Cole Escola accepts the award for best performance by an actor in a leading role in a play for “Oh, Mary!” (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — In late May, a 47-year-old woman from thewas detained by police in Puerto Rico after she entered a municipal building seeking a permit to sell ice cream on the beach to support herself.
Upon being turned over to federal agents, the Dominican woman presented her passport, driver’s license and work permits that proved she was living in the U.S. territory legally, her attorney Ángel Robles and the American Civil Liberties Union of Puerto Rico, said Monday.Despite the documents presented, authorities recently transferred her to Texas as part ofon migrants living illegally in U.S. jurisdictions.
The woman, whose first name is Aracelis, has not been fully identified because she is a victim of domestic violence.Aracelis is among hundreds of people who have been detained in Puerto Rico since
, surprising many in the U.S. territory that has long welcomed migrants.
Robles and the ACLU demanded Aracelis’ release and return to Puerto Rico.Bakeni said it was difficult to determine if the priest was specifically targeted, given the number of travelers caught in the ambush. Other travelers were also abducted, he said, although it was unclear how many.
Nigerian authorities haven’t publicly commented on the abductions and didn’t respond to requests for comment.Rev. Robert Fath, the vicar general of the diocese of Fairbanks, Alaska, told the Anchorage Daily News on Thursday that he had received a phone call from Boko Haram confirming they had Afina.
Afina served in Alaska from 2017 to 2024 before returning to Nigeria, where he works with the Justice, Development and Peace Commission, a Catholic social justice group.Nigerian authorities are struggling to stem rising violence in the north and central regions where armed groups, including Boko Haram, target rural communities, killing thousands and abducting people to ransom.