It is National Hispanic Heritage Month, and WCPN is taking the opportunity to look at diverse stories, people, and issues affecting our communities and country as a whole.
Today we look at the issue of Central and South American children and mothers streaming Northward to claim asylum. In August, civil rights groups sued the federal government over refugees held in Artesia, New Mexico. The groups claim the Obama Administration is holding asylum seekers to near insurmountable standards to prove asylum claims.
Alvaro DeCola is an attorney in Akron. Spanish was his first language, and he offered pro-bono work to refugees in New Mexico, as part of rotating groups of attorneys there from the American Immigration Lawyers Association. DeCola described to ideastream's Tony Ganzer what the facility in Artesia was like, and what he saw of the asylum process.
