Immigration Lawyer Blog
Never a dull moment here in San Diego County. Dozens of minor aftershocks continue to rattle nerves as well as the ground Monday following one of the strongest earthquakes to ever hit the region.
Two people were killed and at least 100 injured when a 7.2 temblor rocked Baja and the county Sunday afternoon. At least five subsequent quakes have measured 5.0 or greater, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
On the Immigration front, more than three dozen Haitian earthquake survivors were released from Florida immigration jails on last week after more than two months in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Many had lost relatives in the Jan. 12 earthquake; some had been pulled from the rubble themselves. In the chaotic days and aftershocks that followed, many had been seeking security, food or treatment at the Port-au-Prince airport when they were waved onto military transports or other planes by United States Marines, only to be detained for lack of visas when they landed.
Lawyers at the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, who had urged their release for weeks, were jubilant as they waited with relatives outside the Broward County Transitional Center, a privately operated jail in Pompano Beach, for the last ones to walk out. Immigration officials said 40 Haitian survivors would be released on orders of supervision by nightfall. This came on the day that The New York Times reported that at least 30 earthquake survivors were being detained.