Arizona Mother Deported to Mexico After Living in U.S. For 21 Years

[TygrBright]

Source: TIME

Guadalupe Garca de Rayos who inspired protests in Phoenix, Arizona, when she was detained Wednesday during a routine check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was deported to Mexico on Thursday morning.

Garca de Rayos, a 35-year-old mother of two, came to the United States illegally when she was 14 years old. She has been required to regularly check in with ICE officials since 2008, when she was caught using a fake Social Security Number to gain employment.

Her attorney, Ray A. Ybarra Maldonado, said he was informed of her deportation Thursday by the Mexican consulate but had few further details. Maldonado had filed a stay of deportation on Wednesday to keep her in the country, but he said ICE officials never responded to it, though they told him they would take it into consideration.

"She just has all the equities that would necessitate finding humanitarian reasons to grant her a stay in this country," Maldonado said in a press call on Thursday.

Read more: http://time.com/4665860/arizona-deportation-mexico-guadalupe-garcia-de-rayos/?xid=time_socialflow_twitter

---

I do not understand why this story is not front-page on every media outlet that is concerned about what will happen as >Redacted<'s brutal, authoritarian anti-immigrant policies are implemented.

This is a mother being torn from her American citizen children.

Deported.

Those two children were there, as their mother was pushed into the back of an ICE van, behind the mesh. They saw their mother's face, pulling away from them.

A crowd was trying to stop this. Many were arrested. It was on television.

WHERE IS THE WALL-TO-WALL NATIONAL MEDIA COVERAGE?

Where is the outrage?

This will happen, again and again and again. Families torn apart. Parents taken from their children by uniformed government officers, confined and deported.

It will keep happening.

This is where the [Redacted] policies hit the street. This is where the racist, xenophobic supporters of tyranny voted to send us: To have government officials cruelly rip families apart.

If we do nothing, it will become a routine.

If we ignore this case, there will be others.

If we do not say, loudly and repeatedly, "THIS IS NOT AMERICAN", the weasel-talking policy shills will get away with tut-tutting about breaking eggs to make the "security" omelet, and co-opt high-sounding rhetoric about the "rule of law" sometimes requiring hard choices.

NO.

We can NOT let that happen.

passionately,
Bright

[Trust Buster]

1. A totał shame. Been here since the age of fourteen. Does that not make her a Dreamer ?

[TygrBright]

2. It makes her a neighbor. A mother. A member of a community.

Her "crime" was to get a job using a fake SSN, so that she could support her children. She was complying with all the requirements of law enforcement.

She was trying her damndest to be an American, and raise her two American children.

To me, that makes her as American as I am.

I am just sick about this.

Heartbroken.

Destroying families is NOT AMERICAN.

GOP "family values" in action.

FEH!

disgustedly,
Bright

[Trust Buster]

5. I understand all that. Just wondering if Dreamers are now vulnerable, that's all.

[TygrBright]

6. Yes. They undoubtedly are. So much for "A nation of immigrants."

Perhaps we should ship the Statue of Liberty back to France.

bitterly,
Bright

[Yo_Mama]

35. No, because they haven't committed a crime. What she did is considered a crime.

Although she did not commit ID theft - she was using a fake number, not someone else's.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2016/08/26/using-a-false-social-security-number-is-a-crime-but-is-it-a-crime-of-moral-turpitude/?utm_term=.3227cd422339

However, in several districts that has been ruled to be a crime of moral turpitude, although I don't think using a made-up SS number is a crime of moral turpitude.
https://criminal.altmanllp.com/immigration-consequences-of-being-charged-with-identity-theft.html

In any case, DACA enrollees are legally working, can legally get numbers, etc, so they are not involved in this issue.

[politicat]

47. Yes. She qualified as a Dreamer under the law.

She was brought to the US as a child (in 1995, so after the peso collapsed) by her parents. She was under age 31 in 2012 when the DREAM order went into effect; if she's been working within the system since 2008, she's either got a high school diploma/GED or was working towards a GED, because that's a requirement for being in the system.

She could be the mother of any number of my high school classmates, who, while living on their ancestral lands, were often themselves 1st or 2nd generation. (I grew up on the border.)

Her only crime? Contributing to someone else's Social Security.

[Volaris]

22. Conservatives don't have Dreams, only nightmares about nonwhite people

[IronLionZion]

32. Conservatives dream of a time that never existed

they think life was great back in the day with less diversity. But it just wasn't so. It's a pipe dream.

[LittleGirl]

3. This is what the

redneck hillbillies wanted. They are cheering this. We HAVE to help them understand that this is not normal and wrong.
After 21 yrs, she should be a citizen and not living like this separated from her US born children. Those are 'so-called' anchor babies and yet, they are not considered humans by conservatives! Those jesus loving conservatives are cheering deporting these parents because they are not considered humans.

We have to change that and yesterday was a day late and a dollar short.

Join me.

