Mexican mom thanks community

Gomez says public pressure got her out of ICE detention center

A Las Vegas mother of three and an undocumented Mexican immigrant said during a Monday news conference it was community support that granted her release from a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center.

Alongside her two youngest sons, Ricardo Avelar-gomez, 18, and Eric Avelar-gomez, 13, Cecilia Gomez, 46, called her experience “nothing short of traumatic.”

“If not for the community organizations and individuals that called for my release, I would not be here now,” Gomez said in a statement in Spanish, which was translated by the older son. “I would have been one of the millions who’ve been ripped apart from their families.”

Gomez was detained in late March at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Las Vegas, where she appeared for what she believed to be an interview that would bring her one step closer to obtaining legal permanent residency. When she arrived, she was questioned by ICE officers, who she claims assaulted her and left her with bruises.

ICE called those accusations “patently false” in a statement, according to The Associated Press. But Gomez will request an ICE investigation through her attorney, Laura Barrera of the UNLV Immigration Clinic, Barrera said at the news conference.

“We are collecting evidence now. It was difficult because, as she (Gomez) said in her statement, she was asking to have her injury photographed,” to no avail, Barrera said. The team plans to request video footage from the room where Gomez said she was apprehended.

Gomez was granted supervised release Friday and will have to attend regular check-ins at the Las Vegas ICE office. Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for low levels of immigration, called it a classic example of media attention pushing ICE officials under the strain of limited resources to decide fighting for a high-profile case isn’t

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markable when you think about how efficient we are with our resources,” Mike Barton, chief academic officer of the Clark County School District, said of the results. “There are some pretty solid results in comparison to these other large systems when you think about the dollars being spent.”

The exams, commonly referred to as NAEP, provide one of the best means of comparing public education from state to state.

Every two years a representative sample of fourth- and eighth-grade students from across the country takes the exams. The exams have been around since the early 1990s and have remained fairly consistent in the types of questions asked.

In math, 31 percent of Nevada fourth-grade students were rated proficient, falling to 27 percent among eighth-grade students. Those figures compared to 40 percent and 33 percent nationwide.

In reading, 31 percent of Nevada fourth-grade students were

proficient, as were 28 percent of eighth-graders. That compared to 35 percent and 35 percent proficiency nationwide.

Of the four categories, Nevada improved slightly in every category except fourth-grade math. But Barley said he was encouraged by the performance of the state’s Hispanic and African-american students, who made gains in several categories.

He said current investments made in the state’s education system — including targeted, categorical programs like Victory, Zoom and Read by Grade 3 — will likely help Nevada continue to improve.

“We could see future potential and continued growth we believe coming up through out pipeline,” he said.

Clark comparisons

Clark County ranked below the state and national average in every category, which is typical of large, urban districts. But Barton said the district’s performance compared to others indicates that it is doing more with less.

For example, he noted, the Los

Angeles School District spent about $12,000 per pupil in 2015, compared to about $8,000 per pupil in Clark County. But Clark outperformed Los Angeles in every category, according to the 2017 data.

In Clark, 29 percent of fourthgrade students were rated proficient in math, compared to 31 percent of students in urban districts overall, landing it 16th on the list of 27.

In eighth-grade math, 25 percent of Clark students were proficient, compared to 27 percent of students in urban districts, good for a 12thplace ranking.

In Clark, 29 percent of fourthgrade students were proficient in reading, compared to 28 percent of students in urban districts. That ranked it 13th.

In eighth-grade reading, 29 percent of Clark students were proficient vs. 27 percent of students in urban districts overall. That ranked the county 12th.

Contact Meghin Delaney at 702-383-0281 or mdelaney@ reviewjournal.com. Follow @ Meghindelaney on Twitter.