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US women’s football team airlifted by military from Honduras amid coronavirus

A U.S. women’s tackle football team was airlifted out of Honduras on Friday by the U.S. military after being stuck in the Central American country for nearly a week when it closed its borders Sunday amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The team members, who were in the country for a tournament, said they were safe, had contacted the U.S. Embassy for assistance and were practicing social distancing at their hotel.

“All of our airlines do not have planes that ‘sleep’ here at the airport so we had no way of scrambling to get out since we had no way to get out,” the team wrote in a Facebook post after the border closure.

US women’s football team stuck in Honduras amid coronavirus pandemic: ‘We are just trying to say positive’

The team said they struggled to come up with funds to pay their hotel and food bills until the border reopened.

“At this moment we are all working on gaining support from our families and friends to be able to pay the bill for the next 7 days at which time we hope they open the border back up,” the post said.

“Traveling here wasn’t a concern to us because there was only one confirmed case before we got here, so we were weren’t concerned about coming here and at that time the United States wasn’t on lockdown yet,” Stephanie Balochko, the team’s coach, told “Outnumbered Overtime” host Harris Faulkner via FaceTime earlier in the week.

By Friday, the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Transportation Command and SOUTHCOM, which oversees military activities in Latin America, had airlifted the 55-member team to Charleston, S.C., according to Jonathan Rath Hoffman, assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs.

“The @usairforce @US_TRANSCOM and @SOUTHCOM conducted an air mission earlier today taking a group of U.S. women’s football players from Honduras to Charleston,” Hoffman tweeted.

“We continue to assist @StateDept in repatriating US citizens,” he added.

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The State Department has advised Americans to not leave the country during the outbreak crisis.

US women’s football team airlifted by military from Honduras amid coronavirus

The team members, who were in the country for a tournament, said they were safe, had contacted the U.S. Embassy for assistance and were practicing social distancing at their hotel.

US women’s football team stuck in Honduras amid coronavirus pandemic: ‘We are just trying to say positive’

The team said they struggled to come up with funds to pay their hotel and food bills until the border reopened.

“The @usairforce @US_TRANSCOM and @SOUTHCOM conducted an air mission earlier today taking a group of U.S. women’s football players from Honduras to Charleston. We continue to assist @StateDept in repatriating US citizens,” Hoffman tweeted.

“We continue to assist @StateDept in repatriating US citizens,” he added.

CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE

The State Department has advised Americans to not leave the country during the outbreak crisis.

Guatemala halts flights carrying deportees, asylum-seekers sent by US

Guatemala on Tuesday said it was halting incoming flights carrying deportees and asylum-seekers sent by the U.S. as a safety precaution against the spread of the coronavirus.

The measure covered two flights of Guatemalan deportees scheduled for the day, as well as indefinitely suspending flights carrying people from other Central American countries being sent to Guatemala under an asylum cooperation agreement with the United States.

Passengers sit on a bus at the main bus station in Guatemala City, Friday, March 13, 2020.
(AP)

“Starting today all flights of returnees under the (agreement with Washington) are suspended for the duration of the state of calamity,” Foreign Minister Pedro Brolo said.

In the case of deported Guatemalans, Brolo said it was a “precautionary measure” until health protocols can be put in place to transport people to their hometowns, since public transportation has been shut down.

The ministry said U.S. authorities are increasing health checks of people in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody “to guarantee that no returnee is sent with symptoms related to COVID-19 or coronavirus.”

Guatemala, which has reported one fatality from the novel coronavirus and confirmed five other cases, has closed its borders to foreigners, though Guatemalan nationals are constitutionally permitted to enter.

Most people who come down with the disease have relatively mild symptoms and recover in a matter of weeks. But it can be deadly for older people or those with underlying health problems.

LATIN AMERICAN COUNTRIES FIGHTING CORONAVIRUS SPREAD WITH MILITARY, CURFEWS

Tens of thousands of people from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras have crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in recent years seeking asylum or fleeing poverty.

