On Dec. 8, for the first time in seven months, Martin Esquivel-Hernandez was able to see his wife, Alma Brigido, face to face. Esquivel-Hernandez, an undocumented Mexican immigrant, has been detained in a private prison in Youngstown, Ohio since May, when he was picked up by U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) from his Pittsburgh home. His three children have visited him in prison throughout the year, but Brigido, who is also undocumented, wouldn’t visit out of fear of being detained by ICE.

But the reunion between husband and wife inside the federal courthouse in Downtown Pittsburgh wasn’t a joyous occasion. Esquivel-Hernandez’s visit with his family was brief and ended with him being returned to prison in Youngstown. Brigido and the three children exited the courthouse with tear soaked faces and prayed outside the doors.

Pittsburgh City Paper reported last month that Esquivel-Hernandez’s lawyer, Sally Frick, was negotiating a deal so that he would only be charged with a misdemeanor, instead of felony illegal re-entry. This would have release Esquivel-Hernandez from his cell in Youngstown and given him a good chance at avoiding deportation.

However, Esquivel-Hernandez rejected the plea on Nov. 8 because the office of Western Pennsylvania District U.S. attorney Soo Song would only negotiate the charge down to illegal entry after deportation, a slightly different charge that still would have left Esquivel-Hernandez charged with a felony.

“Even this lesser offense still puts [Esquivel-Hernandez] under the priority for deportation,” said Frick. “We are trying to give him the best chance for staying in this country legally.”

Frick spoke to CP after the hearing and said an illegal entry after deportation charge is considered a misdemeanor upon an immigrant's first offense. Frick said the U.S. attorney’s office told her that since Esquivel-Hernandez was already caught at the border and charged with this in 2011, an illegal entry charge would be upgraded to a felony. However, Frick said there are cases in districts close to the U.S.-Mexico border where undocumented immigrants have been charged with misdemeanors even after their first offense.

The U.S. Attorney’s office refused to comment on this case.

Antonia Domingo of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, who is advocating on Esquivel-Hernandez, said Song could also drop the case against Martin, which would be a boon to his chances of remaining in the U.S.

“They are completely able to [drop this case],” said Domingo. “And it would make sense since they are using government taxpayer resources to prosecute a man that does not deserve it.”

Frick said the U.S. attorneys have given her no indication they are willing to drop the case. But there is precedent for dropping illegal re-entry cases, including a case dropped against Francisco Aguirre-Velasquez, from El Salvador, this May in Oregon. And former western Pennsylvania U.S. Attorney David Hickton dropped an illegal re-entry case against Alfredo Ramos-Gallegos in 2014 in Erie. According to the motion to dismiss the case against Ramos-Gallegos, Hickton wrote in 2014 the U.S. government dismissed the case in "the interests of justice."

A jury trial is set for Esquivel Hernandez for Jan. 3, 2017 at 9:30 a.m. in Courtroom 3B at 700 Grant St., Downtown.

In response to the news that Esquivel-Hernandez would not be freed, a group of 60 advocates took to the streets and marched from the federal courthouse to the city-county building. Brigido spoke to the group about how Esquivel-Hernandez’s continual detainment is affecting her family.

“We were hopeful that he would be home for the holidays, but unfortunately that will not happen,” said Brigido in Spanish. “How am I supposed to explain to the children that their father will not be there for what is suppose to be a joyous time.”

Maria Duarte, a Chatham student an undocumented Mexican immigrant, asked Pittsburg city leaders to make the city a “sanctuary city,” where local law enforcement refuses to cooperate with ICE if they don’t have a warrant. Advocates say this policy is meant to protect law-abiding undocumented immigrants. Public Source reported last week that Pittsburgh City Council is considering making Pittsburgh a sanctuary city.

“We are here to demand that Pittsburgh declare itself a sanctuary city,” said Duarte to the crowd. “When immigrants are under attack, what do we do? Stand up and fight back.”

On the morning of Nov. 23, Minister David Herndon arrived at First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh to find an unwelcome surprise. A Black Lives Matter banner the church had put up just a few days earlier had been vandalized. The banner now read: Blue Lives Matter More.

"When I came to work that morning, I couldn't tell it had been vandalized at first and I caught sight of the banner and thought isn't this great that our neighborhood is so accepting," Herndon says. "But then I got closer and realized."

That day the church posted a picture of the vandalized banner to their Facebook page saying "Sad to think that even in our progressive, inclusive, multicultural neighborhood that our Black Lives Matter sign would be vandalized!" The post has since been shared more than 1,300 time and the church has received an outpouring of support.

