This is the face of an immigrant mom whose two sons have been deported. Just days after they were arrested and detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) despite following their rules by checking in with the agency, undocumented brothers Diego and Lizandro Claros Saravia were deported Wednesday.
Lizandro, a rising soccer star, was supposed to leave that day to begin practice at Louisburg College in North Carolina. But that’s precisely why the two brothers were arrested to begin with, according to their attorney. “The ICE agents told me they were deporting the kids because Lizandro got into college, and that showed they intended to stay in the U.S.,” he said.
“Their attorney says was the fastest deportation process he has ever seen”:
In El Salvador, the brothers were to be met by two aunts and three grandparents. But their family here — including their parents; their older brother, Jonathan; and their sister, Fatima — are worried about the violence they could face there.
El Salvador was named the hemisphere’s murder capital in 2016.
“They have separated my family,” Lizandro and Diego’s mother, Lucia Saravia, said at a news conference outside CASA’s headquarters Wednesday afternoon. “We were together, and we were very happy.”
“The system is supposed to deport criminals — I am fine with that,” said Jonathan, 29, a carpenter. “But my brothers did nothing wrong. They’ve had their futures taken from them.”
“My constituents Diego and Lizandro Claros were children when they fled violence in El Salvador to seek a better life in the United States,” tweeted Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) about deportations. “Shame on President Trump for tearing apart hardworking immigrant families. We should be focused on MS-13, not scholarship winners.”
The facts are clear: Donald Trump can keep claiming he’s targeting only “bad hombres” for deportation, but arrests of undocumented immigrants with no criminal record have surged over 150 percent. Instead of using our resources to focus on finding people who actually do pose a threat to public safety, Trump’s deportation force is arresting brothers like Lizandro and Diego, neither of whom had criminal records.
Under ICE, intentional chaos reigns supreme—70 percent of the immigrants arrested in the final ICE “targeted” operation under former DHS Sec. John Kelly weren’t even the targets. “[Donald Trump] is separating our families,” said CASA Executive Director Gustavo Torres said. “You are lying to the American people that you are focusing on criminals.”
Because of broken and outdated immigration law, the brothers will most likely be banned from reentering the U.S. to reunite with their heartbroken and distraught family for the next ten years. Along with the loved ones they left behind, the Bethesda Soccer Club, where Lizando was a star player for four years, is also figuring out how to cope without their friend and teammate.
"He was a dream kid to coach," said Coach Brett Colton said. “He was trying to do the right thing”:
The elite Bethesda Soccer Club, where Lizandro played for the past four years, is planning a fundraiser to help the brothers get settled in El Salvador.
“We’re all disgusted by the government,” said Matt Di Rosa, Lizandro’s friend and teammate, who graduated from Wilson High School in Northwest Washington this spring and will play for the University of Maryland in the fall. “We’re going to keep pushing and try to help Lizandro even if he is not here.”
The Maryland community responded to the boys’ appreciation with fierce urgency. ICE, probably sensing the public outrage, responded similarly with their rushed deportation. This, along with the other senseless arrests and deportations we’ve been seeing since Trump’s inauguration, will be a stain on our nation for years to come. None of this makes us safer. None of this honors our nation’s immigrant history. None of this makes sense.