The Trump Immigration Dragnet? An Undocumented Mother of 2 Was Detained After an Immigration Check-In
Charlotte Altar for TIME reports on a story that is becoming all-too-familiar as the Trump administration continues to aggressively enforce the immigration laws.
An undocumented mother of two who pled guilty to a traffic violation is being detained by federal immigration authorities in Virginia after her regular check-in with those officials.
Liliana Cruz Mendez, whose 10-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter are both U.S. citizens, was pulled over in 2013 because of a problem with the headlights on her car. Because undocumented immigrants aren’t allowed to get a driver’s license in Virginia, she pled guilty to a misdemeanor offense of driving without a license and paid a $100 fine.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has expanded the targets for removal under President Donald Trump. Arrests of undocumented immigrants have increased since Trump took office.
“ICE exercised prosecutorial discretion on two previous occasions by granting Ms. Cruz-Mendez a stay of removal in June 2014 and May 2015,” ICE spokeswoman Carissa Cutrell said in a statement.
Mendez fled El Salvador in 2006 at the age of 18, after she was threatened at gunpoint by a man who wanted her to be his girlfriend. When she arrived in the United States, she didn’t understand the nuances of the immigration system, and she didn’t have a lawyer — so, when she was called into an immigration hearing in Texas, she didn’t appear for her hearing. That resulted in an in-absentia order for her removal.
KJ