Man Charged With Fare Evasion Faces Deportation After Officer Questions Immigration Status
Like President Obama, President Trump has emphasized that his administration will focus on the removal of serious criminal immigrants. And, just like the Obama administration, the Trump administration appears to be casting a very wide criminal removal net. Indeed, reports show that the Trump administration arrests of noncriminal immigrants are up.
Here is a story — and video — making the rounds. A video of a train rider questioned about his immigration status has gone viral. He was arrested by a Minnesota transit officer for not paying his fare now faces deportation — and the officer no longer has a job, officials said.
Earlier this month, Ariel Vences-Lopez, 23, was riding a metro train in Minneapolis when a transit officer approached him and asked several questions about his identification including, “Are you here illegally?” The encounter was filmed on a cellphone by an onlooker who intervened immediately and asked the officer if he was “authorized to act as immigration police.”
The matter did not end there.
Vences-Lopez was later arrested on charges of fare evasion, obstruction, and providing a fictitious name.
The officer also used a stun gun on the man after he “stood up and refused requests to sit,” according to an incident report.
One day after his arrest, immigration officials placed a detainer on Vences-Lopez, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said in a statement to NBC News. And on May 16, Vences-Lopez was “transferred to ICE custody for immigration violations,” he said.
KJ