"It's been amazing the support we've seen from people who are not part of our congregation who have reached out," Herndon says. "Over time my reaction has been to strengthen my resolve."

The original lawn banner had actually been a stand in for a much larger banner the church planned to plaster on their bell tower. And yesterday they put that banner up.
"Our denomination has been actively involved in racial justice since the 1950s and 60s. We went on record as supporting the Black Lives Matter movement and we wanted to support it here in Pittsburgh as well," says Herndon. "The congregation has been hugely supportive for the most part."

While the response to the new banner on the church's Facebook page has been largely positive, there are those against it. The comments section under photos of the new banner is riddled with "All lives matter" posts and one parishioner said he'd be leaving the church.

"So leaving my church and sad to do it but all lives matter. Every single one. Shame on you. And all of us members that we have created this deviousness. So sad on what my church has done. Disgusted," wrote Tom Waite.

Others wrote that the banner was an affront to police officers. But Herndon notes that he has a family member in law enforcement and says the church's message is not about vilifying police.

"We're not trying to be against police and law enforcement," says Herndon. "We respect those people and understand the risk they take to perform their jobs."

Now he's inviting members of his congregation and outsiders to have a discussion around the Black Lives Matter movement. He hopes discourse around the issue will lead to greater understanding and prevent future vandalism.

"It's our way of saying yes of course all lives matter but this one particular group have been marginalized, excluded, oppressed, really since the first slaves arrived," says Herndon. "We're trying to call attention to the reality that people of color in this country have lived under oppression for a long long time and continue to today."

Just five more performances remain of this fine production of last year’s Pulitzer winner for drama.

The playwright, Stephen Adley Guirgis, is arguably the hottest in the country right now. Earlier plays of his to cause a stir on local stages in recent seasons include The Motherfucker With the Hat and Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train (both at barebones theater); Our Lady of 121st Street (at Point Park’s Conservatory Theatre Co.); and The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (at Throughline Theater Co.).

On Monday night, Gabriel Gray stood outside Woodland Hills High School draped in Christmas lights, and a passerby might have confused his luminescence with holiday cheer. But Gray was standing vigil in search of something that can’t be bought in a store.

“'Tis the season to shine light on the truth of situations,” said Gray, a Homewood resident.

What Gray sought to illuminate was the story of Woodland Hills principal and football coach Kevin Murray, who was secretly recorded by a 14-year-old special needs student while threatening the pupil nine months ago.

Now, that same student is facing wiretapping charges, for a different recording made in September, while Murray is on administrative leave. But many in the community are rallying to the student's side.

The protesters first gathered outside the main entrance to the school, where a school-board meeting was scheduled. Wrapped in coats and hats to ward off the December cold, about 20 people chanted “educate, don’t incarcerate” while holding signs decrying Murray and displaying sound bites from the recording — like “I'll knock your [expletive] teeth down your throat” and “when we go down to court, it's your word versus mine and mine wins every time” — next to a picture of the principal’s face.

Participants included representatives of the Alliance for Police Accountability, a criminal-justice reform group; 1Hood, a community activist group; and the Education Rights Network, an activist group for special-needs students.

Brandi Fisher, president of the APA, called on Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala to drop charges against the student, saying he was “criminalized while already a victim.”

She also cited the 2014 case of Christian Stanfield, a South Fayette High School student who was charged with wiretapping for secretly recording two students who were bullying him. Zappala spokesmen Mike Manko said at the time that the district attorney’s office did “not believe this behavior rises to the level of a citation."

“We are hoping [Zappala] will do the right thing in this case,” Fisher said.

The wiretapping charges directed at the student, however, are not related to Murray’s threats. They stem from from a separate case in September, when the student was questioned by a school employee about a violent crime without a legal guardian present, according to the boy’s lawyer.

Woodland Hills superintendent Alan Johnson denied these claims, insisting instead that the recorded conversation concerned a “non-disciplinary” issue.

In the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, it is illegal to record a conversation without the consent of both parties.

Other speakers at the rally highlighted the “intersectional issue” of special-needs students and black students in public schools getting pushed out of school — and sometimes into prison — if they get into trouble. Some also asked for the firing of Murray from Woodland Hills High School.

The protesters then headed inside to the school-board meeting, lining the back of the room with their signs. After a choir of students sang “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” the protesters responded by singing, to the same tune, “we wish we could get some justice.”

The room was packed with Woodland Hills community members as well, some wearing “Wolverine football” sweatshirts for the school’s athletics, and many casting sidelong glances at the demonstrators.

