Federal judge orders release of immigrant held after Army base pizza delivery

NEW YORK (AP) — A judge on Tuesday ordered the immediate release of an Ecuadorean immigrant who was held for deportation after he delivered pizza to a Brooklyn Army installation."Although he stayed in the United States unlawfully and is currently subject to a final order of removal, he has otherwise been a model citizen," U.S. District Judge Paul Crotty wrote of Pablo Villavicencio.The Manhattan judge said Villavicencio, who was being held at a New Jersey lockup, can remain in the United States while he exhausts his right to try to gain legal status.

Salvadoran mother separated from son to remain in custody in Tacoma

A Salvadoran woman who was separated from her 8-year-old son when she entered the United States must remain in custody, prolonging her reunification wait, under an immigration judge's ruling Monday.

Mom reunited with son after being separated by immigration officials

Saturday morning a previously detained mom, separated from her six-year-old son at the U.S.-Mexico border, reunited with him at Sea-Tac International Airport after almost two months apart.

Detaining immigrant kids is now a billion-dollar industry

Detaining immigrant children has morphed into a surging industry in the U.S. that now reaps $1 billion annually — a tenfold increase over the past decade, an Associated Press analysis finds.

Detained mothers beginning to be released in Washington

SEATTLE (AP) — Some asylum-seeking parents who have been detained in Washington state after being separated from their children have started to be released from custody, advocates said Wednesday, but it remains unclear when they might see their sons or daughters again.The Northwest Immigrant Rights Project in Seattle said it knows of 55 people detained at the U.S.-Mexico border before being separated from their children and transferred to Washington under President Donald Trump's zero-tolerance policy.An immigration judge released one, Yolany Padilla, a 24-year-old from Honduras, on $8,000 bond from the Northwest Detention Center, a private immigration jail in Tacoma, on Friday — seven weeks after she crossed the border illegally in Hidalgo, Texas.

Washington Rep. Adam Smith talks "abolish ICE," Trump, immigration reform

SEATTLE -- Calls to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement are getting louder and Washington's representatives are taking the lead.Rep.

Trump blasts calls to abolish ICE, but could it really happen?

The "Abolish ICE" movement is gaining ground and getting the attention of some Democrats in Congress, including Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal.

Federal court blocks ICE treatment of asylum seekers

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Monday determined the U.S. government is violating its own rules regarding the treatment of people seeking asylum.Judge James Boasberg issued a preliminary injunction ordering the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to stop what opponents called the arbitrary detention of legitimate asylum seekers.

Thousands Protest Trump Immigration Polices, SCOTUS Travel Ban Ruling

SEATAC, Wash. – People across Western Washington joined the rest of the nation in rallies against the Trump Administration’s zero-tolerance immigration policy specifically citing the separation of children from their parents who arrive at the southern border seeking asylum.

Tacoma police arrest 10 protesters outside Northwest Detention Center

TACOMA, Wash. -- Ten protesters of the government's immigration policy were arrested outside the Northwest Detention Center Tuesday night, including one who jumped on a police officer's back as he attempted to detain a demonstrator, police said.About 120 people were outside the facility when an officer told about 30 of them to move out of a roadway.

Federal judge orders government to reunite separated families within 30 days

McALLEN, Texas (AP) — A judge in California on Tuesday ordered U.S. border authorities to reunite separated families within 30 days, setting a hard deadline in a process that has so far yielded uncertainty about when children might again see their parents.If children are younger than 5, they must be reunified within 14 days of the order issued Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw in San Diego.

17 states sue Trump administration over 'zero tolerance' immigration policy

Seventeen states, including Washington, New York and California, sued President Donald Trump's administration Tuesday in an effort to force officials to reunite migrant families who have been separated at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Immigrant rights activists in Seattle file suit accusing US of unfairly prolonging family separations

SEATTLE (AP) — Immigrant rights activists in Seattle sued the Trump administration Monday, saying it is unnecessarily prolonging the separation of asylum-seeking immigrants from their children.The Northwest Immigrant Rights Project filed the lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court in Seattle on behalf of three Central American women held in federal custody in Washington state, thousands of miles from where immigration officials have transferred their children.

Authorities abandon 'zero-tolerance' for immigrant families, at least for now

McALLEN, Texas (AP) — The Trump administration has scaled back a key element of its zero-tolerance immigration policy amid a global uproar over the separation of more than 2,300 migrant families, halting the practice of turning over parents to prosecutors for charges of illegally entering the country.Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said Monday that President Donald Trump's order last week to stop splitting immigrant families at the border required a temporary halt to prosecuting parents and guardians, unless they had criminal history or the child's welfare was in question.

The Divide: Our common humanity

“The Divide” is a weekly commentary that aims to find common ground on an issue dividing Americans.

GOP mayor of El Paso says claims of a border security crisis 'just hyperbole that's misplaced'

El Paso Mayor Dee Margo, a Republican, said Thursday that people are "misinformed" if they believe there's a border security crisis  where criminals are crossing into the United States and raising crime rates.

At the border: For immigrant families, still no word on when they will be reunited

McALLEN, Texas (AP) — Two days after President Donald Trump ordered an end to the separation of families at the border, federal authorities Friday cast about for jail space to detain them together, leaving hundreds of parents in the dark on when they would be reunited with their children.Immigration and Customs Enforcement posted a notice saying it is looking into creating 15,000 beds for use in detaining immigrant families.

Family says crying girl on Time magazine cover was not separated from mother

A girl shown in a photo crying as a U.S. Border Patrol agent detained her mother and used in a Time magazine cover about the Trump administration's family separation policy was never separated from her mom, several media outlets reported.

Despite an end to family separation policy, attorneys say it's unclear when families will be reunited

SEATAC, Wash. -- Despite President Trump’s executive order declaring an end to the family separation policy, Washington state says the fight is far from over.The state's next move is something it has done 26 times before -- sue the Trump administration.Currently, about 45 parents, mostly moms, are being detained in Washington state.Thirty-five of the 45 were moved from the SeaTac Federal Detention Center to another facility in Tacoma.Immigration attorneys say they do not know what is behind the move and that there are more questions than answers.Also, nine children separated from their parents at the border are in custody in undisclosed locations in Washington.