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IMMIGRATION
Criminal wanted
Cuellar eyes legislation
Man kidnaps woman; whereabouts are unknown By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
A convicted criminal is wanted for kidnapping a woman whose whereabouts remain unknown, the Webb County Sheriff ’s Office said Tuesday. The sheriff ’s office requested the community’s assistance to locate Mario Alberto Barrientos, 26, and kidnapped victim Nuvia Azeneth Pacheco, 24. Barrientos is believed to be in the Laredo area, according
to Brenda R. Medina-Moreno, sheriff ’s office spokeswoman. “There is a welfare concern for the woman, who is in need BARRIENTOS of insulin and requires serious medical attention and treatment for a recent surgery,” a sheriff ’s office news release states. Details on the case such as location of the crime or who reported the
woman missing are not being released due to the open investigation. Barrientos, a Laredoan, was PACHECO last seen driving a late model red Pontiac, Medina-Moreno said. The motive has not been determined. The sheriff ’s office criminal investigation division secured arrest warrants for Barrientos on the charges of
kidnapping, family violence, injury to a child, assault family violence and unlawful restraint. Lawmen went on to say Barrientos also has outstanding warrants for violation of a protective order and driving without a license. Barrientos has a last known address of 101 Los Altos Drive, off Texas 359. Authorities said the investigation stems from a recent in-
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IMMIGRATION OVERLOAD
FINDING COMFORT
By PHILIP BALLI THE ZAPATA TIMES
U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, and Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican, said Tuesday they are aiming to pass their bipartisan legislation, focused on stemming the border crisis, before Congress leaves for its annual August recess. Of more than 57,000 unaccompanied minors who’ve arrived at the border since October, only 1,254 had been returned home as of the end of June, according to a law enforcement official who CUELLAR spoke anonymously to discuss confidential data. Under current law, the youths stay in the United States while awaiting an eventual hearing in the backlogged immigration court system, something that can keep them in this country for years. The bicameral bill, dubbed the Humane Act, was first announced Monday by the Texas lawmakers in order to speed the process for the tens of thousands of Central American children who arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border. “We want to provide due process for the
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UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS
Diversity to be promoted Court OKs race as factor in undergrad admissions By WILL WEISSERT AND PAUL J. WEBER Photo by Pablo Martinez Monsivais | AP
This photo taken July 1 shows Milsa Martinez, 20, in Arlington, Va. After 14 years of separation from her parents and a harrowing journey across the U.S. border, Martinez finds solace in the northern Virginia high school where she’s perfecting her English and learning civics and math.
require special resources like English language and mental health services that already are strained because of budget cuts. In Miami, the school board voted to seek federal aid after Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said 300 foreign-born students, many from Honduras and traveling alone, enrolled toward the end of the school year. He said the district has both a “moral and legal requirement” to educate the students, some illiterate in both English and Spanish. The cost is about $1,950 more per
AUSTIN — A federal appeals court panel ruled Tuesday that the University of Texas can continue using race as a factor in undergraduate admissions as a way of promoting diversity on campus, the latest in an ongoing case that made it to the U.S. Supreme Court last year only to be sent back to lower courts for further review. In a 2-1 ruling, judges from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that barring the university from using race would ultimately lead to a less diverse student body in defiance of previous legal precedent that promoting diversity was an important part of education. “We are persuaded that to deny UT Austin its limited use of race in its search for holistic diversity would hobble the richness of the educational experience,” the opinion stated. The case began in 2008 when Abigail Fisher, who is white, was denied admission to the University of Texas’s flagship
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Schools a haven for kids who crossed border alone By KIMBERLY HEFLING AND JUAN A. LOZANO ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARLINGTON, Va. — Teacher Michael Coughlin sometimes learns about his students’ harrowing trips across the border alone and what they left behind from the essays they write. Other times, they’ll mention a court date or ask for help finding an immigration attorney. Most of these students at H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program are determined, he says, but “they are also very scared because they don’t have certainty for their future here.”
America’s schools are one of the few government institutions where the children and teens coming unaccompanied across the border are guaranteed services, from science instruction to eye exams. While their cases are being processed by immigration authorities, most of these minors are released to family members or sponsors who are told the children must be enrolled in school. Schools and districts in metropolitan areas such as Washington, Houston and Miami have seen an uptick in the number of these students and anticipate more could en-
roll this fall. “They have their hearts in the right places, but it’s a difficult task,” said Randy Capps, director of research for U.S. programs at the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan Washington think tank. The government estimates that 90,000 children, primarily from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, could make the journey alone by this fall, and that as many as 145,000 of them could arrive next year. They often come to join a parent, many times escaping criminal gangs or extreme poverty. In school, they frequently
ASSOCIATED PRESS