   There are 22 tots under age 5 in detention, and those deported included parents of six children under age 4.

AB 386 creates legal aid fund for veterans seeking to return to United States

East County News Service

March 14, 2017 (San Diego) — When immigrants signed up to serve in America’s armed forced, they were promised that they would be given expedited citizenship. But now President Trump has begun deporting these veterans.  Now, California’s Assembly Judiciary has approved a bill to establish a legal aid fund to help deported veterans.

By Chris Stone

Reprinted from Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Association

Photo via Facebook: Guadalupe Olivas Valencia, gardener who jumped off bridge at border after deportation, unable to support his three children after wife’s death

February 23, 2017 (San Diego) -- The founder and head of San Diego-based Border Angels blames President Donald Trump’s “extreme” immigration policies for the apparent suicide of a deported Mexican immigrant.

Despite controversy over violent crimes, new immigrants commit crimes at lower rate than citizens, Pew Research finds

By Miriam Raftery

July 11, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) – Congressman Duncan D. Hunter (R-Alpine) has announced plans to introduce a bill that would cut federal funds to any city, county or state that has enacted laws to prevent enforcement of federal immigration law, Times of San Diego reports.

The measure comes in response to the fatal shooting of Kate Steinle at the San Francisco waterfront by Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, an undocumented immigrant with five prior felony arrests. San Francisco, a sanctuary city, did not notify federal officials of Sanchez’s release despite pending deportation orders.  Mean while San Francisco’s mayor has announced plans to cooperate with the federal government for deportation of immigrants with a history of violent crimes—a small percentage of the total immigrant population.

By Miriam Raftery

November 21, 2013 (Washington D.C.) The U.S.  Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued a memo aimed at halting the automatic deportation of “spouses, children and parents of active-duty military members, reservists who may be called up as part of the 'Ready Force.'"  Family members of U.S. troops can now apply for parole, allowing them to stay in the U.S. while Congress continues delaying action on comprehensive immigration reform.