Anna-Catherine Brigida

1 month ago | houstonlanding.org | Anna-Catherine Brigida

Lauritz Cayuna de Melo was lounging at her home on the outskirts of Mexico City one evening in March when she got a call from an unknown number. “How weird,” she thought. Her family in Venezuela and husband Jesús Melo in Houston usually called through WhatsApp. About six weeks before, she had gone to the Venezuelan embassy in Mexico City to put herself and her two kids, Esteban and Eva, on a list to return to the country they hadn’t seen in eight years.

1 month ago | houstonlanding.org | Eileen Grench |Adriana Rezal |Anna-Catherine Brigida

U.S. citizens were more than twice as likely to be charged with a crime in Harris County in 2023 than adults who don’t hold U.S. citizenship, according to an exclusive data analysis by the Houston Landing. The analysis, based on the most recent data on the county’s adult population and criminal charges, shows that U.S. citizens have been more likely to be charged with a crime in Harris County since at least 2015, the earliest data collected by the Landing through public records law.

2 months ago | houstonlanding.org | Anna-Catherine Brigida

Read this story in English. Después de múltiples casos de testigos puestos bajo custodia de las autoridades migratorias, el fiscal de distrito del Condado de Harris, Sean Teare, ha dado instrucciones a los investigadores para que notifiquen a la asesoría jurídica del fiscal de distrito si un testigo es arrestado por una orden de inmigración, según un correo electrónico enviado por Teare el 5 de abril y obtenido por el Houston Landing.

2 months ago | houstonlanding.org | Anna-Catherine Brigida

After multiple cases of witnesses taken into immigration custody, Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare has instructed investigators to notify the DA’s general counsel if a witness is arrested on an immigration warrant, according to an email sent by Teare April 5 and obtained by the Houston Landing. The DA’s office also instructed investigators to provide cards to witnesses if they learn or reasonably believe that the person does not have a legal immigration status, the email states.

Mar 21, 2025 | houstonlanding.org | Anna-Catherine Brigida

Kevin Zaldaña Ramírez, a 20-year-old Salvadoran immigrant whose lawyer says he was illegally detained, was released from immigrant detention on bond Thursday. Zaldaña Ramírez was taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody Feb. 25 after immigration agents came to the construction site where he was working. He provided his social security number and explained that he has a status known as Special Immigrant Juvenile status and a valid work permit, but they detained him anyway.