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New York’s asylum dilemma: families restart every 60 days

Sally, a 12-year-old, was in tears this Wednesday. The eviction from the hotel where her Colombian family spent the past year prevented her from bidding farewell to her Girl Scouts group in their New York shelter.

“Forced to leave at 11 in the morning, and the class was at 6 in the evening, and she couldn’t attend anymore,” explains her mother, Karol Hernández, to AFP. Together with her husband Sebastián Arango and their 1.5-year-old baby, loaded with suitcases, they had to start the process from scratch at the administrative center set up in the Roosevelt Hotel to request new accommodation.

Amid winter hardships, with nearly 2,000 people relocated from tents in Brooklyn due to heavy rains, New York City, overwhelmed by the migrant crisis, began implementing new rules limiting families’ stay in the same shelter to a maximum of 60 days.

After this period, asylum seekers have to start anew to find a spot in one of the 200+ centers in the city, competing with newcomers.

“60 days is too short for someone arriving in the city because legal processes take much longer, for a work permit, to obtain Temporary Protected Status (TPS),” says 22-year-old Venezuelan Angelo Chirino, who arrived in November with his wife and one-year-old son.

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Despite these challenges, more than 160,000 people, mostly Latinos, have arrived in the city in the almost two-year-long migrant crisis. Facing this growing influx, Mayor Eric Adams announced new restrictions on buses arriving with migrants and filed a lawsuit against bus companies for over $700 million in damages.

Like hundreds of families, 35-year-old Blanca, from Central America, had to leave the Row hotel on Wednesday, affecting her 14-year-old daughter’s schooling. Blanca has to start from scratch to secure new shelter, a process that can only be requested on the day of departure from the previous one.

“No one is helping me (with paperwork). I would have to pay (a lawyer), and how do I pay if I don’t have a job? With a job, I know I can get ahead with my daughters,” she says.

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Eight Killed in Series of Armed Attacks in Ecuador’s Manabí Province

At least eight people were killed in four separate armed attacks reported Sunday night in the cities of Manta and Montecristi, in Ecuador’s coastal province of Manabí, one of the areas hardest hit by the country’s escalating wave of criminal violence, local media reported on Monday.

The shootings occurred between 7:50 p.m. and 10:50 p.m. local time and affected several neighborhoods, as well as a family gathering, according to press reports. Police are investigating the incidents.

The first attack took place in the Los Artesanos sector of Montecristi, where a couple was shot dead in a public street.

Minutes later, in Manta’s 12 de Octubre neighborhood, a man was killed while sitting down. Police arrested a suspect at the scene and seized a 9mm magazine, authorities said.

A third incident occurred in the Bellavista area of Manta, when an armed assailant entered a home and shot a man during a family celebration. The attacker was captured by neighbors and sustained injuries.

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The deadliest attack was reported at 10:50 p.m. in the Leonidas Proaño parish of Montecristi, where gunmen opened fire from two vehicles on a group of people, leaving four dead and five wounded.

According to Jaime Salgado, acting chief of the Manta Police District, officers recovered seven 7.62mm shell casings, consistent with rifle ammunition, and 14 .40-caliber casings at the scene.

With these killings, the Manta police district, a port and tourist area on Ecuador’s Pacific coast, has recorded 51 violent deaths so far in January 2026, according to official figures.

The attacks occurred amid a state of emergency declared by the government in December due to serious internal unrest in Manabí, where military operations have been intensified this month, particularly in high-conflict zones.

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El Salvador Launches Fourth Year of Ocean Mission to Protect Marine Ecosystems

El Salvador’s Ministry of Environment has launched the fourth consecutive year of “Ocean Mission,” a permanent strategy focused on the protection, restoration, and responsible management of marine ecosystems, linking conservation efforts from inland mountain ranges to the coastline.

During an event held at the Los Cóbanos Protected Natural Area, Environment Minister Fernando López highlighted the ecological, social, and economic value of the site, which is recognized as the country’s eighth wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention.

“We are in one of the most valuable natural treasures of our country, not only because of its beauty, but also due to the enormous ecological, social, and economic importance that Los Cóbanos holds for El Salvador,” López said.

The minister emphasized that this volcanic-origin ecosystem is home to coral reefs and key coastal-marine systems that serve as refuge, breeding, and feeding grounds for emblematic species such as sea turtles, cetaceans, and a wide diversity of fish.

“Protecting Los Cóbanos means protecting biodiversity, community livelihoods, the local economy, and our natural heritage,” López stated.

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He also stressed that Ocean Mission goes beyond rhetoric, focusing instead on direct action framed within the National Environmental Education Policy. “We are not here to talk about environmental education; we are here to practice it,” he said, underscoring the guiding principle of moving from paper to action.

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Convicted gang member challenges Guatemala’s anti-gang law, citing Human Rights Violations

A member of a criminal gang currently facing sentencing for the crime of extortion has filed a constitutional appeal before Guatemala’s Constitutional Court against the recently approved and enacted Anti-Gang Law.

The appeal, submitted by Dylan Smaily Archila García, argues that the new legislation violates his fundamental human rights and claims there were procedural irregularities during its approval process, according to local Guatemalan media.

Archila García filed the motion just hours after the law took effect. The new legislation, passed by Guatemala’s Congress, increases penalties for crimes linked to gang activity and authorizes the construction of a mega-prison, modeled after El Salvador’s Center for the Confinement of Terrorism (CECOT).

Local outlets reported that in his petition, Archila García contends that the approval of the law did not comply with constitutional requirements and requests that the Court issue a ruling to annul the legislation, effectively halting its enforcement.

The appeal further claims that the Anti-Gang Law infringes on due process rights, as it allegedly fails to guarantee a fair criminal trial in which defendants can prove their innocence, undermining legal certainty and judicial security.

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Through this legal action, the petitioner seeks to have the law suspended and ultimately struck down by the Constitutional Court, preventing it from being debated again in Congress.