Migrants describe hunger and solitary confinement at for-profit detention center
CNN)The 40-year-old mother found herself in solitary confinement, locked in a cell behind a steel door for 23 hours a day, according to her legal filing and attorney.
Feds miss deadline to reunite all immigrant children under 5 with families
SAN DIEGO — Lawyers for the Justice Department said in a court filing Tuesday that the federal government will miss a court-imposed deadline to reunite most of 102 migrant children under the age of 5 with their parents from whom they were separated. More children were reunited with their families Tuesday, but there were still dozens still separated from their families by the end of the day.
CBS News correspondent Mireya Villarreal reports that the judge wants to see constant progress and that there is a system in place that tracks these children.
As of Tuesday morning, four children had been reunited with their parents, according to the joint filing submitted by the government and the ACLU to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.
A June 26 court order stemming from a lawsuit filed over the Justice Department’s “zero tolerance” policy — which led adults and children to be separated when apprehended crossing the border — gave the government two weeks to reunite children under the age of 5 with their parents, and one month for all others.
On a conference call with reporters Tuesday, Chris Meekins, chief of staff for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ assistant secretary for preparedness and response, said the administration has tried to speed up reunifications by adding extra staff to conduct criminal background checks and determine claims of parentage.
“Let me be clear, HHS could have transferred every child in HHS care to a parent if we did not take into account child safety,” Meekins said.
Meekins said at least 14 children will not be reunited with those claiming to be parents, eight of whom failed criminal background checks, five of whom were determined not to be parents and one of whom is the subject of a claim of child abuse deemed to be credible.
The filing noted 13 others currently deemed ineligible for reunification, for reasons ranging from parents currently in the custody of other criminal justice agencies to a parent who is being treated for a communicable disease, and one who lives in a home with another adult who has a criminal background.
One child whose parents’ location is unknown may not actually be an immigrant, according to the filing.
“Records show the parent and child might be U.S. citizens,” lawyers for the government wrote in the filing.
Abril Valdes, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan told the Associated Press that two young boys and a girl were among those reunited Tuesday with their families at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The parents will be free while their cases wind through immigration court, and they’re expected to be required to wear ankle monitors, AP reports.
Valdes says her client, Ever Reyes Mejia, and the other two fathers “were hugging and loving their” children and telling the kids that “they were never going to be separated again.”
In total, the administration said it expects to ultimately reunite 75 of the 102 children with their parents. It noted that 20 of those parents were already deported, even though their children remain in U.S. government custody.
In the filing, the ACLU criticized the government’s work reuniting the children with their parents.
“For (the parents) who were deported without their children, (government officials) have not even tried to contact them or facilitate their reunification by today,” ACLU lawyers wrote.
There are as many as 2,900 more children five or older who remain in federal custody awaiting a July 26 reunification deadline, HHS Secretary Alex Azar said Thursday.
Article via: Feds miss deadline to reunite all immigrant children under 5 with families
This Black Family Was Delivering Papers, And Guess What? Cops Were Called On Them.
T’is officially the season for calling the police on our Brothers and Sisters
A mother wanted to teach her sons about the value of hard work, and thought that a good-old-fashioned paper route was the way to do so. Instead, however, her sons learned a hard lesson about being black in America, ABC6/FOX28 reports.
Brandie Sharpe and sons Mycah, 17, and Uriah, 11, were working a paper route in a Columbus, Ohio neighborhood when they realized they’d accidentally delivered a few papers to the wrong houses.
Sharp sent Uriah to retrieve the misplaced papers and as he was doing so, the group was approached by a police officer.
“I showed him the thing for the Dispatch, The Bag, the midday week paper, that we get,” Brandie told ABC6/FOX28. “And he said ‘Oh, really?’ and by that time I was kind of like, ‘Okay, why are you questioning me about this?'”
A resident had called the police on the family.