ICE typically operates several flights weekly returning Guatemalans who are being deported.

The Trump administration has in recent months flown 939 migrants from El Salvador and Honduras to Guatemala, as well, through the asylum cooperative agreement that is part of Washington’s broader crackdown on immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border.

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Under the accord, the U.S. can require Salvadorans and Hondurans who cross its southern border to seek asylum in Guatemala instead. The vast majority have chosen to return to their home countries rather than request refuge in Guatemala, which also has high numbers of would-be immigrants and asylum-seekers fleeing the country.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Pregnant woman, 19, killed after falling from US border wall, officials say

A 19-year-old pregnant woman from Guatemala died this week from injuries suffered when she fell more than 19 feet trying to climb the U.S. border wall near El Paso, Texas, last Saturday, U.S. and Guatemalan authorities said Thursday.

Guatemala identified the woman as Mirian Stephany Girón Luna. Medical personnel tried to deliver her baby, but were unsuccessful, both governments said. The U.S. said Girón was eight months pregnant, while Guatemalan authorities said she was at seven months.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) blamed Girón’s death on human smugglers who encouraged her to try to climb the wall.

In a statement, Gloria Chavez, the chief for the Border Patrol’s El Paso sector, said the authorities would work with Mexico “to find those responsible for placing these lives in danger.”

SANDERS TELLS FOX NEWS TOWN HALL HE WOULDN’T CLOSE US BORDERS DURING CORONAVIRUS-TYPE CONTAGION

CBP Acting Commissioner Mark Morgan told reporters that Girón and her partner were taken to the border by smugglers and left there in the darkness. They were attempting to climb when she fell. Border Patrol agents reached her and called medical authorities, who took her to the hospital, but “tragically, the mother and the child died from their injuries from the fall,” Morgan said.

Her partner, who is believed to have been the baby’s father, eventually found Border Patrol agents, who called for an ambulance.

Girón suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, a pelvis fracture, and liver and kidney lacerations.

Guatemala says “surgical interventions” could not save her life and she died Tuesday afternoon.

Girón is from Guatemala’s San Marcos department, near the country’s border with Mexico. CBP says it has no record of her trying to enter the U.S. at an official port of entry or having been placed in the “Remain in Mexico” program, in which tens of thousands of migrants have been forced to pursue their immigration cases from Mexico.

Tekandi Paniagua Flores, the Guatemalan consul in Del Rio, Texas, said he spoke to Girón’s partner, who remains in Border Patrol detention.

“He said that if he had known that the risks were this high, he would not have done it,” Paniagua said.

Paniagua said he could recall at least seven cases this year in which Guatemalans had injured themselves trying to climb U.S. border walls. He says such cases are rising because more migrants from Guatemala and other Central American countries wracked by violence and poverty no longer surrender en masse to the Border Patrol.

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Policy changes such as “Remain in Mexico” and a ban on many asylum claims have made it more difficult for many people to remain in the U.S. once they are caught.

The U.S. has already built or replaced about 135 miles of border barriers with Mexico, with several contracts awarded for more construction. Much of the border in and around El Paso, across from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, already has some form of fencing.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Guatemalan woman, 22, dies in ICE custody at Texas hospital, marking 8th migrant death since October

A 22-year-old Guatemalan woman in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody died at a Texas hospital over the weekend about a month after undergoing gallbladder surgery, the federal agency announced Monday.

She was the eighth migrant to die in ICE custody since the start of the 2020 fiscal year in October, BuzzFeed News first reported. The same number of migrants died in ICE custody in the entire 2019 fiscal year.

GREEK ISLANDS SEE MORE PROTESTS AGAINST NEW MIGRANT DETENTION CENTERS, OFFICERS INJURED IN VIOLENCE

Maria Celeste Ochoa Yoc de Ramirez had been hospitalized in Fort Worth, Texas, for abdominal pain since Feb. 28. She died Sunday morning at the same hospital. Her cause of death was ruled due to “autoimmune hepatitis, complicated by septic shock and acute liver failure,” ICE said in a news release.

