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ANNOUNCEMENT
: Axios Latino is launching Thursdays of Pachanga, where each week we highlight achievements of our readers.
Write to this email if you want to appear in the next edition.
1 topic to highlight: More cooperation after the end of the collaboration with ICE
Sheriffs and activists in metro Atlanta, Georgia, say immigrants have more trust in law enforcement and communities are safer a year after cutting ties with a federal program that critics say encouraged racial discrimination.
Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
Get up to speed
: With 287(g) agreements, local agents essentially act as an extension of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Their goal is to review the immigration status of people who are booked into county jails, which can result in their deportation for minor things like having a night out at a bar.
But in Atlanta, that immigration collaboration ended when the Democratic sheriffs of Cobb and Gwinnett counties, which were Republican strongholds until 2020, revoked the program in January 2021, according to Thomas Wheatley of Axios Atlanta.
By the numbers
: Over the past decade, the Gwinnett Sheriff's Office, led at the time by Butch Conway, checked the immigration status of more than 20,000 people, possibly alerting ICE, according to the Mother Jones information website.
In response, groups like the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights (GLAHR) and GALEO Impact organized voters and residents and pressured county leaders to end the program.
Current Gwinnett Sheriff
Keybo Taylor told Axios that he has redirected some of the $3 million it cost to run the 287(g) program to combat human trafficking and gangs.
Cobb County Sheriff Craig Owens has also hired someone to serve, for the first time, as a liaison with Latino communities.
He has also done more sheriff's office events to build ties with Latino neighborhoods and community leaders.
Yes, but
: Adelina Nicholls, co-founder and CEO of GLAHR, told Axios that while people are less afraid to talk to law enforcement, officers generally should be made aware of the potential racial discrimination of their actions even if it is not about collaborating with ICE.
"Trust erosion doesn't change with the flick of a switch," Nicholls said.
What's Next
: Activists are still waiting for President Joe Biden to make good on a campaign promise to withdraw all 287(g) contracts signed during the Trump administration across the country, attorney Naureen Shah told Axios. , immigrant rights advisor to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
Today nearly 140 sheriffs still participate in the program.
2. Colombia, at the forefront of abortion
Colombia yesterday became the third
Latin American country to legalize abortion in the last two years, following a ruling by the Constitutional Court.
It will no longer be a crime to voluntarily terminate an unwanted pregnancy, regardless of the reason, until the 24th week.
Why it matters
: At least 346 women have been convicted of terminating a pregnancy in the last 15 years, and Health Ministry studies have found that each year around 70 women die seeking clandestine abortions with those who wanted to avoid prosecution.
In the months that the court debate lasted, at least one woman (Lorena Gellis Palomino, who was 13 weeks pregnant), died from an unsafe abortion, according to reports.
The ruling of the Constitutional Court eliminates abortion from the penal code up to 24 weeks of gestation.
After that period, women who want to abort because the pregnancy is the product of sexual abuse cannot be criminally punished;
because the fetus is non-viable;
or because continuing the pregnancy poses risks to your health.
Pro-abortion activists in Colombia celebrate its decriminalization, but other groups reject it
Feb. 22, 202201:46
It is the most recent movement
in favor
of women's rights in a Latin America with a Catholic majority.
In addition, progress has been made when legal abortion in the United States, which for decades has been a benchmark for reproductive rights, faces serious restrictions.
Before Colombia, the Argentine Congress legalized abortion in December 2020. In Mexico, the Supreme Court of Justice ruled last September that the criminalization of the procedure is unconstitutional.
Uruguay and Cuba have also allowed legal voluntary abortion for several years.
In Chile, the Constitutional Convention in charge of drafting a new constitution voted in early February that it will include abortion as a right.
Since 2017 in that country it is already legal to abort in cases of sexual abuse, inviability of the fetus and health dangers for the pregnant person.
The National Assembly of Ecuador approved last week new guidelines to establish that abortion will be legal in cases of rape and in cases in which the pregnant person is in danger if she continues with the pregnancy, after orders from the Constitutional Court.
In his own words:
Latin America has shown that it is going in another direction in the face of these setbacks that are attempted and that unfortunately have materialized in the United States.
It's been a pretty harsh reminder that we can't fall asleep, we can't let our guard down at any time."
Mariana Ardila, COLOMBIAN LAWYER
Ardila added in an interview with Axios Latino that he hopes that other countries will follow the path of Colombia, of removing abortion from the penal codes and regulating it as a health issue instead of a criminal one.
"It is useless to raise it as a criminal law issue, because it does not reduce abortions and only causes harm," said the lawyer.
Ardila is part of Women's Link, one of the more than 90 organizations that filed the lawsuit that led to the decision of the Colombian Constitutional Court.
More details
: The judicial ruling is built on a 2006 ruling that allowed abortion on three grounds: cases of rape reported to the authorities, risk to the life of the woman or an unviable fetus.
However, studies showed that the majority of the country's estimated 400,000 annual abortions were still carried out in clandestine and unsafe places.
Women's rights groups told Axios Latino that this was because there were still barriers for people who qualified on the grounds, such as asking for unnecessary documentation or confronting health workers who claimed conscientious objection.
There was also a lot of fear among women of being criminally charged if they went to a clinic to request the procedure or seek medical care after an unsafe abortion.
