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STORY: Last month, KPFT News reported on the upcoming INS deportation and exclusion hearing of Nicaraguan-born journalist, Roger Calero - who has been a permanent resident of the U.S. since 1988. Calero was detained by the INS on December 3rd at Houston's Intercontinental Airport while he was returning from a reporting assignment in Guadalajara, Mexico. After spending 10 days in the Houston INS detention facility - run by the Corrections Corporation of America, Calero was released and a trial date was set for March 25 in Houston. The journalist's attorneys then filed a petition to move his case to a New Jersey court and received notice last Friday that the INS will not contest the petition. However, as explained by Mr Calero, this change of venue must first be approved by Houston's Judge Brown. "Right now we're awaiting for a petition from a judge in Houston to decide whether to allow to have the case be moved to Newark or we would have to still go on with the regularly scheduled date of March 25 in Houston." Mr Calero lives in Newark, New Jersey and works in New York City as an associate editor of the Spanish language magazine, Perspectiva Mundial. Among the reasons for requesting a change of venue to the New Jersey-New York area is the financial burden that would arise from the costs of transporting family, friends, and character witnesses to Houston for the trial. "That is what we would petition for. To have it done in a place where we can maximize our ability to mobilize support. And to be able to have family, friends and supporters attend the court hearing. To make sure it is seen by the INS that this is a case that has strong support, and they would have to wait, that is their decision." Calero and his attorneys have still not received the final word as to whether or not the case will indeed be moved and the trial date postponed. Unless they receive official notice of a change of venue and and trial date, Mr. Calero will appear in a Houston court for his deportation hearing in 11 days. Shannon Young, KPFT News, Houston. E-mail Shannon Young at news@kpft.org . This story was broadcast on March 14, 2003.