(I am married to an immigrant so I've been through the process of legal citizenship and getting a green card. The system is wrong, it's expensive and unnecessary. How do I know? Because I've been an immigrant in Germany and Switzerland married to an EU citizen and it was not difficult here. At all. He went through the US citizenship process in the states and I was his one of his sponsors.)

I get so angry that I can't contain my foul mouth cussing but that's because of the stress and b.s. the current system requires of us.
edit: typo

[jpak]

4. And so it begins

yup

[fleur-de-lisa]

7. The thing that kills me about a case like this is the fact that

she was brought here as a CHILD, for fucks sake!

She had no say in the matter. Why is she being punished?

This is INSANE!

[TygrBright]

8. Yep. This is her HOME she's being deported from. n/t

[cstanleytech]

18. Legally its not her home. Her kids? Yes. Hers? No.

Why? Because citizenship isnt granted automatically to someone because they have a child here or because they live inside the US for x number of years.
Sucks for her and her kids andI hope she can come back but unless the laws are changed it is what it is.

[TygrBright]

20. "Home" does have a legal connotation.

But the "home" of moral and ethical principle is even stronger.

And in an era when a wannabe tyrant is fixing to turn "rule of law" into the justification for all kinds of authoritarian cruelty, we need to push back to keep the balance.

peaceably,
Bright

[fleur-de-lisa]

28. Yes ma'am!

[emmadoggy]

27. I had the same thought.

Disgusting.

[hamsterjill]

9. This is horrid. And I know this sounds naive

But where does she get "deported" to in Mexico? How does she possibly live if she has no family there, no place to stay, etc.? I don't understand the process.

Also, what about her American children? Are they adults? Or if they are minors, do they become the wards of the state? Makes no sense at all.

It's cruel and just plain mean and those who think otherwise can take their "Christian" values and shove them up their asses. And I'm a Christian!

[TygrBright]

10. They are minors. I believe in the 10-12 age range.

Great time to be tossed into the warm and wonderful foster care system.

Yep, presumably she can fend for herself in Mexico, after 20 years here.

Nothing to see here... look away...

disgustedly,
Bright

[hamsterjill]

11. It's horrible.

So, if the two children enter the foster care system, then aren't "we the taxpayer" paying for their care? One might think THAT would offend the Republicans who want this to happen.

[TygrBright]

12. Sure we taxpayers are paying for their foster care.

And doubtless, later on, for all the other costs associated with having their family ripped apart by a bullying tyrant pandering to malignant xenophobes.

outragedly,
Bright

[former9thward]

49. No, taxpayers are not paying for the children.

And they are not in foster care. They are in their father's custody. What his status is I don't know but he is not part of this legal issue. The children have already been re-united with their mother in Mexico. Whether they will stay there I don't know.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/immigration/2017/02/09/guadalupe-garcia-de-rayos-phoenix-ice-deportation-trump-immigration/97694284/

[cstanleytech]

21. Yes, it is horrible which is why our immigration laws need to be updated to make it easier for

people who are willing to work to come here and get citizenship.
Notice I didnt say just to work because just coming here to work opens them up to being exploited and abused as cheap labor with few rights but as a citizen they would have full rights and companies wouldnt be able to use the threat of them being deported to strong arm them into accepting a lower wage.

[titaniumsalute]

13. While this is horrible

Maybe this is what it will take to wake up the Latino vote for 2018.

[grantcart]

14. ICE has been FORCED to go back to the days before President Obama

Before President Obama took office ICE was forced to go after non criminal aliens. After President Obama took office he instructed ICE to stop removing people who were not a threat. de Rayos was picked up in a raid not by ICE but by Maricopa deputies on Arpaio's orders who put her into the ICE enforcement system. She reported regularly and no threat of removal.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/08/us/phoenix-guadalupe-garcia-de-rayos.html?_r=0

The Obama administration made a priority of deporting people who were deemed a threat to public or national safety, had ties to criminal gangs, or had committed serious felony offenses or a series of misdemeanor crimes. Ms. Rayos did not fit any of these criteria, which is why she was allowed to stay in the United States even after a judge issued a deportation order against her in 2013.

That all changed under Mr. Trump. Among the 18 executive orders that he has issued since taking office on Jan. 20 is one stipulating that undocumented immigrants convicted of any criminal offense — and even those who have not been charged but are believed to have committed “acts that constitute a chargeable criminal offense” — have become a priority for deportation.

. . .

Ms. Rayos was working at Golfland Sunsplash in Mesa, a suburb of Phoenix, when Maricopa County sheriff’s deputies swooped in on Dec. 16, 2008, arresting her and several other employees on charges of suspicion of identity theft and using forged documents to obtain employment. The raid was one of the first ordered by Joe Arpaio, who was sheriff at the time, under an Arizona law authorizing sanctions against employers who knowingly hired undocumented immigrants.

Republicans like to make the argument that when they outlaw guns only the outlaws have guns. When they start moving against undocumented workers under Trump only the law abiding ones will show up to ICE. Trump will bog ICE down in pursuing the ones that we want to stay rather than pursuing those with criminal convictions and gang affiliations.