The woman was arrested by Border Patrol agents in September for illegally entering the United States, crossing the Mexican border near Hidalgo, Texas. She was transferred into ICE custody and detained at the El Valle Detention Facility in Raymondville, Texas, the press release said.

Ochoa passed initial asylum screenings. She remained in ICE custody where removal proceedings were initiated with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR).

Months later, Ochoa was transported to a hospital in Oklahoma on February 7 before undergoing surgery to remove her gallbladder two days later. Ochoa was then transferred to an Oklahoma detention facility on February 10 before returning to the Texas Feb. 13.

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She was held at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, until she began experiencing abdominal pain. On February 28, she was brought to Texas Health Downtown Fort Worth, where she remained hospitalized until her death.

ICE has notified the Guatemalan consulate and Ochoa’s next of kin, the press release said.

Brandon Judd: Sanctuary cities like Los Angeles sending ‘wrong message’ by not cooperating with ICE

Los Angeles and other sanctuary cities are sending the “wrong message” by working against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, National Border Patrol President Brandon Judd said Saturday.

Appearing on “Fox & Friends: Weekend,” Judd said immigrants who commit crimes in the United States can be deported if they lack a “legal reason to be here.”

GRANDDAUGHTER OF WOMAN ALLEGEDLY MURDERED BY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT IN NYC RIPS SANCTUARY CITIES AT TRUMP SPEECH

In a video message on Twitter, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti promised the city was not working with ICE and told residents that — no matter their immigration status — they don’t have to open their door to an ICE agent who doesn’t have a warrant signed by a judge.

“When this mayor says that — ‘Make no mistake: We are not coordinating with ICE’ — that is the wrong message to send,” Judd said.

He told host Griff Jenkins that with the recent addition of members of the elite tactical unit known as BORTAC — which The New York Times labels the “SWAT team of the Border Patrol” — Los Angeles will no longer be a “safe haven.”

The action comes after the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security announced a series of measures designed to crack down on sanctuary cities.

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Judd said he hopes that message also reaches the Central American countries that are the source of much of the illegal immigration.

“Any time … you take people out of the communities that have committed crimes against those communities, it sends that message that we’re not just going to let you free,” Judd said.

Honduras MS-13 leader freed after gunmen storm court building

What is MS-13?

MS-13 is associated with a spate of brutal and violent killings. How did the gang originate, and how widespread are its members?

“El Porky” has slipped from the grasp of Honduran authorities.

Alexander Mendoza, the senior MS-13 gang leader with the swine-related nickname, managed to escape custody this week following a shootout at a courthouse.

Investigators say at least 20 gunmen dressed in military fatigues and police uniforms stormed the building in El Progreso on Thursday, where Mendoza was appearing for a trial hearing on numerous murder charges, according to the BBC. The chaos left four police officers and one of the suspects dead.

Alexander “El Porky” Mendoza, an MS-13 leader, has escaped from police custody in Honduras.
(Honduras Police)

NEW YORK MAN ATTACKED BY MS-13, WHO WAS SET TO TESTIFY AGAINST THEM, FOUND DEAD

Surveillance footage said to be taken from inside the courthouse reportedly showed Mendoza first being escorted in handcuffs by Honduran security forces. Then armed men arrive and are seen forcing people into rooms. A few minutes later, Mendoza, carrying what appears to be a machine gun and pistol, reappears and walks out of the courtroom with no handcuffs in sight, the BBC says.

It’s not clear how Mendoza was freed, but a shootout between the gunmen and security forces then erupted outside the building.

Mendoza and 11 of the gunmen fled in vehicles that were waiting at the scene. The vehicles and weapons were later found abandoned nearby – along with the body of the suspect who was killed in the raid, the BBC reported, citing local media.

Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández is now offering an $80,000 reward for information leading to Mendoza’s arrest.

