HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - The Latest on an immigrant with no criminal record facing imminent deportation to Guatemala after having lived in Connecticut for 25 years (all times local):
3:30 p.m.
Police in Connecticut have detained 19 people who volunteered to be arrested while rallying in support of an immigrant facing imminent deportation to Guatemala.
Officers charged supporters of Luis Barrios with trespassing and disorderly conduct Tuesday for blocking the entrance to the federal courthouse in Hartford. The arrests were peaceful, and all 19 demonstrators were expected to be released later in the day.
Federal immigration officials had allowed Barrios to live in the U.S. the past several years. But they decided to enforce a deportation order after President Donald Trump took office in January and made immigration enforcement a priority.
Barrios has no criminal record. He lives in Derby with his wife and their four U.S. citizen children.
He will leave Thursday for Guatemala unless immigration officials approve his requests to stay.
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1:10 p.m.
An immigrant facing imminent deportation to Guatemala has the support of Connecticut’s two U.S. senators, who are trying to prevent him from being sent back to a country he left 25 years ago amid threats to his family.
Luis Barrios fled Guatemala in 1992 and entered the U.S. without legal permission. He lives in Derby with his wife and four children, who are U.S. citizens. He’s scheduled to leave for Guatemala on Thursday.
Connecticut Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy and congresswoman Rosa DeLauro are urging immigration officials to allow Barrios to stay in the U.S.
Authorities had allowed him to stay here since he was detained over a broken tail light in 2011, but they changed course after President Donald Trump took office and made immigration enforcement a priority.
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