The school board broke normal procedure to try to ease tensions in the room. Board member Tara Reis made a motion to move public comment forward from the end of the meeting. In doing so, she reminded the crowd to avoid using “aggressive or violent language.”

At Reis' remarks, the assembled protesters started to chant to fire Murray, and began leaving the room, escorted by school security.

Afterward, resident of the school district took to the open mic. Many defended Murray’s reputation, though some with reservations.

Heidi Balas, an English teacher at Woodland Hills, defended the principal's threats as a product of “when your heart is in the game and your emotions run high,” while defending Murray for his commitment to the school.

“Other principals treated [Woodland Hills] as a stepping stone,” Balas said to strong applause. “This is [Murray’s] stone.”

Among parents, the reaction was mixed. Many credited Murray, as an administrator and football coach, for his commitment to the kids and creating an atmosphere of mutual respect.

But Darneka Reed, a parent of a child in special education at Woodland Hills, and a special-education teacher herself, said Murray hadn’t been taking her child’s issues seriously, which she asked the other parents to consider.

“If that were your child, you would not appreciate that,” Reed said. In light of this, Reed thought Murray should go. The crowd’s response was tepid.

Speaking from 25 years' experience in social work, Rev. Robert Tedder, pastor of Union Baptist Church of Swissvale, tried to bridge the differences.

“I’m not here to assassinate [Murray’s] character,” Tedder said. “[But] all students, even those with behavioral problems and special needs, deserve to go to school free of harassment.”

The fate of a Pittsburgh undocumented immigrant facing deportation could all come to a head tomorrow, Dec. 8.

Martin Esquivel-Hernandez, originally from Mexico, was detained in May by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and faces possible deportation after his federal sentencing hearing concludes at the federal courthouse in Downtown Pittsburgh.

Esquivel-Hernandez’s lawyer has negotiated a plea deal for him, that if accepted, could lower his felony re-entry charge to a misdemeanor. Esquivel-Hernandez was detained this year after attempting to enter the country illegally four times between 2011 and 2012. His family had already immigrated to the U.S. and he was attempting to reunite with them.

Since, he has lived in Pittsburgh with his wife for more than four years, where the couple have three children, including his U.S.-born son, who attend public school. He has also become an advocate for Pittsburgh’s Latino community and is active in two local churches.

If his plea deal is accepted, his advocates are hoping ICE will drop the detainer against Esquivel-Hernandez and he could return home directly after his federal hearing concludes at 1:30 p.m.

However, ICE indicated to Pittsburgh City Paper last month that they will not drop Esquivel-Hernandez’s detainer. For this reason, his advocates are calling for supporters to come together and rally outside of the federal courthouse tomorrow to demand that he not be turned over to ICE.

“Martín should have never been detained in the first place,” said Guillermo Perez, president of the Pittsburgh Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA), in a press release. “He wasn't a priority for enforcement the day he was taken, and he still isn't a priority under the terms of this plea deal.”

Under the Obama administration, the priorities for deporting undocumented immigrants include being suspected of terrorism plots, involved in gangs,convicted in “aggravated felonies,” and other offenses. Jennifer Williams, Esquivel-Hernandez’s pro-bono immigration attorney says he doesn’t fit into any of the listed priorities.

“If you follow the ICE guidelines, [Esquivel-Hernandez] should not be a priority for removal,” says Williams.

So why was he detained? In April, Esquivel-Hernandez was cited for driving without a valid license by Mount Lebanon police, who then contacted ICE, who felt compelled to detain him because of his multiple re-entries. Also, stats from Syracuse University show that ICE officials consistently ignore the priority guidelines.

If ICE doesn’t drop Esquivel-Hernandez’s detainer, Williams says he could be thrown into the deportation process almost instantly and they will only keep him in custody “long enough to facilitate his removal.” Williams details that this could take a matter of weeks with Esquivel-Hernandez being shipped from detention center to detention center with little notice to his family and representation.

According to Williams, because Esquivel-Hernandez previously received an immigration hearing when he was caught at the border (an extremely expedited process where it’s normal to have 60 to 100 cases prosecuted in one day, according to Carlos Garcia, of the Puente Human Rights Movement, a Phoenix-based migrant-justice group), Esquivel-Hernandez can be removed from the U.S. without seeing an immigration judge.

Regardless, Williams says she will advocate for him to receive an immigration hearing if Esquivel-Hernandez’s ICE detainer isn’t dropped.

“Its very important that ICE give him due consideration,” says Williams. “To really consider the facts. To consider his family and come to a conclusion that this would really hurt a family.”