“It looked like at first they were delivering newspapers or something, but I noticed they were walking up to the houses with nothing in hand and one of them came back with something,” the caller told the dispatcher. “I mean, I don’t want to say something was going on, but it just but it just seemed kind of suspicious.”
Sharp isn’t buying it.
“I want to know what was suspicious, what was suspicious,” Sharp told NBC4. “That an 11-year -old was up in the driveway, getting a newspaper, literally went up and came right back down.”
The incident prompted an angry Facebook post from Sharp that went viral.
“First day of paper route and we are pulled over by police … Sad I cant even teach my son the value of working without someone whispering and looking at us out the side of their eye perhaps because we DON’T ‘look like a person that belongs in their neighborhood,’” she wrote.
“Police officer pulls up and ask us questions as if we were intruding in their area. Totally disgusted and disturbed that this kind of behavior still exist [sic]. My apologies Upper Arlington for bringing my 12-year-old African American son into your neighborhood to deliver the paper and make a few dollars on the side … NO HARM INTENDED … I will make sure my boss changes his route.”
Police department spokesman Bryan McKean says the responding officer “determined very quickly that these individuals were delivering the newspaper,” and that race wasn’t a factor in the department’s response.
“If she feels she was treated unfairly by our officer, we want to hear from her,” McKean said. “We want to know what our officer did to make her feel that way so we can investigate that and we can find out.”
The Upper Arlington Police Department also issued a statement describing the incident and pointing out a law saying delivery people cannot leave papers driveways.
“For some context, [Upper Arlington] recently enacted a law placing more stringent requirements on the delivery of printed materials, such as advertising packets, to help reduce littering. Deliveries must be made to specific locations, such as on a porch or through a mail slot in the front door,” the statement read. “This has changed the patterns of delivery people, since they are required to walk up to each home to correctly deliver these materials. Residents are seeing this change in approach but may not be aware of the new law.”
Article via: Cops Called On Black Family Delivering Papers
Burglar Calls Police for Help After Breaking Into Escape Room in Washington State, Getting Trapped
Generally, you’re supposed to break out of an escape room, not into one.
But in Vancouver, Washington, a man had to call the police for help after he broke into NW Escape Experience — and couldn’t get out.
“Once we got down there [to the business] and realized the damage was minimal, we just thought it was hilarious,” owner Rob Bertrand told CNN Tuesday.
Escape rooms have gained popularity in recent years. Groups work together under a time limit, finding clues and solving puzzles, to get out of rooms.
The burglar inadvertently tried his hand at the team-building craze on Sunday morning.
“When he got in he just kind of made himself at home,” Bertrand said. “He actually stole one beer from the refrigerator. The police say he also had a burrito.”
“We assume he was going to have a nice warm breakfast,” he added.
In addition to the beer, the man also allegedly stole a cell phone and a TV remote.
The man then tried to get out the back door, Bertrand said, but he had damaged it so badly trying to get in, he couldn’t open it.
So he called 911, using the phone at the front desk. Eventually, he did manage to get out the back door, only to run into a police officer who promptly arrested him, Bertrand said.
The suspect faces a charge of 2nd-degree burglary, according to CNN affiliate KOIN. CNN has reached out to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office for comment.
The man was inside the business for at least 35 minutes. That beats many people who attempt NW Escape Experience’s escape rooms — visitors usually spend an average of 50 to 58 minutes trying to get out. The record is about 33 minutes. However, Bertrand says the suspect’s time won’t count.
“He did call 911. That’s not a win. He quit,” Bertrand said.
Bertrand is excited about the business’ new claim to fame.
“We’re going to start claiming that we’re the only escape room in the nation that has 100 percent capture rate for criminals,” he said.
The Darkest Minds Movie Trailer
Based on the Best seller, check out the The Darkest Minds Trailer!
Ant-Man and The Wasp Review (Spoilers)
Well looks like the MCU has wrapped up their movies for the year with the latest being Ant-Man and The Wasp the sequel to 2015’s Ant-Man.
Let me start off by saying that Ant-Man and The Wasp is a definite tonal shift from Avengers: Infinity War. We went from dark and gloomy to happy and funny.