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“We’re going to recapture this man and arrest those who helped him escape,” Deputy Minister of Security Luis Suazo added.

Prior to his current trial, Mendoza had been sentenced to 20 years in jail in 2018 for money laundering and illicit association.

Truck carrying migrants in Mexico overturns; 1 reported dead, 81 hurt

A truck filled with Central American migrants flipped over while traveling on a Mexican highway Tuesday, killing one and injuring 81 others.

The deadly accident occurred near San Andres Tuxtla, 320 miles south of Mexico City on Carretera Federal 180 highway, Reuters reported.

“The majority were from Guatemala and others were Hondurans,” Mexico’s National Guard said in a statement.

Migrants are treated by first responders following a crash on a highway in San Andres Tuxtla, Veracruz state, Mexico on Tuesday. (Tamara Corro/Reuters TV via REUTERS)

A Reuters photo of the site showed a white commercial truck overturned in a ditch with the driver’s window crushed. Most of the injured migrants were taken to two hospitals.

A temporary shelter was established to treat others injured, Veracruz’s civil protection agency said in a statement.

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The incident comes as migrants continue to try and evade Mexican authorities on their journey to the United States. Mexico has stepped up immigration enforcement amid pressure from the Trump administration to prevent migrants from reaching the southern border.

Caravan in Mexico broken up by national guardsmen, immigration agents

Mexican security forces and immigration agents put hundreds of Central Americans who crossed into the country early Thursday on buses to be processed and possibly sent back to their home countries amid a wave of migrants passing through in an effort to reach the United States.

The national guardsmen, dressed in riot gear, advanced on migrants who were stopped at a crossroads, prompting the migrants to kneel and chant “we want to pass.”

Authorities awaited the caravan outside the community of Frontera Hidalgo, near Ciudad Hidalgo, where the migrants had crossed the Suchiate River at dawn.

CARAVAN MIGRANTS CROSS MEXICO RIVER, THROW ROCKS AT COUNTRY’S NATIONAL GUARD IN RESPONSE TO TEAR GAS

Mexican National Guardsmen block the passage of migrants on the highway leading to Tapachula, Mexico on Thursday. Hundreds of Central American migrants crossed the Suchiate River into Mexico from Guatemala Thursday after a days-long standoff with security forces. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

Many were escorted onto buses without resistance. Women cradling small children or holding kids’ hands wept as they walked toward the buses.

Jose Luis Morales, a Salvadoran de facto spokesman for the caravan, said the migrants wanted to negotiate to be allowed to pass peacefully. Federal officials arrived and a dialogue was opened.

He said afterward that authorities’ initial proposal was that they turn themselves in for detention while being processed for refuge — what he called “always the same policy.” Instead, they planned to stay put until Friday, Morales said.

Mexican National Guards detain migrants near Tapachula, Mexico on Thursday. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

The crackdown comes as Mexico has vowed to help the Trump administration stem the flow of migrants, who inundated American border officials at the southern border in large numbers in 2018. Trump previously threatened Mexico with escalating tariffs if it did not take an active role in halting the surge of migrants.

In previous caravans, Mexican authorities have allowed caravans to walk for a while, seemingly to tire them out, before blocking their path. Migrants and Mexican authorities clashed earlier this week as they tried crossing the Suchiate River.

Some threw rocks at security forces, forcing some families to be separated during the chaos. Authorities shouted that the migrants had two options: go back to Guatemala or turn themselves over to immigration agents.

The majority-Honduran caravan left from San Pedro Sula last week in the hope of of reaching the U.S. to apply for asylum. Aníbal, who declined to give his last name for fear of reprisal from immigration authorities, joined the group from his hometown of Santa Rosa, Guatemala.

EL SALVADOR PRESIDENT SAYS HIS COUNTRY MUST FIX PROBLEMS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO US IMMIGRATION CRISIS

Migrants sit on the highway leading to Tapachula, Mexico on Thursday, where they are blocked by National Guardsmen. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

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He said he was determined to reach the U.S. no matter what.

