Guatemalan Yeni Gonzalez crossed the border into the United States illegally and was separated from her children. VOA is following her quest to overcome legal barriers and get her kids back from distant detention centers. This is one case among the 2,000 children of illegal migrants separated from their families. After 43 days in the custody of the U.S. immigration authorities and having been separated on the southern border of the United States from her three children when trying to enter the country as an illegal immigrant, Yeni Gonzalez was released on bail. The undocumented mother spoke with the Voice of America, “I’m going to look for my children,” she said. … “It has been very difficult, very hard for me, I felt that my heart broke into a thousand pieces, they snatch my children from my arms.” For five weeks Yeni Gonzalez was detained in this immigration center in …

U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday defended the country’s embattled immigration control agency against calls by some opposition Democrats to abolish it. “The Liberal Left, also known as the Democrats, want to get rid of ICE, who do a fantastic job, and want Open Borders.Crime would be rampant and uncontrollable!” Trump said on Twitter, one of several tweets he made over the weekend supporting the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. In an interview on Fox News, Trump said that from a political standpoint, “I love that issue.” He contended that if Democrats continue their call for abolishing the agency, “I think they’ll never win another election.” Tens of thousands of protesters demonstrated Saturday across the United States against his “zero tolerance” policy calling for the apprehension of anyone illegally crossing the Mexican border into the United States and for the immediate reunification of more than 2,000 immigrant children with their …

Guatemalan Yeni Gonzalez crossed the border into the United States illegally and was separated from her children. VOA is following her quest to overcome legal barriers and get her kids back from distant detention centers. As VOA’s Celia Mendoza reports from Arizona, this is one case among the 2,000 children of illegal migrants separated from their families. …

Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods take effect Sunday following the Trump administration’s new tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office said in a statement that the prime minister “had no choice but to announce reciprocal countermeasures to the steel and aluminum tariffs that the United States imposed on June 1, 2018.” Trudeau and U.S. President Donald Trump spoke late Friday to discuss trade and other economic issues, the White House said Saturday. “The two leaders agreed to stay in close touch on a way forward,” according to the prime minister’s office. The telephone conversation between the two leaders was their first encounter since the G-7 summit in Quebec in June. After that meeting, Trump tweeted that Trudeau was “weak” and “dishonest.” Trudeau also spoke Friday with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto to keep him up-to-date on Canada’s response to the U.S. tariffs. The American …

Idaho police say nine people were hospitalized early Sunday and one man is in custody after a mass stabbing at a Boise apartment complex that is home to many refugee families. Boise Police Chief Bill Bones said all nine were taken to area hospitals, some with life-threatening injuries. “At this point we haven’t lost anybody, but as I said the injuries are very serious,” Bones said. Motive uncertain The police did not yet have a suspected motive for the Saturday night attack but said a 30-year-old man was in custody. “This incident is not a representation of our community but a single evil individual who attacked people without provocation that we are aware of at this time,” Bones said.  He said the attack resulted in the most victims in a single incident in Boise Police Department history. “As you can imagine, the Wylie Street Apartment and our community is reeling …

Thousands of protesters in Washington and locations across the country rallied Saturday to protest the Trump administration’s policy of separating children from their families at the border. The largest event was held outside the White House. From Washington, VOA’s Jill Craig has more. …

Kicking the ball and working as a team is the message DC Scores seeks to send to children and young people in the U.S. capital. This program focuses on learning to play one of the most popular sports in the world, soccer. And also, as Cristina Caicedo Smit reports, through good handling of the ball, improve the young players’ academic performance. …

Several prominent Democrats who are mulling a bid for the White House in 2020 have sought to bolster their progressive credentials by calling for major changes to immigration enforcement, with some pressing for the outright abolition of the federal government’s chief immigration enforcement agency.  President Donald Trump responded on Twitter Saturday that it will “never happen!”  Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York said Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, has “become a deportation force,” telling CNN late Thursday “you should get rid of it, start over, re-imagine it and build something that actually works.” Her comments follow similar sentiments expressed by Sen. Kamala Harris of California over the past week. In interviews with multiple outlets, she has said the government “maybe” or “probably” should “start from scratch” on an immigration enforcement agency.   Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who sought the Democratic nomination in 2016 and is mulling another run, …