The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Department has reportedly revoked the visas of Sonia Villarreal Pérez, current Undersecretary of Government for the Northern Region of Coahuila, former mayor of Piedras Negras, and Secretary of Public Security in the previous administration, and her husband, Jorge Miguel Barajas, chief of the State Police.
According to local media in Texas, the incident occurred when the state official was crossing the Piedras Negras-Eagle Pass International Bridge with her husband, Jorge Miguel Barajas Hernández, regional commander of the Coahuila State Police.
“When the couple attempted to enter the United States, Customs and Border Protection officers notified them of the revocation of their visas and returned them to Mexico without giving them an official reason,” reports a local media outlet in Eagle Pass.
According to social media reports, the state official is heavily pregnant, and Customs and Border Protection officers assumed she wanted to give birth in the United States, a violation of the visa terms.
The revocation of the Mexican couple’s visa could also be part of recent practice by U.S. immigration authorities, which have revoked visas from Mexican officials, including former governors and mayors.
Sonia Villarreal was Secretary of Public Security in Coahuila, and her husband, Jorge Miguel Barajas Hernández, alias “El Hummer,” was a member of the State Police’s Special Weapons and Tactics Group (GATES), a highly controversial group on Coahuila’s northern border, accused of forced disappearances, torture, and illegal detentions.
Source: laopinion