There has been a lot of media attention lately about how President-elect Donald Trump’s Election Day victory was due in part to his insanely busy campaign schedule. Pundits have speculated that his focus on visiting many declining, white working-class towns helped the billionaire connect to those voters and swing many of them from their Democratic Party roots to vote for him. For example, a Washington Post article recently showed that most of his campaign stops were to Rust Belt swing states, and he won all of those states.

But analysis of some Southwestern Pennsylvania voting districts throws a wrench in that theory. While Trump won Pennsylvania by about 44,000 votes, his appearances at declining, white working-class towns, like Ambridge, Monessen and Johnstown, didn’t actually lead to victories there.

In Ambridge and Monessen, he still lost by 12 points and hundreds of votes to his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton. In Johnstown, the race was much closer, but Trump still failed to get a majority or plurality of its 6400 voters and Hillary Clinton still beat him by 1 point.

The one town that Trump visited and won in Southwestern Pennsylvania was Moon Township. (Trump held rallies at Pittsburgh International Airport in July and November and the airport is located in Moon.) He won by 10 points there, but the township historically votes Republican and is hardly a working-class enclave. Moon is home to many white-collar office parks and its median household income is $57,000; Johnstown’s median household income is $24,000.

A look at the areas immediately outside the declining towns may provide an answer to where the real voter surge was occurring: in the wealthier neighbors of the declining towns. Take Ambridge, the former company town that once housed the American Bridge Company and had 20,000 residents at its peak. In Economy Borough, Baden and Harmony township (the municipalities bordering Ambridge), voters gave Trump between a 15-20 point victory.

Though not considerably thriving, it’s difficult to label these surrounding areas as downtrodden as Ambridge. All three municipalities are wealthier than Ambridge (Economy's average household income of $52,000 is more than twice that of Ambridge). And while Baden and Harmony have lost a couple thousands residents since their peak, their loses pale in comparison to Ambridge, which has lost more than 13,000 residents since its peak in the 1930s.

It should be noted, that Trump did make GOP gains in Ambridge compared to 2012’s Republican candidate Mitt Romney, who lost by 18 points (Trump lost by 12). But voter turnout of the more well-off Baden, Harmony and Economy must be considered too. The three municipalities average turnout was about 78 percent in 2016, a 4 percent jump compared to 2012. Ambridge's 2016 turnout was at 62 percent, only a 1 percent gain compared to 2012.

Trump visited and energized the declining, white working-class towns of Southwestern Pennsylvania during the 2016 campaign, but it might have just been those town's wealthier neighbors that helped propel him to a Pennsylvania victory.

Every Wednesday, we make a Spotify playlist containing tracks from artists mentioned in the current music section. Give it a listen below:

With the theme Pittsburgh: The Next 200 Years, this annual New Year's Eve program celebrates the city’s bicentennial for one last night before looking toward the future.

The extensive line-up for the 23rd annual one-day festival Downtown was announced at a press event yesterday by Sarah Aziz, director of Highmark First Night Pittsburgh.

The countless indoor and outdoor performances, exhibits and events spread throughout Downtown now have an expanded footprint over 14 square blocks. Also new is the location of the Highmark Stage, now at the corner of Penn Avenue and Stanwix Street. The stage will be the venue for the headlining Nigel Hall Band. The nationally touring soul and R&B group will kick off its set at 10:45 p.m., leading to the rising of the Future of Pittsburgh Ball and the Grand Fireworks Finale at midnight.

Others new events include the Pittsburgh Comedy Festival's Comedy Showcase, in the CAPA School Auditorium, hosted by Andrea Wetherald, at 9 p.m. There will be a silent disco with DJ Hatesyou in the lobby  of the August Wilson Center at 6:30 p.m as well. The Fire and Ice Plaza, featuring live ice-sculpting and fire performers, has also moved, to Ninth and Penn.

Elsewhere, the Dollar Bank Stage returns to Seventh Street to host music acts, and there will be an additional outdoor stage at Eighth Street and Penn Avenue, with DJ Big Phil.

The evening's events begin at 6 p.m. with the Dollar Bank Children’s Fireworks on the Highmark Stage and a performance by The Jazz Lab, featuring student musicians of the Afro-American Music Institute.

The FedEx Ground Parade, a staple of First Night, starts at 8 p.m. at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center and heads down Penn. In addition to many activities for children and adults, all Pittsburgh Cultural Trust galleries will offer extended hours along with three additional galleries in the Wilson Center.

$10 admission buttons give you access to some 100 indoor and outdoor activities, and can be purchased in advance online, at 412-456-6666, or at participating Giant Eagles. Children 5 and under are free. For some shows and concerts, you must register and reserve free seat vouchers online. Seating for vouchered events is first-come, first-served.

