Government revoked DACA of young immigrant who alleged mistreatment in detention

November 15, 2017 Updated: November 15, 2017 9:29pm


Felipe Abonza Lopez, 20, was put in immigration detention after his arrest on Oct. 12, 2017, near Uvalde. Border Patrol agents said Abonza
was arrested as part of a human smuggling investigation, but he was never charged with a crime. Abonza is a recipient of the Deferred Action
for Childhood Arrivals program. He wrote from a Pearsall detention center that he’s not getting treatment for pain he has in a leg he lost part of as a child.

Immigration authorities on Wednesday said they have revoked the legal status of a 20-year-old man who is being detained for deportation, but isn’t receiving treatment for a leg that was amputated when he was a child, according to activists.


Felipe Abonza Lopez, 20, whom Border Patrol agents arrested as part of a human smuggling investigation
but was never charged with a crime, wrote from a Pearsall detention center that he’s not getting treatment there for pain.

Border Patrol officials arrested Felipe Abonza Lopez, a Mexico native who lives in San Marcos, as part of a human-smuggling investigation. Immigration activists say the government is trying to tar Abonza as a criminal without any proof he was involved in smuggling.

A spokeswoman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said Wednesday that Abonza lost his work permit under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program on Oct. 13, the day after he was arrested by Border Patrol agents near Uvalde.

Known as DACA, the deferred action program was created under then-President Barack Obama to provide some young immigrants who are in the country illegally with two-year renewable work permits. President Donald Trump has said he’s winding down the program.

Border Patrol officials said they believe Abonza was involved in human smuggling when they arrested him and four others who were in the country illegally after getting a call from Uvalde County sheriff’s deputies.

“Upon arrival, Border Patrol agents determined the situation was consistent with a human-smuggling attempt: three passengers in the rear seat were extremely dirty, common characteristics for subjects walking through the brush for several days. Abonza-Lopez, a passenger in the front seat, along with the driver, were arrested for suspected human smuggling,” the agency said in a statement.

Two of the men in the back seat were deported and the other was charged with illegal entry, according to the Border Patrol. Abonza and the driver were put into deportation proceedings.

Abonza is being held in an immigration detention center in Pearsall, where he said he has to sleep with his prosthetic leg in bed because he’s afraid of having it stolen and a guard mocked his missing limb, suggesting he replace it with a broom.


Felipe Abonza Lopez, 20, was put in immigration detention after his arrest on Oct. 12.

His lawyer, Bertha Zuniga, said Abonza and a cousin had gone to Uvalde to pick up men who were in the country illegally, but they weren’t part of a smuggling operation and they weren’t getting paid.

The men were relatives of Abonza’s cousin, Zuniga said, who had crossed the Rio Grande illegally several days earlier and gotten lost in the South Texas brush. A rancher offered them food and water in exchange for two days’ work, she said, and they called Abonza’s cousin, who lives in Austin, from the ranch, she said. Abonza agreed to accompany his cousin on the ride to and from Uvalde.

“It is not a human-smuggling operation. Border Patrol interrogated him ad nauseum for two days until they were satisfied he was not the smuggler. These were his relatives. The driver was not charged with any illegal activity,” Zuniga said. “Once it was determined that there was no illegal activity on the part of Felipe, he should have been released by the Border Patrol. Instead, the government has tried to file documents to deport him from the United States when he has a valid document.”

Zuniga said she’ll argue for his release in a hearing Tuesday.

A Border Patrol spokesman said the case was referred to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, but no one was charged with smuggling.

“While Abonza-Lopez was not criminally charged, CBP maintains he was actively involved in human smuggling and stands by the decision to process him for deportation, based on the circumstances of his apprehension,” the agency said in its statement.

Abonza’s detention, and the treatment he described in a letter from the Pearsall holding facility, drew condemnation from immigration advocacy groups.

“Felipe Abonza Lopez’s case is just the latest reminder that the same Trump administration that ended DACA is now actively targeting Dreamers, ignoring DACA status, and set to detain and deport anyone they come across,” Lynn Tramonte, deputy director of America’s Voice, said in a statement.

The term Dreamers is a reference to immigrants without legal status who came to the U.S. when they were very young. “It’s up to members of Congress to stand up for a more just and decent vision of America and to counter these outrageous actions by the Trump administration,” Tramonte added.

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