Deportations stopped for 12 immigrants targeted in US raids

San Antonio: Some of the first Central American families targeted by immigration authorities in recent raids have had their deportations temporarily halted.

Lawyers said yesterday that they've managed to temporarily stop deportation proceedings for 12 individuals from four families rounded up over the weekend, when authorities apprehended 121 people in the country illegally.

Attorneys are appealing to a Justice Department immigration appeals board for the 12, who had been slated for immediate deportation.

Attorney Kathryn Shepherd is working with women and children at a detention center in Dilley, Texas. She says several people targeted in the raids had received inappropriate legal counsel and that was part of their basis for appeal.

The Department of Homeland Security has said the immigrants targeted in the raids had exhausted their legal remedies before being apprehended.