Paul Rudd once again was awesome and hilarious as Ant-Man. He plays the role of the underdog very well. Michael Douglas and Evangeline Lilly were also great as Hank Pym and Hope Van Dyne. I loved Hank Pym’s sarcasm just as much as I did in the first one. Watching Lilly as The Wasp was absolutely fantastic and I loved all of her fight scenes from start to finish.
The two new comers, Ghost and Bill Foster stood out to me as well. Hannah John-Kamen did very well as Ghost. Ghost isn’t essentially the bad guy in this film, rather she’s just going by harsh means just to save her life. Laurence Fishburne as Ghost was very interesting especially seeing his rivalry with Hank Pym and his father daughter relationship with Ava.
Now here’s the twist that a lot of people didn’t see coming. During the midcredit scene Scott is sent into the Quantum Realm by Hank and Hope and Janet Van Dyne, Hanks wife and Hope’s mother some time after rescuing not only Janet,but also saving Ghost from death. During the scene Scott gathers some energy from the quantum realm but before he’s able to return, Hank, Hope, and Janet all turn to dust from the result of Thanos’ snap from Avengers: Infinity War leaving Lang stuck in the quantum realm. It’s a dark but great twist showing that anyone could be taken away by the snap.
Overall I really enjoyed this movie and it’s a great stress reliever from that which was Infinity War. On a scale of 1-10 I give it an 8. If you haven’t seen Ant-Man yet go out and see it as soon as possible!
Daycare used Magic Eraser on kids’ faces, caused chemical burns
Parents in Denver are searching for answers after their children received chemical burns at a daycare.
The parents believe a teacher is responsible for the chemical burns caused by an incident involving a magic eraser in May.
“The two teachers came up to me when I picked him up and said, ‘your son and another boy got into a marker fight.’ And immediately my son said ‘Mommy my throat hurts,” parent Caitlin Sims said.
Sims was the first parent to be notified about her child’s injuries.
“The teacher said, ‘oh, I’m so sorry. I must have been scrubbing you too hard when I cleaned you,” Sims said.
Joel and Stacy Dant did not find out about what happened to their son until hours later.
“It just looked red, like just redness was all. And then the next day was whenever it like really started to show,” Stacey said.
Both sets of parents returned days later to review surveillance video.
“It was the toughest thing that my wife and I have ever seen,” parent Josh Sims said.
They say the scabs on both of the boys’ faces does not show the real trauma.
“Pushing her thumb into his neck, ripped him backwards and pulled him over backwards, to the extent that he buckled,” Josh said.
The Dants and Sims’ say they started getting different stories from the school about what happened and what could be done.
“Frankly, we expected the school to advocate a little bit more for us,” Josh said.
Online records showed the school is under probation, but does not show any injuries or complaints in the past three years.
Child protective services told the Sims’ it could be a few more weeks before a report is ready.
The lawsuit filed is against the school, its parent company, and the teacher involved.
A statement from the school’s company says it has taken the appropriate steps and will continue their investigation.
Man allegedly strangled wife to save her from going to jail over new car debt
A northeast Houston man told police he murdered his wife because he did not want her to go to jail if she could not pay for her new car.
Francisco Olazaran, 67, is charged with the murder of his wife, Maria Olazaran, 63. The medical examiner ruled she died from manual strangulation.
According to Houston police, on the morning of July 4, when the city was getting hammered by rain, Francisco walked into Sand Dollar Thrift Store on Harrisburg in east Houston and said his wife, who was sitting in the car, had just been choked and robbed by three men.
An employee called for help. Police say Francisco repeated that same story to them and then changed it.
According to court documents, he said his wife had just traded in an older car for a newer one. He didn’t have a job. Maria, he said, didn’t make much money working for Walmart, and he was worried she could not afford the car payments.
