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Utah college student arrested by ICE in Grand Junction granted bail

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Utah college student arrested by ICE in Grand Junction granted bail


A 19-year-old Utah college student arrested by federal immigration agents after a Mesa County sheriff’s deputy shared information about her in a law enforcement group chat has been granted bail, her attorney said Wednesday.

Caroline Dias Goncalves was pulled over for a traffic stop on Interstate 70 near Fruita on June 5 because she was following a tractor-trailer too closely, the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office said.

The deputy let her go with a warning but shared information about the encounter in an encrypted Signal group chat between local and federal law enforcement that was used for drug enforcement.

Federal agents arrested Dias Goncalves a short time later in Grand Junction and are detaining her at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Aurora. Her family did not know where she was for two days, according to reporting from the Salt Lake Tribune.

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Dias Goncalves, who attends the University of Utah, came to the U.S. from Brazil with her family when she was 7 and overstayed a tourist visa. She has a pending asylum application, according to the Tribune.

Colorado law enforcement is barred from cooperating with civil immigration enforcement under state law, and the sheriff’s office said the agency did not know the information would be used for immigration activity.

Sheriff’s officials have refused to say what information the deputy shared about Dias Goncalves, but said the agency is no longer a part of the Signal chat.

Dias Goncalves was granted bail by an immigration judge on Wednesday, advocacy group TheDream.US said in a news release. The organization did not provide details about the terms of her bail or when she will be released, but said she will be released “in the coming days” and asked for privacy for Dias Goncalves and her family.

A spokesperson for TheDream.US could not immediately be reached for comment.

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Her arrest and detention should not have happened in the first place, her attorney Jon Hyman from the Denver firm Peak Justice Group said in a statement.

“She has no criminal record, was not shown a warrant, and as the Mesa County Sheriff’s office has since revealed, her arrest was only attributable to improper coordination between local law enforcement and ICE,” he said. “Investigations should continue to ensure that other young immigrants in Colorado do not have to go through the same harrowing experiences.”

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Utah

Nina Dobrev Wears a Bathrobe While in Utah for Sundance Film Festival

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Nina Dobrev Wears a Bathrobe While in Utah for Sundance Film Festival


Nina Dobrev‘s bathrobe photo has fans checking in from Park City, Utah, during Sundance weekend. She posted it 18 hours ago, tagged Park City, and wrote, “Final Sundance in Park City, Utah? bittersweet doesn’t begin to describe it…” Nina’s carousel from the Sundance Film Festival reads like downtime between screenings. The post shows about 480.8K likes and 888 comments.

Nina Dobrev shares a bathrobe photo from Utah during Sundance Film Festival

Have a look at Nina Dobrev in a bathrobe:

Photo Credit: Nina Dobrev Instagram

The “Vampire Diaries” alum wears a plush white hotel robe, loosely cinched at the waist. It falls open at the neckline. Her hair looks half-done, pinned up at the crown, with loose lengths down.

The warm bathroom lighting highlights marble counters and polished wood doors. The photos also landed after she discussed recovering from a dirt bike injury. Fans replied fast, with one writing, “Such a cutie,” another said, “Gorgeous,” and a third added, “THE DIVA”.

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Originally reported by Santanu Das on Reality Tea





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State officials killed three wolves in northern Utah. Here’s why.

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State officials killed three wolves in northern Utah. Here’s why.


The killings took place in a region exempt from federal gray wolf protections.

(Dawn Villella |AP) A gray wolf is pictured in 2004 in Minnesota. Utah officials recently killed three wolves after they were seen near livestock in Cache County.

In a rural stretch of southwestern Cache County, state officials killed three wolves earlier this month after the animals were spotted near livestock, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources confirmed Tuesday.

The wolves were shot Jan. 9 by the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, said DWR spokesperson Faith Jolley, a move allowed because the animals were found in a small corner of northeastern Utah exempt from federal gray wolf protections.

The region, which lies mostly east of Interstate 15 and extends roughly as far south as Ogden, is considered part of the greater Yellowstone region, where the predator is in recovery. It is the only part of Utah where the state is allowed to manage wolves.

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(Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune)

Across the rest of the state, the animal is considered an endangered species. It’s illegal to hunt, harass, trap, shoot or harm them without permission from the federal government.

Jolley said state law directs DWR to prevent wolves from breeding in the delisted area. While the animals were not considered a pack, she said they were believed to be traveling together.

“Lethal removals ensure they don’t establish breeding populations in Utah,” Jolley wrote in a text message.

Caroline Hargraves, a spokesperson for the state agriculture department, said the wolves were found near Avon, a small census-designated community in Cache County of about 500 residents, surrounded mostly by farmland.

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Utah leaders have long been hostile to wolves for preying on livestock and thwarting hunters. The state has doled out millions in taxpayer dollars in an effort to get gray wolves removed from the federal endangered species list.

Most confirmed wolf sightings in Utah have involved lone wolves, Jolley said, though small groups have been documented on a few occasions since the first confirmed sighting in 2002.

During the past year, she said, a handful of lone wolves have migrated into Utah from Wyoming and Colorado.

Wolves from Wyoming and Idaho have made their way into Utah at least 21 times since 2004, according to DWR. In September, the agency said it was aware of at least one lone male wolf present in the state.



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Utah family fights to bring children home after mother reportedly arrested in Croatia

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Utah family fights to bring children home after mother reportedly arrested in Croatia


Family members of four Utah children who disappeared with their mother in November are speaking out after the children were located in Croatia.

Now, the family is working through international legal channels to bring the children back home.

The children were last seen on surveillance video at Salt Lake City International Airport boarding a flight with their mother, 35-year-old Elleshia Seymour. Authorities say Seymour took the children without the permission of their fathers after posting what family members describe as “doomsday” claims on social media.

MORE | Missing Children

Seymour was arrested in Dubrovnik on January 15 after the family says news articles alerted people she was talking to in Croatia about the accused kidnapping. She now faces four felony counts of custodial interference. Since her arrest, the four children have been placed in a government-run children’s center in Croatia.

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Jill Seymour, the children’s aunt, has been in Croatia for nine days with her brother Kendall Seymour, who is three of the children’s fathers. They are trying to secure their release.

“We’re just kind of in limbo waiting to get them out,” Seymour said. “These are our kids, and we can’t get custody of them.”

She says the family is only allowed to see the children for two hours a day. Despite providing the requested documentation, the family has not yet been given a clear timeline for when the children can return home.

“They are most definitely trapped there, and they feel trapped,” Seymour said. “We don’t have a clear-cut answer. We’ve provided all the documents we’ve been asked to provide.”

The family has hired Croatian attorneys and is working with the U.S. Embassy to navigate the legal process. Utah-based attorney Skye Lazaro, who has experience with international custody cases, says Croatia’s participation in the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction could ultimately help the family.

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“In this case, it’s a good thing and a benefit that they are part of this Hague Convention,” Lazaro said.

However, Lazaro explained that the process can be slow due to translation requirements and court procedures in the foreign country.

“It requires retaining an attorney in that country who can translate the documents into Croatian and provide all the necessary information to a court,” Lazaro said. “That stuff just takes time.”

If local legal efforts stall, the family can formally petition under the Hague Convention, which may speed up the process, though it could still take several weeks.

“To have to continually say goodbye every day is very hard,” Seymour said. “It’s an emotional rollercoaster.”

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As the legal battle continues, the family is also facing mounting expenses, including short-term housing in Croatia and international legal fees. A GoFundMe has been set up to help cover costs and pay for the children’s flight home.

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