A college student flying to Austin
was detained and deported by
immigration authorities.
She was trying to surprise her
family for the Thanksgiving
holiday. Now she's having to finish
her semester of college in a
different country.
Her lawyer says her deportation went against a federal court order. We're
gonna have more about the reason for her deportation and what the next
steps in her story are. That's coming up on today's show.
The Austin Signal is a production of
KUT News, hosted by Jerry
Quijano.
And what do you imagine when you
hear dragon boat racing?
Fire spewing out across Ladybird
Lake, boats speeding fast across
and even out of the water.
Come find out what it's really all
about. Plus, it's the time of
season for caroling and lighting up
big old trees.
Find out what's happening this
weekend in downtown Austin.
That's up next on Austin Signal.
Howdy out there, thank you for
listening. This is Austin Signal.
It's Wednesday, December third.
We are halfway through the week.
I'm your host, Jerry Kehonnell.
Thanks for spending part of your day
here with us.
Just before the Thanksgiving
holiday, a Boston area college
student boarded a plane headed for
Austin. She had plans to surprise
her family for the holiday.
Instead, she was taken into federal
custody and deported to Honduras.
Her lawyer says that deportation
went against a federal court
order. For more about this story, we
are speaking with KUT's government
accountability reporter Andrew
Weber. Good afternoon, Andrew.
Good afternoon, Jerry.
So tell us a little bit about the
student, who is Annie Lopez
Bayosa?
She's a nineteen-year-old business
student at Babson College
up in the Boston area.
And like you said, on November
twentieth, she tried to board a
flight. She wanted to surprise her
folks down here for Thanksgiving,
and she was told to just go back to
the the the gate.
Okay. She wasn't really told why, so
she did that. She went back to the
gate. They said something was wrong
with her ticket, and she was
met by her attorney says
immigration officials right
there at the gate, and they detained
her.
Yeah, w and what was the reason that
those officials gave her for the
detainment in the first place?
Yeah, the ICE immigration customs
enforcement folks told me she had
violated a final order
to to leave the country, a final
deportation order.
She came with her family to the US
when she was a kid, and she
thought that she had legal
status because they were seeking
asylum. ICE told me she
was detained lawfully
for violating that that twenty
fifteen order, and her
attorney told me that she was
taken into from the
from the gate, out of the airport,
into a van.
He said that the the agents were
masked, and she was taken
to a suburban ice facility,
suburban Boston ICE facility.
Then from there she was taken to
Texas and she was deported
back to Honduras within
two days. And you try to board that
flight.
You've been speaking with her
attorney, Todd Pomerlo.
What else has he told you about the
situation?
Well, like you said at the top, you
said that this was un it was
completely unlawful.
That before she was,
you know, immigration status
rather legal status aside,
he said that a federal judge
said, You can't deport this
person until they have a chance to
go before an immigration judge.
And that is clearly
not what happened.
At the end of the day, this is a
college student who came here at
seven years old to seek asylum
with her family. She's not
responsible under the law
for any decisions her parents
made about her. She didn't enter
illegally, like the government is
claiming. Asylum is a legal
process.
Regardless of how much the
administration may not like asylum,
it's protected by federal law and
they were following the law.
So what do we know about Annie's
location right now?
Yeah, yeah. Pomerolo told me that
she is in Aldados with her
grandparents right now.
But she, you know, doesn't know when
she's gonna be able to come back or
even finish the semester at at
Babson.
What do we know about the
administration's response to the
situation or to the attorney
Pomerlo?
Wha what happens next?
What have they said?
Yeah, Pablo said that ICE
hasn't really spoken
to him at all.
But they did they did respond
to a request for comment for
us from us, excuse me, and
they said that she went through
the full due process, which is
important because of that federal
court order.
And you know, they haven't
really responded to the feds, that
is, haven't really responded to that
court order.
Okay.
There was a request for, you
know, response by today.
I haven't seen anything on that
yet.
But you know, largely Todd Pomerolo,
the attorney, said that they want to
continue fighting this even if, you
know, the feds aren't gonna respond
to to this case.
They ignored my phone calls.
They haven't even acknowledged the
email that said we were her lawyer.
I mean I mean I guess they don't
have time to read emails these days,
but again we're taking her
to court and we're gonna seek
justice for any one way or another.
We're not I promised her we're not
stopping till she comes back.
And has he had any further
communication with her since as
you've been reporting the story out?
Not since I talked to him yesterday.
