Latino community

The number of vaccinated Latinos in Mecklenburg County has doubled in the past three months. Still, two-thirds of Latino residents in the county are not yet vaccinated. The county and other organizations are joining efforts to close this gap.

Earlier this year, thousands of unaccompanied minors arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border, sparking debate once again about the immigration system. Children have been arriving alone for years. WFAE caught up with a father in North Carolina who nearly seven years ago had to wait for months as his four children traveled from Guatemala to Charlotte.

Recent data out of Syracuse University show that very few deportation cases in Charlotte this year were due to criminal charges.

A Trump administration policy required asylum seekers who traveled through Mexico on their journey to the U.S. to remain in Mexico while their claims were being processed. A small fraction of those cases were transferred to courts across the U.S. More than 100 of them are moving through Charlotte Immigration Court.

The second round of Paycheck Protection Program loans rolled out in January. In late February, the Biden administration announced changes in eligibility to the program in an attempt to make the loans more accessible to small and minority-owned businesses. Now, there's less than a month left for business owners to apply.

There are 24,000 DACA recipients in North Carolina, and their immigration status blocks them from receiving a professional license in some professions. That includes teaching licenses. This hurdle forced one Charlotte-area woman in 2018 to make a difficult choice: Be with her family or have a career.

A Guatemalan immigrant and mother of four who spent the last four years in sanctuary inside a Greensboro church was granted stay of removal by the Department of Homeland Security.

A bill introduced in the North Carolina Senate would give in-state tuition to college students protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. It would apply to public universities and community colleges. To qualify, students must have attended a K-12 school in North Carolina for at least two years and graduated.

Civil unrest and a crumbled economy have propelled more than 5 million Venezuelans to leave the country and settle abroad. Now, about 300,000 Venezuelans living in the United States can apply for temporary protected status, and at least 4,000 are in the Charlotte area.

Sheriffs from across the country, including 29 in North Carolina, have signed a letter to President Biden urging him to address the influx of migrants at the southern border.