NATIONAL NEWS

Unanimous Supreme Court gives transgender woman from Guatemala new chance to fight deportation

May 11, 2023, 8:13 AM

FILE - The Supreme Court is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington, April 14, 2023. The Supreme Court h...

FILE - The Supreme Court is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington, April 14, 2023. The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a transgender Guatemalan woman who is fighting deportation on the grounds that she would face persecution if returned to her native country. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS

(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled Thursday in favor of a transgender Guatemalan woman who is fighting deportation on the grounds that she would face persecution if returned to her native country.

The court’s unanimous decision in favor of Estrella Santos-Zacaria gives her another chance to argue that immigration officials were wrong to reject her bid to remain in the United States.

Lawyers for Santos-Zacaria, now in her mid-30s, said she first fled to the United States after being raped as a young teenager and threatened with death because of her gender identity in a country that has targeted the LGBTQ community.

But a U.S. immigration judge found that she did not make a strong enough case that she would face persecution if sent back to Guatemala.

The issue at the Supreme Court was more technical, whether federal immigration law was flexible enough to allow her another day in court. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled against her on that point, but other appellate courts had ruled in favor of immigrants on the same issue.

The Supreme Court ruled in an opinion by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson that the 5th Circuit was wrong.

After leaving Guatemala as a teenager, Santos-Zacaria had once before made it to the United States, but her stay was brief and she was deported in 2008, Jackson wrote.

Ten years later, she again entered the U.S. and was quickly taken into custody by immigration authorities.

Santos-Zacaria had testified that she was raped by a neighbor in the small town in which she was born and that townspeople said they would kill her because of her gender identity and her attraction to men.

She spent most of her time between 2008 and 2018 in Mexico, but decided to try to return to the U.S. after a Mexican gang also raped and assaulted her.

The State Department has found that Guatemala has done little to protect LGBTQ people and that transgender women are subject to frequent threats of violence.

National News

Associated Press

Last coal-burning power plant in New England set to close in a win for environmentalists

BOSTON (AP) — The last coal-fired power plant in New England, which had been the focus of a lawsuit and protests, is set to close in a victory for environmentalists. Granite Shore Power said Wednesday it reached an agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency to close the Merrimack Station in New Hampshire by June 2028. […]

3 hours ago

Associated Press

Universities of Wisconsin president proposes 3.75% tuition increase

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Tuition at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and other campuses in the system would increase 3.75% next school year under a recommendation announced Thursday by UW President Jay Rothman. The proposal is up for a vote of approval by the UW Board of Regents on April 4. If approved, it would be […]

3 hours ago

Associated Press

Maryland seeks $60M in federal help to start recovery plan for collapsed Baltimore bridge

BALTIMORE (AP) — Massive barges carrying cranes streamed toward Baltimore on Thursday to begin the challenging work of removing twisted metal and concrete in an attempt to open a key shipping route blocked by the wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore promised that “the best minds in the world” were […]

4 hours ago

Associated Press

Russian veto brings end to UN panel monitoring enforcement of North Korea nuclear sanctions

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia vetoed a U.N. resolution Thursday in a move that effectively abolishes the monitoring by United Nations experts of U.N. sanctions against North Korea aimed at reining in its nuclear program, though the sanctions themselves remain in place. Russia’s vote sparked Western accusations that Moscow was acting to shield its weapons […]

4 hours ago

Associated Press

Suspect charged with murder, attempted murder in a series of stabbings in Rockford, Illinois

CHICAGO (AP) — A 22-year-old man has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder in a frenzied stabbing rampage that killed four people in a matter of minutes in a northern Illinois city, authorities said Thursday. Winnebago County State’s Attorney J. Hanley said during a news conference that Christian Soto will be in court […]

4 hours ago

Associated Press

Dethroned crypto king Sam Bankman-Fried to be sentenced for defrauding FTX investors

NEW YORK (AP) — Former crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried, facing the potential of decades in prison, waited to hear his fate Thursday as a sentencing proceeding began in a New York court to assess the penalty for his role in the 2022 collapse of FTX, once one of the world’s most popular platforms for trading […]

14 hours ago

Unanimous Supreme Court gives transgender woman from Guatemala new chance to fight deportation