Welcome to America.

[TygrBright]

15. THIS, yep. n/t

[Blue_Tires]

16. If nothing else, I hope folks learn...

...that quotation marks "populism" is radioactive;

...that protest votes or staying home don't make you edgy, hip or smart;

...that anti-candidates aren't cool, even as an academic exercise;

...that voting for something 'different' for the sake of voting different always backfires;

...that letting the perfect be the enemy of the good has a habit of handing you something worse instead;

...and finally, when we turn out to vote, we win -- Plain and simple.

[hurple]

17. Deporting ALL illegal immigrants?

Then they should start with the earliest.

So, all you non-Native Americans (or European Americans) GET OUT!! Go back to England, or Spain, or whatever other places you were kicked out of or ran away from.

[madville]

41. I would guess that most are deceased now n/t

[DippyDem]

19. Is it becoming high time to start a 2017 Underground Railroad?

Fence or no fence, intrepid people have ingenious ways to go through!

[adigal]

24. No, we need two countries. I am sick. I see no hope for us to ever get together.

Am I wrong? The level of hate and bigotry I see is worse than I anything I have ever seen.

[adigal]

23. This should be the top story, but Kellyanne Goebbels' comments distracted

This is the first shot across the bow. It's on. They are coming for immigrants, then their new Executive Orders will create martial law in cities, then BLM will be a terrorist group, then peaceful protest will be a felony.
Do I think I'm exaggerating? I hope so. But every time I think I'm exaggerating, I am proven wrong.
I want two countries. I want a blue federation, away from the 19th century red states.
BOYCOTT RED STATES products and travel! The only thing we have left is our economic power. USE IT!!

[arithia]

25. glad someone else posted about this

(Oh look, no one in your thread's replies trashing the woman for her felony. Is my low post count some kinda flame bait or somethin?)

Ms Rayos is a living example of why we need sensible, compassionate immigration reform.

She came here as a minor. She is a non-violent offender whose offense is tied to basic navigation of our society. Few people realize or recognize the difficulties faced by undocumented immigrants who are brought here as children.

https://news.uchicago.edu/article/2012/05/11/undocumented-young-immigrants-face-obstacles-uncertain-futures

[TygrBright]

33. Might be low post count.

Or might be just that they wore themselves out on you before I even posted.

philosophically,
Bright

[LonePirate]

26. I won't hold my breath waiting for the family values crowd to denounce this despicable action.

[eissa]

29. This is tragic

To be torn away from your children.....my heart breaks for that family.

Can someone please educate me on this? For someone like this woman who arrives here illegally, how difficult is it to obtain citizenship?

[mrs_p]

30. This is so overwhelmingly sad

[catbyte]

31. If SCROTUS has his way, her kids will be stuffed into a van & dumped in Mexico, too.

In less than a month, the United States has been turned into some dystopian nightmare that I don't recognize anymore.

Oh, SCROTUS is short for So-Called Ruler of the United States.

[SticksnStones]

34. Sadly, in the space we now occupy, 45 considers this act "winning"

while humanity shreds evermore ~

[zentrum]

36. 55% of Americans

...support his ban on immigrants and refugees, says NPR today.

This has become a country of Good Germans. "Innocent", cruel, frightened, ignorant, clannish and Klannish.

[Bengus81]

40. I've never believed that BS percentage since it came out.

How in the HELL does a POS like Trump get 9% MORE approval of this ban than his popular vote numbers?? Total BS and not to be believed IMO.

[bdamomma]

43. paranoia is setting in

that and fear.

[zentrum]

45. That's how an authoritarian

......government gains power. They keep the population disoriented, on-edge and deeply afraid of an "enemy." Fear, fear, fear, followed by the need to be protected by a "strong man".

Remember, BTW, how Bush43 used to blast colored "terror Alerts" before every election or big vote in Congress? Red Alert. Orange. Yellow. They disappeared entirely never to be heard of again as soon as O took office.

The country has been subject to grifters every time a Repug is in office.

[Bengus81]

37. No doubt Trump will take to the stage to declare how much safer we are NOW

with her deported.

[SHRED]

38. Republican family values at work

[Ilsa]

39. We need to get word out to these populations.

Some may need to move or go into hiding, if possible. Others might be able to get their papers in order so they won't be deported.

[bdamomma]

42. Would the

ACLU be involved with this? What agency can we give to stop this?

[TygrBright]

44. The next time it happens, if I am anywhere near enough, I WILL lie down in front of the van. n/t

[realist_philus]

46. NYT video of the protest at Phoenix ICE

[link:https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/08/us/phoenix-guadalupe-garcia-de-rayos.html|


I guess these are the hardened criminals Trump was talking about.


https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/08/us/phoenix-guadalupe-garcia-de-rayos.html

[Ilsa]

48. CNN covered it this morning on New Day with Chris Cuomo. nt

[ck4829]

50. Shameful