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6 immigrants found El Cenizo man arrested on transporting charge By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
A man from El Cenizo was recently arrested for picking up six illegal immigrants near the Webb and Zapata County line, according to court documents. Francisco Javier Martinez, of El Cenizo, was charged with transport-
ing illegal immigrants. U.S. Border Patrol detained Martinez Nov. 11. That afternoon, agents said they observed several people coming out of a high brush area and getting into a silver Chevrolet Malibu near the Webb and Zapata County line, according to a criminal complaint Nov. 13. Agents said they were
able to detain one man near a gate. Agents notified Texas Department of Public Safety troopers to be on the lookout for the vehicle. Later, an agent spotted a vehicle fitting the description speeding on U.S. 83. The agent allegedly saw the Malibu dropping off several people on Pecan Street and Rancho
Grande. Five people were apprehended at that location, records state. Agents said they later located the Malibu at the intersection of Century Drive and Sunset Loop. Identified as the driver, Ramirez was the sole occupant of the vehicle. Agents alleged the Mali-
See ARRESTED PAGE 12A Photo by Vincent Thian | AP
U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at a town hall event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Friday. The Obama administration appealed to the Supreme Court Friday to rescue its plans to shield from deportation millions of immigrants who are in the country illegally.
PEW RESEARCH CENTER
RETURNING TO MEXICO
Obama makes plea to Supreme Court Plan would protect, give work permits to as many as 5 million immigrants By MARK SHERMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Gregory Bull | AP
Feliciano Bermejo, 49, speaks during an interview Wednesday, in Tijuana, Mexico. Bermejo spent 21 years in the United States before returning voluntarily to Mexico. A new study finds more Mexicans are leaving the U.S. than coming to the country.
Four immigrants tell their stories By JULIE WATSON ASSOCIATED PRESS
TIJUANA, Mexico — There are many reasons for the historic reversal of migration between the U.S. and Mexico, according the Pew Research Center, which
announced Thursday that more than 1 million Mexicans headed south to re-establish their lives in the last five years, while only 870,000 migrated north to the U.S. Some have grown tired of living in the
shadow of the law, and say border jumping has become too dangerous. Jobs are easier to find now in Mexico, and family ties are powerful. Here are some of their stories: ———— Feliciano Bermejo
spent 21 years north of the border, raising three sons who are U.S. citizens, before he was stopped in Atlanta for driving with a suspended license. He was reported to immigration
See MEXICO PAGE 12A
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration appealed to the Supreme Court Friday to rescue its plans to shield from deportation millions of immigrants who are in the country illegally. Moving quickly to put the issue before the justices in time for a decision while President Barack Obama is still in office, the administration called for the court’s immediate review of its plan to protect and give work permits to as many as 5 million immigrants. The immigrants affected are mainly the parents of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. The appeal, filed exactly a year after Obama announced his executive actions on immigration, injects the Supreme Court into a dispute between 26 mainly Republican-led states and the Democratic administration, amid a presidential race in which immigration has been a flashpoint. So far, the federal courts have sided with the GOP-led states and ef-
fectively blocked the plan. If the high court agrees to hear and decide the case by late June, and if the justices side with the administration, that would leave roughly seven months in Obama’s presidency to implement his plans. But time is running short for consideration of the immigration issue in the court’s current term. Texas, the lead state in the lawsuit, has 30 days to respond but could ask for more time. If the justices don’t agree by mid-January to hear the case, the issue probably will not be decided until after Obama leaves office in January 2017. At issue is the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans program, which Obama said would allow people who have been in the United States more than five years and who have children who are in the country legally to “come out of the shadows and get right with the law.” Texas quickly led a legal challenge to the program, and has won every round in court so far. Most recently, the 5th U.S. Circuit
See OBAMA PAGE 9A
JUAREZ-LINCOLN INTERNATIONAL BRIDGE
8 Syrians detained in Laredo By SETH ROBBINS AND ALICIA A. CALDWELL ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Zapata Times file photo
This 2009 photo shows an aerial view of the Juarez-Lincoln International Bridge, heading south.
Eight Syrian refugees turned themselves into immigration authorities in Laredo this week, officials said Thursday. Their arrival and uncertainty about their future in the United States comes at a time of political upheaval over Syrian refugees following the deadly Paris attacks. Two families — two men, two women and four children — presented themselves Tuesday at the Jua-
rez-Lincoln International Bridge, the Department of Homeland Security said in a release. The men were taken to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Pearsall, and the women and children to one in Dilley. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who along with several other governors across the country recently ordered state officials to suspend entrance for Syrian refugees following last week’s deadly attacks in Paris, tweeted a link Wednesday night to the conservative Breitbart News Net-
work website, which reported that Syrians had been “caught” at the border. “THIS is why Texas is vigilant about Syrian refugees,” the governor wrote. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump followed suit Thursday with a tweet of his own: “ISIS, Maybe? I told you so. WE NEED A BIG & BEAUTIFUL WALL.” Hundreds of thousands of people have fled Syria to escape the civil war, most of them to Europe. For Syrians with means, a lengthy trek to the U.S. border could provide another path
to asylum. Between 2004 and 2013, 1,449 Syrians were granted asylum in the United States, most in 2012 and 2013, and were not part of the 70,000 refugees from around the world that the U.S. accepts annually. According to U.S. Congressman Henry Cuellar, last fiscal year, the U.S. admitted 1,800 refugees, and 189 of them settled in Texas.
American SAFE Act The Obama administra-
See SYRIANS PAGE 9A