ICE Arrests, Releases Prominent Immigration Activist's Family Members

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http://www.thenation.com/blog/172178/ice-arrests-releases-prominent-immigration-activists-family-members

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Erika Andiola works with the Arizona Dream Act Coalition and has been a visible immigrant rights advocate in one of the nation’s most anti-immigrant states. In a phone call today from an ICE office, Andiola explained that ICE agents arrived at her home and asked for her mother, Maria Arreola. When Arreola went to the door, agents handcuffed her in front of her daughter and teenage son. The agents then noticed her 35-year-old son, Heriberto Andiola Arreola, began to ask him questions and determined that he should be detained as well.

Andiola, who remarked that this was the first time she had to fight for her own mother, then reached out to her expansive network. Dream Activist, along with Presente.org and others helped publicize the detention of a prominent immigration activist’s family members, and urged people to sign petitions and make phone calls to stop the deportations they might face. Social media quickly spread the message through laptops and smart phones. Twelve hours later Andiola’s brother was released. A couple of hours after that, her mother was also set free. ICE denies the accusation that the detentions were retaliation for Andiola’s dedicated activism, but it’s likely that organized pressure led the agency to almost immediately release Andiola’s mother and brother. As Julianne Hing wrote on Colorlines.com today, the outcome highlights the undocumented youth movement’s power.

Cristina Jimenez, who works with United We Dream, maintains that the current haphazard immigration system runs counter to the promises made by the Obama administration.

“This is just the latest case of a government agency that is out of control,” says Jimenez.