Popular vote loser Donald Trump claimed last week that his mass deportation dragnet is “not after the Dreamers,” but “after the criminals” and those bad hombres. Department of Homeland Security Sec. John Kelly and Attorney General Jeff Sessions also tried to offer similar reassurances, but it’s really best to just file every single one of their claims under “bullshit.” Just ask Juan Manuel Montes, a Dreamer who was arrested by immigration officials despite having valid DACA status and deported to Mexico three hours later:
Montes’ situation came to light Tuesday when he sued the Trump administration in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California in San Diego. The civil suit alleges that he had been wrongly deported to Mexico by officials who refused to tell him why.
The suit claims the government is in violation of the Freedom of Information Act because no records have been released on Montes’ case, despite numerous requests, which is a violation of the statute. It asks the court to order the government to release those records.
“Under Trump, ICE has already arrested several beneficiaries of the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program,” notes Roque Planas. During his arrest, Juan was not allowed to retrieve his DACA card from a vehicle, with federal officials later trying to save their butts by lying and claiming it had expired. They were forced to walk back the claim after USA Today publicly verified it didn’t expire until 2018. The truth is that immigration officials have been unmercifully targeting Dreamers for arrest, which is why so many are not one bit reassured by Trump’s claim that they are safe from his grasp.
Last week, ICE told honor roll student Sthefany Flores, a North Carolina Dreamer with active DACA status and no criminal record, to prepare for deportation in what turned out to be the government’s own screw-up. Last month, Seattle Dreamer Daniel Medina was released after six weeks in custody, despite having no criminal record and active DACA. Officials again lied and falsely claimed he had gang affiliations. Around the same time, Mississippi Dreamer Daniela Vargas was arrested by ICE after participating in a press conference denouncing deportations. “None of these trends make Dreamers feel safe,” notes Planas.
“I’m certainly not resting easy,” Karla Pérez, a leader with the immigrant rights group United We Dream, who holds DACA, told The Huffington Post. “Just this week, a DACA-mented person, Juan Manuel Montes, was deported from his family.”
Pérez pointed out that the Trump administration and many state and local governments are working together to expand the detention and deportation system.
In Texas, where she lives, the state legislature is set to vote next week on Senate Bill 4, a law that would ban all jurisdictions from enacting “sanctuary” policies by declining to hold undocumented immigrants who qualify for release in local jails on behalf of immigration authorities. And more than a dozen local jurisdictions in Texas have applied for 287(g) agreements, which allow police to perform some immigration enforcement functions normally reserved for the federal government.
“It’s important that people don’t lull themselves into thinking, ‘Oh I have DACA, I’m safe,’” Pérez said. “Proposals like Texas SB 4 will make all of us unsafe, including those of us that do have DACA. ”
Juan Escalante, who works as a digital organizer for the advocacy group America’s Voice and who also holds DACA, said he isn’t taking Trump at his word.
“Even with those promises that he won’t go after DACA-mented youth, that’s not the case,” Escalante said.
It’s not just Dreamers getting swept up by immigration officials. Last week, advocates in Ohio were devastated after Maribel Trujillo was deported to Mexico, despite having no criminal record and four U.S. citizen children. ICE has consistently been deplorable, but under Trump, it has been unshackled. Don’t believe him for one second when he claims otherwise.