I haven't heard anything since
Okay, we I've been speaking with
KUT's government accountability
reporter, Andrew Weber.
You can find more about this
reporting in today's podcast
show notes. That is at KUT
dot org slash signal.
Andrew, thanks for speaking with us.
Thank you, Jerk.
And we've had a lot of reporting on
the Austin Signal this week.
And as always, as I mentioned
earlier, you can listen to the show
at K U T.orgslash
Signal. And we are with you
every single weekday afternoon
from one until one thirty.
We got a lot more coming up on all
things considered this afternoon
as well.
So be sure and stay with us
and subscribe to the show
wherever you listen to your
podcasts. We're gonna be back in
just a moment.
This is the signal.
Thank you for listening.
This is community powered public
radio K U T News,
and you are tuned in to Austin
Signal. Joining us now is Maile
Carballo from our sister station
K U T X. Howdy, Maile, it's been a
while since we chatted with you.
Hey Jerry, I'm doing great.
How are you doing?
I'm doing fantastic and
you know, we are getting into the
spirits. There's been a lot of
discussion on NPR as of late about
Christmas music.
You know, some so many people have
so many feelings about Christmas
music and we're gonna
add some more to that discussion,
right? Because there's A in a big
event happening this Saturday in
downtown Austin.
A big tree is getting lit.
What's happening?
Absolutely.
It's the annual K U T K
U T X and Downtown Austin
Alliance holiday sing along.
It's been going on for a long time
now and it's this Saturday
the sixth from five to eight PM.
It's gonna be a great time.
Yeah, like you said, it's been going
on for a long time.
You know, our predecessor here at
the station, John Ailey, started
this tradition a long time ago.
And and there's so much community
investment in this event.
I feel like every time I go, the
people are
So excited.
Jones and for the carols.
Yeah, and the great thing about that
too, mentioning John Ailey, he
started the tradition of singing,
you know, cr carols of
all holidays, Christmas Kwanzaa,
all sorts.
And the KUT and KUTX
peoples, you I'm I'm sure
included have sung up there before.
Well you
Well you know, I actually have not
sung before up on the stage.
I have a little bit of stage fry,
but this year I've been asked to be
part of the Carolers.
So I you know, I'm w apparently
we have a practice tomorrow for this
caroling.
So I will be up there, but
we have about an hour of Caroling
from K U T and K U T X staff.
But it wouldn't be an Austin event
if we didn't have even more live
music. There's some additional music
happening too, right?
That is correct.
So at if you arrive at five PM,
you can walk down. There's vendors,
there's music happening.
Amber Blue Music, which is a
children's entertainer, will be
there. Entertaining the kiddos.
So feel free to bring them out.
It is free for them as well.
And yeah, the K U T and K U T
Xers will begin a holiday sing along
starting at six and then we'll sing
into the tree lighting at
seven PM.
Yeah, it's always a great time.
It's a great event for your
children, and it looks like it's
shaping up to be a really good one
weather wise as well this Saturday.
Nice and chilly.
I was saying yesterday on on the
show that sometimes these events are
kind of like I'm wearing like a t
shirt and shorts to these events,
but this year it'll actually be
chilly. Again, that's happening from
five until eight o'clock this
Saturday night.
The K U T and K U T X holiday
sing along and stroll downtown.
Okay, Maile, let's switch planes a
little bit.
As we're beginning to wrap up twenty
twenty five, it's only the third of
December, but we still have some
time to go.
It seems like AI is creeping into
more and more industries.
We're hearing about how more and
more companies and organizations are
partnering with AI or or bringing
AI into the mix.
Music is not exempted from that
discussion. And one of the bigger
music companies in the world is
partnering with an AI company, but
I got your notes.
You're saying this is a company that
that was s they were suing and now
they're bringing on board.
What's the story here?
Yeah, so we're talking about Warner
Music Group.
They have been in a massive
copyright lawsuit with the AI
program Suno.
Suno is known for kind of
music oriented AI creation.
And Warner has basically been
saying, you know, Suno, you're
using our music, all of our artists
unappropriately, inappropriately,
and we want you to pay us basically.
We we want our musicians to be paid.
So they just settled
this massive copyright lawsuit
and pitchfork Pitchfork
reported this last week that they're
partnering with them and they're
actually gonna launch a brand new
legal licensed AI
model in association with Warner
starting in twenty twenty six.
One question that made me think
about was like the the artists or or
associated signed to Warner.
Do they have do they have to
participate in this?
How does this work with the artists
that work under them?
