Alexi Cruz, who came to the United States from Mexico 10 years ago, shouldn’t be deported under guidelines set out by the Obama administration, said his wife, Anayanse Garza, a San Antonio native and herself an advocate for immigrant rights. She said Cruz is eligible for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a controversial policy that provides a reprieve from deportation and a chance at a work permit for some young immigrants who are living in the U.S. illegally and were brought here as children. Garza said her husband could also apply for legal status because he’s married to a U.S. citizen and has a daughter who was born in this country. That also means he should be a low priority for deportation under prosecutorial discretion guidelines ICE released in 2011, she said. “He has his family here,” Garza said. “We have a business together. He’s been here for at least a decade, and it just doesn’t make any sense that they’re racially profiling our families and going back on their word and imprisoning DACAeligible people.” Cruz was detained by sheriff’s deputies in Hidalgo County, New Mexico, after his car broke down Wednesday, Garza said. He had been traveling back to San Antonio after going to Phoenix for a family emergency. When he refused to answer questions about his residency, deputies turned Cruz over to the Border Patrol, Garza said. Cruz was in the El Paso Processing Center on Monday afternoon, according to ICE’s online detainee locator. Garza said Cruz told her that he’d been hit and kicked while in custody. The Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office had no comment. An ICE spokesperson in El Paso didn’t respond to a request for comment. It’s unusual for Border Patrol agents to detain people in Cruz’s situation, said Mohammad Abdollahi, an assistant with the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, which will be representing Cruz if he goes to court. “Since 2012, it’s been pretty much unheard of for DREAMers to be detained,” he said, referring to immigrants who were brought to the country illegally as children.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Nov 2014 16:24:11 +0000
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