Here's a breakdown of the stories right now at www.democratandchronicle.com. Virginia Butler
For months, Chick Tony Mokom didn't know why he could not leave the immigration detention center in Batavia.
Having traveled from the strife of Cameroon to Ecuador, through seven days in an unforgiving jungle at the Colombia-Panama border, and ultimately into Mexico and then the United States, Mokom imagined that he would be a prime candidate for political asylum in the country he now wanted to call home.
Taken into custody and ultimately held at the Buffalo Federal Detention center in Batavia, Mokom provided some information that he expected would prove his life could be at risk should he be returned to his home nation of Cameroon. Four times he sought "parole," which is a release in the immigration system until an ultimate adjudication of the asylum request.
But each time he applied, he received a notice from U.S. immigration officials with the same bureaucratic response: "After a careful review of the evidence you submitted and the immigration file, your request for parole is denied."
No further details, nor an explanation were provided, leaving Mokom to wonder just what he was missing. Had he committed some crime that he was unaware of?
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"They can't tell me why I'm being detained," said Mokom in a telephone interview. "They can't tell me my crime so I know this is what I did. ... It was the worst experience. I've never been locked up."
Mokom now lives with his aunt in Newark, Delaware, released earlier this month after a Rochester-based federal judge ruled that immigration officials were ignoring their own internal policies for parole decisions.
Mokom is not alone; eight other asylum-seekers from the Batavia center also have been released, according to officials with the New York Civil Liberties Union, which sued federal immigration officials on behalf of the detainees at Batavia.
The fact that new reviews led to release for the asylum-seekers demonstrates that immigration officials were ignoring their policies, said NYCLU attorney Paige Austin.
"I think it shows that there was a policy of indiscriminately denying parole at Batavia (and) not providing people with the procedural protections that they needed when seeking parole," Austin said.
In late November U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Wolford ruled that immigration officials at Batavia must reform the decision-making process for parole for asylum seekers. The NYCLU and the International Refugee Assistance Project, which joined in the lawsuit, claimed that the parole process had slowed in the final years of the Obama administration and come to a halt with President Trump now in office.
"Since the Trump administration took office, asylum seekers in detention facilities have been denied parole and bond hearings," NYCLU officials said in a statement. "Keeping immigrants in detention while they await the processing of their asylum claims significantly reduces the likelihood that they are able to prepare effectively to make a successful case for asylum."
Asylum parole is not granted without scrutiny. Immigration officials and judges do a thorough review of the detainee's past, his or her identity, and the living arrangements available if released. The immigrant must also show up for court dates, or the freedom could be revoked.
"The parole adjudication process takes into account danger to the community," Austin said.
A native of Cameroon, Mokom declined to discuss the specifics of his request for asylum without the presence of his attorney. But over the past two years the country, located on Africa's west coast, has seen increasing protests and violence tied to schisms between the country's French and English speaking populations. And the ruthlessly violent organization Boko Haram also made inroads into parts of the country.
Mokom said he left Cameroon in 2016, first traveling to Ecuador on his passport.
From there he began a lengthy journey to America, spending a week, he said, with other travelers in the jungle at the Panama-Colombia border. On that border is a swath of territory known as the Darien Gap, a remote and dangerous area where lawless guerrillas and deadly reptiles prevail. Outside magazine once called it "the world's most dangerous jungle."
"It was like a horror movie," he said.
He and his fellow travelers survived. In October 2016, about two months after leaving Cameroon, Mokom entered Texas through Mexico. He was detained, and in November 2016 transferred to Batavia.
His aunt in Newark, Delaware, had a room ready for him once he was granted parole. For asylum-seekers, parole is often a vital step, allowing them the freedom to gather information about the persecution they could face if returned to their home country.
Mokom's aunt "has been very supportive of him and did everything she could to try to facilitate his case on parole," Austin said. "He sat there for almost a year. It was devastating for him and devastating for his aunt."
Trump signed an executive order shortly after his inauguration directing immigration officials to "end the abuse of parole and asylum provisions currently used to prevent the lawful removal of removable aliens."
It said parole should be granted "only when an individual demonstrates urgent humanitarian reasons or a significant public benefit derived from such parole.
Parole ground to a halt, and immigration officials ignored their binding policies, NYCLU attorneys say. Detainees were blocked from parole hearings, where they can be released and a bond set.
"In many cases going through the hearing really shows there is no reason for this person being detained," Austin said.
Wolford's ruling dealt with only about 30 detainees at the Batavia facility. But, Austin said, similar issues confront asylum-seekers at other facilities, and the NYCLU expects to see similar legal challenges.
"We have a lot of folks yet to have bond hearings," Austin said. "A number of the bond hearings got adjourned. There are more bond hearings yet to come."
Mokom is now preparing to prove that he should be granted asylum. But, he said, he hasn't escaped the memories of the year at the Batavia facility.
"Whenever I hear the name of Buffalo or ICE it makes me scared," he said.
GCRAIG@Gannett.com