70% of the approximately 400 criminal cases opened each year in the country originated in this way, Ardila said.
Facing charges could result in sentences of up to four and a half years in prison.
4. A hope to graduate... with his parents!
Thousands of Chicago students, along with their parents, will have a better chance at school thanks to a comprehensive scholarship program announced Tuesday.
The program called Hope Chicago will award full college scholarships to majority Black and Latino students beginning this fall.
Why it matters
: Fear of incurring unpayable debt deters many Latino students from going to college, studies show.
Latino and black graduates who take out loans to pay for college tuition carry that debt much longer than their peers, according to data from the Federal Reserve.
Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios
Details
: Hope Chicago is a private group that promises to cover full tuition, room and board at partner universities (both public and private, and
community colleges
).
It will also pay for textbooks, a laptop, and fund additional costs like transportation to and from class.
Hope Chicago will also provide all recipients with career guidance and counseling so that "the student not only gets to college, but completes it."
Benito Juárez Community Academy
is one of five Chicago schools chosen for the program.
94% of its approximately 1,700 students are Latino and 90% come from low-income families.
Hope Chicago's program is unique
in that it doesn't just offer scholarships to students.
It will also fund one of each student's parents to enroll in a two- or four-year program or a certificate program if she was unable to complete her studies on time.
Read more about it.
4. The key to keeping a medical appointment
Helping Latinos with the logistics of scheduling
colonoscopy appointments can make a huge difference in their access to preventive care, according to a study.
And the program can be replicated for other medical tests.
Why It Matters
: Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the US Latino population.
However, Hispanics have had lower screening and testing rates for that cancer than all other demographic groups, in part because the community is less insured and more concerned about the direct costs of getting tests like colonoscopies.
A colonoscopy clinic in PennsylvaniaThe Washington Post / via Getty Images
More details
: The study to help schedule screening appointments was conducted by Rhode Island doctors who first promoted colonoscopies at social gatherings, religious services and local health clinics.
A bilingual health worker then contacted Latinos interested in getting tested.
The health worker, designated the health system
navigator
, answered questions about why a screening test was needed and how it works.
She also provided information on possible methods of financial assistance to pay for tests, helped arrange transportation to health centers, offered doctor's letters so patients could take time off work, and finally made appointments.
The
navigator
then called to remind patients the day before their screenings, and again after the screening to discuss next steps based on the results (for example, if surgery needed to be scheduled).
90% of study participants said they would not have had a colonoscopy without the program.
These culturally tailored health programs
, where language and other barriers are taken into account, are "low-cost, easy-to-implement interventions with high impact," said researcher Abdul Saied Calvino.
People of all genders need
to perform
Colorectal cancer screening, through a colonoscopy or stool sample, regularly starting at age 45, according to the World Health Organization.
Colon or rectal cancer remission and survival rates are higher with early detection and treatment: nine out of 10 people diagnosed early were alive five years later.
5.
Summary of key news in Latin America and the Caribbean
The border wall that the Dominican Republic announced
a year ago to separate itself from Haiti began construction on February 20.
The Caribbean countries share the island of Española (also called Hispaniola) with a 244-mile border.
The Dominican government assures that they smuggle weapons and drugs there.
Another reason Dominicans want to build the wall is the irregular migration of Haitians.
Over the last decade especially, tens of thousands of Haitians have tried to flee the devastation of earthquakes and instability following the assassination of their president, heading to the neighboring nation that is better off economically thanks to tourism.
Dominican President Luis Abidaner (L) during the first phase of construction of a border wall with Haiti, on February 20, 2022. Erika Santelices/AFP via Getty Images
A non-binary person has obtained an official ID
for the first time in Mexico, after a five-month legal battle.
Fausto Martínez hopes that his birth certificate with the indicative NB can serve so that other people who do not identify only as a woman or a man are legally recognized as non-binary, he told The Associated Press news agency.
Mexico already allows trans people to change their documents to fit their gender identity, but there was no non-binary designation on those documents.
Argentina last summer became the first Latin American nation to allow non-binary identification, with options M (male), F (female) and X.
6. ♿ Come fly with them
It goes beyond Cirque du Soleil: this Argentina-based circus arts company gives people with disabilities the opportunity to show off their acrobatic talents.
"I want to fly".
These people with disabilities do stunts 16 feet high
Jan. 20, 202203:40
More Details
: The Beautifully Different troupe includes trapeze artists and aerial hoop artists who have cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, and blindness.
The show also has elements of dance and acting, as well as live music.
The acrobatic company has done shows in Buenos Aires since 2019.
Beyond
: Beautifully Different is one of a handful of Latin American inclusion projects that have emerged recently, along with initiatives like Brazil's Montanha em Movimento, which helps people with mobility problems climb mountains;
and the Marathon of Dreams in Colombia, a four kilometer race to raise funds run by children with disabilities and their companions.
Thanks for reading, we'll be back on Thursday.
Do you want to see some of the most recent previous editions?
The (missing) Latinos on television
Afro-Mexican pride flourishes
The transnational impact of Plaza Sesamo
These Latinas are setting the tone for the art of the future
Tropical athletes at the Winter Olympics
Cleaning clothes in the Chilean desert
The Latin pulse after a year with Biden