Martin Martinez, an undocumented immigrant dad with no criminal record, was doing exactly what federal immigration officials asked of him as they weighed whether or not he should have to leave the U.S. after 30 years of building a life here. He bought his one-way plane ticket to Mexico for next month, as they requested. He appeared for yet another scheduled check-in with ICE, as they requested. He was following their instructions—as he’s done throughout his four years of ICE check-ins—but they detained him following the meeting anyway:
Martinez’s family said he was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials after he got the wrong type of plane ticket for his return to Mexico.
“We walked in there and they told us to buy a one way ticket for July 1, which we did,” said Maria Martinez, who has been advocating and organizing rallies to keep her father in the country.
“But because it had a layover, they detained him. I don’t understand why they did that?”
These days, Donald Trump and John Kelly’s deportation force is looking for any and all justifications to sweep up undocumented immigrants with deep ties to their communities, from traffic tickets, to U-turns, to buying the wrong kind of one-way plane ticket, apparently. Many immigrants detained by ICE—like Martin—have no criminal record at all.
Though the last thing Martin and his family wanted to do was buy a one-way ticket to anywhere outside the U.S., it was part of the requirement ICE imposed on him while federal immigration officials decided whether or not to extend the short reprieve from deportation he won just a few days ago. Instead, they just used the plane ticket against him.
“We were hoping something good was going to happen,” María said about the check-in. “I wasn’t expecting this. But we will continue fighting. We have to have hope. It’s not fair this is happening to us.
Earlier this week, María released a heartfelt plea asking advocates to call ICE at (646) 230-3410 to demand her dad be allowed to stay with his family where he belongs. Martin is still in the U.S., and he still needs your calls.