They do not. So what this means for
the musicians that we listen to, so
Warner represents, you know,
Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Madonna,
all of the big
Some pretty big names.
Pretty big names, they will now have
the option to opt in or out
of using AI with their
music creation.
So it's kind of still a little
bit vague, a little bit gray and
weird, especially as we kind
of grow into a season
of and maybe it a new
lifetime of AI generated
music. I don't know.
People are not happy about it.
Yeah. Me included.
What are some of the concerns that
we're hearing from folks about about
this potential or about this
partnership that is going to happen?
Yeah, for sure. I mean it blurs the
lines of, you know, originality,
what's real, what's not, what
can Suno claim as,
you know, original music in
terms of, you know, let's say Ed
Sheeran wants to opt in and use
it for his music.
It's it's still kind of the
the lines are not quite there yet.
But it's definitely gonna
be a necessity for a lot of the
bigger groups coming up.
They're gonna opt in and actually
alongside Warner, other
big groups have been associated
with Clay, which is another AI.
Okay.
Sort of music integration
system and it's just kind of freaky.
It's a lot of freaky stuff.
Lot of freaky stuff and I'm sure I I
can see maybe it has some
possibilities for a smaller name as
you're trying to expand and
you know, kind of a a slippery slope
there. We have been speaking with
Maile Carbio from our sister
station K U T X with
the great update.
As always. Maile, thank you.
Thank you, Jerry.
This is Austin Signal.
Thanks for being with us today.
For the most part, everybody's got a
thing, my least thing is in music.
Something that they, you know, just
do for themselves, not a job,
not a responsibility.
It's just something that brings them
joy or feeds their soul.
Mike Lee is the host of the This
Is My Thing podcast.
He says in their latest episode when
we hear about dragon boat racing,
you know, this is really a
thing.
My name is Beth Rowan
and I'm a member of Austin's
first and only breast cancer
survivor dragon boat team.
It's called Paddles with a Purpose.
Reach.
Reach you guys.
It's the traditional Asian
longboat, the dragon
boat. It's been around for thousands
of years, but it
has been recently within
the last 30 years discovered to
be very helpful
for breast cancer survivors
because it's moves the
lymph node system.
So when we're paddling, we get a
good workout of upper body
movement. So it's extremely helpful
for breast cancer survivors.
Were you seeking out some form of
exercise that would help you in your
continuing recovery?
Well yes, I saw the flyer in the
gym. I was going to the gym
regularly and saw the flyer
and I have done some canoeing
before, which I love.
I love being on the water.
It's extremely
good for my soul to be on
the water.
So paddling with
twenty other women in the boat
with me for practice and then
doing racing is
so fulfilling
and just so wonderful.
It's a wonderful group of supportive
women and we encourage
each other to stay healthy.
So you already had some experience
with boating and I I feel
like I should mention the elephant
in the room, which is that your last
name is Rowan.
Which is a big part of the activity
that you're I know I'm not the first
person to mention this.
You might be, actually.
That's surprising to me.
Yes, yes, that's really funny.
But rowing is something that is not
only good for you, but you something
you already enjoyed.
Yes, indeed.
Indeed. I have done a little bit
of rowing in a skull
on Ladybird Lake, but this is
paddling because we only have one
paddle and we use it
on the side and we all
paddle in sync.
So the key part about
being fast in the boat boat
is that we all are in
sync absolutely as much
as possible and that makes us go
really fast.
Stroke is feeling a bit rank heavy.
So again.
It feels so great to be
on the water exercising
and being with a this group that
has grown to be some of my closest
friends.
Our first race, I believe, was 2022,
and we have competed in the Austin
Dragon Boat Festival,
Oklahoma City, Dallas,
Houston, Kansas
City, Miami,
and we were in
a race in Vancouver
in June, which
was our biggest race.
There were 33 breast cancer
survivor teams, and we got third
place overall.
So exciting.
What did it feel like to see that
many other people
who have gone through this?
It's powerful.
But another thing that's even more
powerful is typically
when there's breast cancer teams in
a dragon boat race, we will take
a break to
honor and remember
the breast cancer
folks that have passed on.
And so in Vancouver
we had two heats
of breast cancer survivor
boats lined up together, raft
up, so connect, hold
on to each other, and we
have pink carnations.
Somebody usually sp speaks some
words or some music and then we
throw the pink carnations into the
water, remembering those that have
passed on.
It is very powerful.
It really is.