“They need to let us pass,” he said, adding that Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador “needs to have a little more compassion … we’re going out of necessity. We’re not going for ambition.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Caravan migrants cross Mexico river, throw rocks at country’s national guard in response to tear gas

Mexican security forces clashed with determined Central American migrants as they waded across a river in Guatemala into Mexico on Monday to continue their journey to the United States.

Tear gas was fired on the migrants, some of whom threw rocks at Mexico’s national guard militarized police, Reuters reported. The scramble of the mostly Honduran caravan led to some parents being separated from their children as they tried to avoid Mexican immigration agents.

Monday’s incident at the Suchiate River, which separates Mexico and Guatemala, underscores the challenges facing Mexican authorities tasked with containing the large group of migrants at the behest of the Trump administration.

The latest group set off from San Pedro Sula, Honduras, last week in hopes of reaching the U.S. southern border to apply for asylum.

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Central American migrants cross the Suchiate River by foot from Tecun Uman, Guatemala, to Mexico, on Monday. More than a thousand Central American migrants hoping to reach the United States marooned in Guatemala are walking en masse across a river leading to Mexico in an attempt to convince authorities there to allow them passage through the country. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Reuters reported Mexican authorities standing on the banks of the river intent on thwarting the illegal crossing, while hundreds of others ran into Mexico.

“You have two options: You go back to Guatemalan territory or you come with us,” Mexican immigration agents said to migrants who had crossed the river.

“We didn’t come to stay here. We just want to cross to the other side,” said Ingrid, 18, a Honduran migrant. “I don’t want to go back to my country because there is nothing there, just hunger.”

Those caught will be taken to immigration stations and be returned to their home countries if their legal status cannot be resolved. Over the weekend, 2,000 migrants camped out in Guatemala in the town of Tecun Uman, opposite Ciudad Hidalgo on the Mexican side of the border.

EL SALVADOR PRESIDENT SAYS HIS COUNTRY MUST FIX PROBLEMS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO US IMMIGRATION CRISIS

Central American migrants holding Honduras’ national flag stand on the legal border crossing bridge over the Suchiate River that connects Tecun Uman, Guatemala with Ciudad Hidalgo in Mexico. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

At least 4,000 people entered Guatemala from Honduras since Wednesday, according to Guatemalan authorities. The latest caravan comes as the Trump administration has enlisted Central American leaders in taking a more active role in stemming the flow of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Most are fleeing endemic poverty and increasing rates of gang violence.

Denis Contreras, a Honduran who was denied asylum and deported from San Diego, vowed not to give up.

“Here we are, and we’re not going anywhere, and if you throw us out, we’ll return!” he said.

Central American migrants cross the Suchiate River by foot from Tecun Uman, Guatemala. (AP Photo/Santiago Billy)

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More than 1,000 migrants chose to give Mexico a try Monday and were taken to a bus to an immigration center for processing. Authorities there said they blocked more than 2,5000 migrants from entering the country on Saturday as they made their way across a bridge over the Suchiate River.

Daisy Perez,42, who was traveling with her two young children, called a relative during a break in the chaos near the river.

“We’re in Mexico, send us money,” she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

US women’s football team airlifted by military from Honduras amid coronavirus

US women’s football team airlifted by military from Honduras amid coronavirus

Guatemala halts flights carrying deportees, asylum-seekers sent by US

Pregnant woman, 19, killed after falling from US border wall, officials say

Guatemalan woman, 22, dies in ICE custody at Texas hospital, marking 8th migrant death since October

Brandon Judd: Sanctuary cities like Los Angeles sending ‘wrong message’ by not cooperating with ICE

Honduras MS-13 leader freed after gunmen storm court building

What is MS-13?

Truck carrying migrants in Mexico overturns; 1 reported dead, 81 hurt

Caravan in Mexico broken up by national guardsmen, immigration agents

Caravan migrants cross Mexico river, throw rocks at country’s national guard in response to tear gas

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