Court denies asylum to 28 detained Latin American mothers
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A legal ruling that would send 28 detained immigrant mothers and their children back to Latin America despite their claims they would be persecuted upon return was upheld on Monday by a federal appeals court.
A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit denied asylum to the women from Honduras, Guatemala and Ecuador, saying their fears they would face violence at home were "not credible."
Judge D. Brooks Smith wrote in the decision that the justices were "sympathetic to the plight" of the petitioners, but he added that since the women arrived in the United States "surreptitiously" they were not entitled to constitutional protections.
The women came over the U.S. border in Texas but are being held at the Berks County Residential Center in Pennsylvania, said American Civil Liberties Union attorney Lee Gelernt, who represented the families.
"The decision is wrong as a matter of history and precedent, and if left intact, will be the first time in the history of the country that noncitizens on U.S. soil cannot obtain federal court review of the legality of their deportation," Gelernt said in a statement.
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Texas Adopts Statewide Texting-While-Driving Ban
Effective September 1, 2017, Texas will become the 47th state to pass a statewide ban on texting while driving. Governor Abbott’s signing of House Bill 62 is an effort to unify Texas under a uniform ban and remedy the “patchwork quilt of regulations that dictate driving practices in Texas.”
The bill specifically prohibits drivers from reading, writing, or sending an electronic message on a device unless the vehicle is stopped. That includes texting and emailing. It does not, however, prohibit dialing a number to call someone, talking on the phone using a hands-free device, or using the phone’s GPS system.
Violations would be punishable by a fine ranging from $25 to $99, to be set by each municipality. Although penalties could rise to as much as $200 for repeat offenders.
Studies have found that a driver’s reaction time is half as much when a driver is distracted by sending or reading a text message. According to state officials, in 2015 more than 105,000 traffic accidents in Texas involved distracted driving, leading to at least 476 fatalities.