I would think that there's an
element that's a little bittersweet
to see that many people who
have had to go through this.
It is. But to also see that many
people who survived and are
thriving now.
Yes, it is.
I mean it is t bittersweet is
the exact right word because
I mean, you know, I'm
talking about how upbeat it is,
but we do remember
those and we have had people
on our team that have passed on.
But we do
feel like it is
one of the best things we can do to
stay connected and stay
strong and to
stay together.
Oh
When you started doing this six
years or so ago, did you think it
would be this big a part of your
life?
Oh, I had no idea.
I had no idea that it would be such
a focus for me.
Definitely had no idea
that these women
that I didn't know I would
come to just
love, you know, they're some of
my closest friends and
that I'm out there practicing
absolutely as much as I can.
I would ha I hate missing a
practice 'cause it just brings
joy and energy to me.
But to imagine that I would
have this connection, I had
no idea.
Did it originally just feel like
like an exercise, something that,
you know, you should do and it'd be
good for you, but then the emotional
connection came as a little bit of a
surprise?
Absolutely.
Absolutely. I mean, you
know, working out feels
good, but working out with women
that I'm totally
connected and we're in
sync paddling
and I know that they have
my back.
Like if something comes up with
anybody on our team, we're there for
each other. You know, we have
each other's back in all
ways.
And so that has been
so fulfilling for me.
That community is
just really wonderful.
And I'm guessing you didn't realize
you were going to be given that
gift.
Absolutely, absolutely.
I would never say that having breast
cancer would be a gift, but I would
definitely say that
this team is
the silver lining for
sure.
It's special.
These are probably women that you
you might not have a lot else in
common with or you might not have
run across in your in your normal
day to day life.
Yeah. But you have two things that
that really connect you the love of
the sport and having gone through
a similar experience.
Yes.
And maybe the other stuff
doesn't matter so much.
Yeah, that's true.
The connection is the most
important thing and definitely,
you know, we have grown close
during, you know, practices,
races, the traveling that we've done
together and we have like
this amazing bond now.
D you feel like you're gonna keep
doing this for a long time?
Oh yeah, absolutely.
For the rest of my life.
And if I was ever to move anywhere
else, the very first thing
I'd want to do is find a dragon
boat team. And if I couldn't find
a team, I would do everything I
could to start one.
I mean, it's really that powerful.
So you're not gonna move anywhere
where there's not a river or a lake
that you can
It's really fun.
We had of a team member who
came from the Pacific Northwest and
she said there were so many teams up
in Portland area.
And there's many teams in
Canada, believe it or not.
Lots of teams in
Florida and in
the Northeast, there's teams.
There's a team in Dallas,
Houston.
They have a big race in Arizona
every year.
So it's growing.
And you know, there's teams
in France and Italy
and New Zealand.
And so it's
worldwide and growing.
Remember to breathe.
We had an exciting thing in
Vancouver. Oh tell me.
One of our
our drummer who
was there for the first day,
she had to leave
and so her to
take her son to a summer camp.
So we were short one person, and for
a race it's mandated that you have
to have a drummer.
So the next race we were in the next
day, we were short.
We had to move one of our paddlers
to drumming.
So we had nineteen
paddlers instead of twenty.
And in that race, previously
we had come in first
in two races, and then
that one where we were short a
paddler, we came in sixth
place. And so
Luckily our manager
realized that she could go
talk to the
race people and they had a
steersperson that they
could loan us for
the race, so that meant we could
move one of our paddlers back into
the seat to paddle.
So we had a temporary
steersperson and all of our paddlers
and our drummer and so in that one
we came in third, which was so
exciting.
That really shows you how
how important every person
on that boat is.
Yes. If I mean, if you've got twenty
paddlers, a lay
person might think, You could
probably do without one and you'd
be fine, right? Right.
But obviously made a huge
difference.
Huge difference. We went from first
to sixth.
So we really need every single
one of our paddlers doing their
best. One person,
there's just as important as
everybody else on the team.
Right. That's a there's a lesson
in there somewhere, isn't there?
Yeah.
Long and strong.
Reach into that front.
I'm sixty years old.
So there aren't that many
opportunities for women
of a certain age to
do competitive team sports.
So to have that chance
and to feel the joy that we feel,
it's pretty dang exciting.
To hear more from that episode, we
have a link at K U T.org
slash signal.
Thank you to KUT's Andrew Weber
and to KUTX's Maile Carballo.
This is Austin Signal.
We will talk to you tomorrow.
Thanks for listening.