“The defendant stated that morning he killed the complainant because he did not want her to go to jail over the debt,” a prosecutor read from documents during Francisco’s first court appearance on July 5. “He stated that he did not want her to go to jail and that he preferred for her to die.”
An investigator told Eyewitness News the couple had been married for many years. The victim, a mother and grandmother, was pronounced dead at the hospital. Francisco’s charges were upgraded to murder on Saturday.
He is being held in jail on an $80,000 bond and, as a Mexican National who has lived in the United States for 15 years, must surrender his passport if he posts it.
Francisco is expected in court on Tuesday.
via: http://abc7chicago.com/man-allegedly-strangled-wife-to-save-her-from-going-to-jail/3738764/
Day care worker caught on video abusing children
A day care worker in Arkansas was arrested after she was caught on camera aggressively handling two young children, police said.
McKenzie Howell, 19, of Mabelvale, was arrested Monday on two felony counts of first-degree endangering the welfare of a minor after a caller told police her 21-month-old son was abused on June 29 at Kid’s Academy in Bryant, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports.
Howell, a class instructor at the facility, was arrested after investigators spoke with witnesses and reviewed footage from security cameras at the location. A woman who also works at the day care said she reviewed portions of video surveillance that showed her son being abused before she contacted the Child Abuse Hotline, which referred her to police.
The woman told police that Howell grabbed her son “aggressively off the ground” before trying to put him in a chair near a wall. But Howell dropped the boy, causing his head to apparently hit a wall before falling to the floor, according to a police report.
Howell later picked the boy up again and put him in a chair. No bruises or other marks were found on his body, police said.
Another colleague at the facility said she also saw Howell push another girl into a wall and forcefully pull the child’s arm.
The second colleague who witnessed Howell’s alleged abuse then told the facility’s manager of the incidents. Howell, who had been previously warned not to be “verbally aggressive” with the children, was then sent home and told not to return until further notice, police said.
Video obtained by KATV shows an employee at the day care facility sitting on a classroom floor in front of six young children when a worker identified by police as Howell is seen dragging a girl on the floor by the legs in front of her.
“This next part, I’m not going to lie, is hard to watch,” Bryant Police Department Sgt. Todd Crowson told the station. “You know, she just looked angry in the video. I’m not real sure why.”
Howell is also seen in other footage picking up a girl by the shoulders and throwing her into a chair. In another instance, Howell grabbed a girl by her shoulders and pushed her back against a wall while she sat on the floor, causing the toddler to immediately grab her shoulder and cry, the video shows.
“Kids can be tough to deal with at times, but you just got to have the right temperament for that job and some people, that type of job is not for them,” Crowson said. “If you’re a worker who works around kids and you feel like you’re having a bad day, maybe you should take a day off.”
At least one child has been removed from the facility since Howell’s arrest, KATV reports. She has since been released from custody at a jail in Saline County after posting $5,000 bond, jail records show.
Howell’s arrest is the latest complaint in connection with the day care facility. In January, state officials launched an investigation regarding its staff-to-child ratio, the Democrat-Gazette reported. An internal report in January showed that day care officials fired an employee for not being able to account for all of the children in her care after two children reportedly ran out when a parent opened a door, according to the newspaper.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/07/10/day-care-worker-caught-on-video-abusing-children/
Woman made up rape claim because date wouldn’t drive her home
CLYDE, N.Y. — Police in upstate New York say a woman falsely accused someone of rape for not giving her a ride home.
The Wayne County Sheriff’s Office says 27-year-old Jessica Gallagher of Clyde was charged Sunday with false reporting of a crime. Deputies say Gallagher told police she was abducted by a man she met on a dating app before being blindfolded and raped.
Investigators say Gallagher later admitted she fabricated the story because she was angry at the man for refusing to give her a ride home.
Gallagher was arraigned and is being held Tuesday in the county jail. She’s scheduled to return to court on July 18. It couldn’t immediately be determined if she has a lawyer who could comment on the charges.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/07/10/woman-made-up-rape-claim-because-date-wouldnt-drive-her-home-cops/