US senators back immigrant facing deportation to Guatemala
Source: Associated Press
Dave Collins, Associated Press Updated 3:10 pm, Tuesday, May 2, 2017
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — An immigrant facing deportation to Guatemala has the support of Connecticut's two U.S. senators, who are trying to prevent him from being sent back to a country he left 25 years ago amid threats to his family.
Luis Barrios, a married father of four U.S.-born children, is scheduled to board a flight from New York to Guatemala on Thursday morning. Immigration officials had allowed him to stay in the U.S. since his illegal status was flagged in a 2011 traffic stop over a broken tail light, but they changed course after President Donald Trump took office and made immigration enforcement a priority.
His lawyer and members of Connecticut's congressional delegation are urging federal immigration officials to reverse the deportation order, and Barrios is seeking asylum. About 100 of his supporters rallied Tuesday outside the federal courthouse in Hartford, with 19 of them being charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct for blocking the courthouse entrance.
"Based on Mr. Barrios's strong ties to the community, including four U.S. citizen children, his lack of an arrest record, and the credible threat of violence against him if he is forced to return to Guatemala, we believe prosecutorial discretion is warranted," Democratic U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy wrote in a letter to Immigration and Custom Enforcement officials Monday.
. . .
Barrios left Guatemala in 1992 amid threats to his family and illegally entered the U.S. His father was killed shortly afterward, and his brother was slain in 2004. His wife's relatives also have been killed and kidnapped in Guatemala.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Senators-among-supporters-fighting-immigrant-s-11115059.php
