Dangling

Hey good news! The dangling crane is dangling more safely now.

A crane dangling at the site of the collapsed Hard Rock Hotel in downtown New Orleans has been stabilized and the surrounding evacuation zone has been reduced in size, city officials announced late Friday.

Engineers told the New Orleans Fire Department that an operation to strap the damaged crane and boom that loomed over Canal Street to the core tower of the building had been completed, the city said.

Because the crane is now in safer condition, the city is shrinking the size of the evacuation zone around the building.

Going forward, the sidewalk on the upriver side of Canal Street that has been closed since shortly after the collapse of the 18-story hotel the morning of Oct. 12 will be open.

That's great news for anyone who wants to get a tattoo or brunch on the upriver side of Canal Street as businesses that provide those things can now reopen.

Meanwhile there isn't great news for everybody, though. Some are still dangling precariously as ever.

Delmer Joel Ramirez Palma, a Honduran national who was arrested by Border Patrol agents two days after the Oct. 12 collapse, was moved by U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement on Nov. 15 to an immigration holding facility at the Alexandria International Airport in central Louisiana.

ICE’s charter airline uses the Alexandria airport as a hub for deportation flights to South and Central America.

Bryan Cox, a spokesman for ICE, said he couldn’t comment on possible plans to deport Ramirez because the agency does not discuss future operations “for security reasons.”

Advocates and attorneys warn that deporting Ramirez could seriously hamper an ongoing Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigation into the cause of the hotel collapse, both because Ramirez has spoken out about unsafe conditions and deficiencies at the work site and because other undocumented immigrants who were working at the site are now fearful about speaking with federal investigators.

The collapse killed three workers and injured dozens more, including Ramirez.

  Ramirez's wife believes he may be deported as soon as today.

Update:  #Actually they aren't deporting him today, says ICE.  But there isn't much more information than that.  The New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice is asking for your help in trying to halt the deportation .