A neighborhood with historical Italian roots, Bloomfield is taking a step toward joining neighborhoods like Lawrenceville, the Strip District and East Liberty in the luxury-apartment boom.

“We are happy to invest millions of dollars into this neighborhood,” said Jason Lardo, owner of ICON Development, which is financing and rehabbing an old factory. “It's beautiful for the neighborhood to embrace us.”

Lardo, who spoke at Dec. 6 groundbreaking event complete with live jazz and a cocktail bar, said that six of the 18 units have already sold, and that most of the buyers are from a younger crowd. Bloomfield Lofts offers condos for sale ranging from $269,000 to $451,000. Add in up to $324 in monthly homeowner’s-association fees, and these units are sure to become some of the most expensive homes in Bloomfield. According to U.S. Census figures, the average home price in the section of Bloomfield where the lofts will be built was $139,000 in 2014, up from $87,000 in 2010.

The building, on Cypress Street, sat vacant for more than 20 years and previously housed a laundry company. Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto was happy that some investment was coming to the neighborhood and that the building was being repurposed instead of torn down.

“When you look at a project like this, you can see its history,” said Peduto at the event. “It’s great this building could find a new way to accomplish an adaptive reuse.”

However, the new luxury condos also contribute to Pittsburgh’s upscale-apartment boom that has increased rents throughout the city, especially in Lawrenceville and East Liberty, driving longtime low-income residents into the suburbs. (Bloomfield had largely avoided upscale development over the years, but still saw its average rent rise from $642 in 2010 to $875 in 2014, according to Census figures.)

The Bloomfield Lofts are pure market-rate housing, and don’t have any affordable-housing components. Peduto said that in the future he would like to see new housing developments like these include affordable units, but said those require different financing structures where developers seek government subsidies.

But Peduto said projects like Bloomfield Lofts can help keep some other rents down, since Bloomfield has experienced demand (the population has grown slightly over the years, according to the Census) and new units help to grow the housing stock instead of putting more pressure on a limited number of homes.

Last spring, Pittsburgh City Paper reported on WZUM-AM, which brought 24-hour jazz programming back to the airwaves — on the radio band known better for talk shows, no less. The station is operated by Pittsburgh Public Media, an all-volunteer organization that includes former staff members of WDUQ-FM like Tony Mowod and Scott Hanley, as well as veteran Pittsburgh sports broadcaster Bill Hillgrove.

Located at 1550 AM (and streaming at www.pghjazzchannel.net), WZUM operates as an initial step that will hopefully result in a high-watt counterpart on the FM band.
The station has since received on-air advertising from the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. Local musicians and even political figures like Jim Roddey can be heard between songs, endorsing the station and asking listeners to donate to keep progress happening toward the FM station. And every day, more listeners have answered the call.

“The more people discover us, the more they’re like, ‘Oh, wow, look at this. This is incredible!’ And they donate,” says Chuck Leavens, president of Pittsburgh Public Media and an on-air personality himself, who can be heard throughout the day during the week.

But now it’s getting to be crunch time. By Dec. 31, PPM needs to close on the purchase of a license that will bring the station to the FM band at 101.1. “Our license, [which] we purchased ... from the State University of New York, just outside of Ithaca, is a translator license that had never been put on the air,” Leavens says. “The State University of New York agreed to sell it to us. And we need to finish paying for that and close on it so we can go to the next step of building [the station].” Donations continue to come in daily, but at press time, PPM remained about $28,000 short of the amount needed for the close.

If the funding goal isn’t reached, Leavens says, a few options remain. PPM might be able to negotiate an extension on the deadline. As a worst-case scenario, PPM will continue on WZUM-AM at 1550 AM. It will also continue to broadcast on the FM dial at 88.1, courtesy of a license purchased from Bethany College, though that signal reaches only through the Ohio Valley.

But rather than back-up plans, Leavens prefers to talk about the next steps in the process: building a station with a transmitter and an antenna 1,000 feet tall. “There’s no station in town that has their signal coming from that height,” he explains. “And the trick with FM is that height is everything. You have height and you look down onto all the areas. That allows you to make a larger signal.”

Besides, Leavens sees the station as an opportunity to be a community voice. He mentions partnerships that have been developed with local places like the Afro American Music Institute, in Homewood. There are plans to build studio space that could accommodate live performances by the Institute’s students, in tandem with local and touring musicians. “This opportunity is not one that’s going to come along again next year. This is not one that’s going to come along again in five years,” he says. “It’s trite, but it really is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Donations can be made to WZUM at www.pghjazzchannel.net