Guadalupe García de Rayos had been in the U.S. for 21 years. Now she’s been sent back to Mexico. On Wednesday night, Americans got a very public glimpse at what President Trump has promised to do millions of times over: an unauthorized immigrant’s arrest and deportation in Phoenix, Arizona. García de Rayos, a mother of two U.S. teenagers who's in her '30s, caught the attention of media and protesters at the scene. She had been in the US, according to the New York Times, since the age of 14, when she came into the country illegally. According to her lawyer, she has already been deported. García de Rayos was known to immigration authorities already. She had checked in yearly with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement office after she was caught and convicted for using a fake Social Security number during a raid at a water park where she worked. (That raid was ordered by former Sheriff Joe Arpaio.) Under President Barack Obama’s administration, García de Rayos had some protections: The administration told immigration officials to prioritize deporting people who were a threat to public safety or national security, had ties to gangs, or committed a serious felony or several misdemeanor crimes. Since she didn’t meet these criteria, she was seemingly spared — even though a judge issued a deportation order against her in 2013.
#GuadalupeGarcia looking at her son through the window of an #ICE van. Protestors are blocking the van to halt her deportation pic.twitter.com/MRtO0lqhGZ— Gadi Schwartz (@GadiNBC) February 9, 2017 But the criteria changed under Trump. He recently signed an executive order that effectively expanded the definition of a deportation-prioritized criminal offense for unauthorized immigrants to include any criminal offense, even those who haven’t been officially charged yet but are merely suspected of “acts that constitute a chargeable criminal offense.” With her previous conviction for using a fake Social Security number, that may have put García de Rayos on the list — leading ICE to take her from her husband, who is also an unauthorized immigrant, and two U.S.-born children. This is Manuel Saldana. He tied himself to one of the front wheels of the van. He said he's going to be here "for as long as it takes." pic.twitter.com/Q8mtzzIjnC— Fernanda Santos (@fernandaNYT) February 9, 2017 ICE, for its part, appeared to defend its actions in a tweet on Thursday: ICE will remove illegal aliens convicted of felony offenses as ordered by an immigration judge. -- -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PoliticalForum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
