Thread: Family of young activist may be deported

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15140912.htm

Posted on Fri, Jul. 28, 2006


IMMIGRATION
Family of young activist may be deported
The family of a prominent student leader and immigration advocate face deportation, having been approached by immigration officials just days after protesting anti-immigrant legislation.
BY CASEY WOODS AND NOAH BIERMAN
cwoods@MiamiHerald.com

Gabriela Pacheco was still deep asleep when her sister shook her shoulder.

''Gaby, the police are here and they need to see your ID,'' Maria Pacheco said.

The prominent youth leader, immigrant advocate and honors college student faced her worst fears: Her family was being rounded up by immigration authorities.

A Miami-Dade police officer and a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent were watching from Gabriela's bedroom door. Down the hall, other law enforcement officials waited, while several more surrounded the house.

''It was like Miami Vice, like something out of a movie,'' she said of the show of force on Wednesday morning.

Agents took Gabriela's father, mother and two sisters to the immigration building on Biscayne Boulevard in Miami. Although the family was released later the same day, deportation proceedings have begun.

Immigration officials say the operation was a routine action. ''We acted on information that a fugitive was living in house,'' ICE spokeswoman Barbara Gonzalez said Thursday. ``We found that the fugitive was not located there, but discovered a family who was in the country illegally.''

The family's lawyer, Ira Kurzban, disputes the reason for ICE's visit.

''We believe they targeted this family because of Gaby's activities and public appearances on issues related to immigration,'' he said. ``This is selective prosecution, and we're going to be challenging the government's conduct based on violation of the right to free speech.''

Gabriela, 21, has spent much of her young life as a passionate advocate for those like her: the undocumented children of immigrants. The entire family -- her father, Gustavo; her mother, Maria, and siblings Erika, 27, Maria, 26, and Enrique, 20 -- came to the United States on tourist visas in 1993, when Gabriela was 7 years old. They stayed because of the violence in their native Ecuador, Gabriela said.

Even after she obtained a student visa several years ago -- and with it the security that comes with legal status -- she still lobbied incessantly for a failed bill that would have allowed undocumented students to pay in-state tuition.

Erika Pacheco said that an immigration official commented on Gabriela's activism as he reviewed the family's documents.

''He laughed . . . and said you can thank your sister for everything that is happening,'' she said in a written statement.

Gonzalez declined to comment on that allegation.

After many years as a student leader at Miami Dade College, last year Gabriela was elected statewide president of the Florida Junior and Community Colleges Association, an organization that represents 1.1 million students. She frequently traveled to Tallahassee, working most passionately on legislation that would allow in-state tuition for college students who had lived in Florida several years but whose legal status was in question.

In March, she organized a student rally at the Capitol.

''I've worked with students across the state now for about 10 years,'' said Dennis Reynolds, statewide coordinator of community college student government associations and an administrator at Pensacola Junior College. ``By far she is one of the most standout leaders I have ever worked with.''

Gustavo Pacheco, a pastor, is also an activist in the movement for immigrant rights. Just last weekend, he spoke at a vigil against an ordinance in Avon Park, a small city about 85 miles from Tampa, that would have imposed fines on those who provide jobs or housing to illegal immigrants.

Somebody want to deliver this news to The Inquisitor over at COSA ONLINE?

W

Nothing like being blatant about drawing attention to the fact that you and your family are in this country illegally. Serves you right big mouth. Maybe you can be so active when you get back to your own country.

Tourist visa abuse is a great problem too! This family, although they seem very nice, abused and broke the law! They come here on vacation and then start demanding free services and in-state tuition! The outright abuse of coming here illegally has got to end. We have to control our borders and know exactly who is coming here and enforce when they should leave. Stop breaking our laws!!

I don't think any other country would put up with such abuse!

Nothing like being blatant about drawing attention to the fact that you and your family are in this country illegally. Serves you right big mouth. Maybe you can be so active when you get back to your own country.

Same thinking I had too.

How come I keep hearing the illegals aliens are hiding in the shadows? That sure doesn't seem to be the case here. C-ya, but I wouldn't want to be ya!

''We believe they targeted this family because of Gaby's activities and public appearances on issues related to immigration,'' he said. ``This is selective prosecution, and we're going to be challenging the government's conduct based on violation of the right to free speech.''

Freedom of speech is a right reserved for American citizens and legal residents, not illegal aliens.

The squeeky hinge gets the oil

I hope she is active in trying to change things back in her home country. Have a nice trip

Comments are being left at the source link.
~~
Immigration targeted family, activist says
Posted on Tue, Mar. 04, 2008
BY ANDRES VIGLUCCI

In July 2006, U.S. immigration agents rousted Miami Dade College student-activist Gaby Pacheco's parents and two sisters from sleep, briefly detained them, and put them into deportation proceedings.

Now, on the eve of an immigration court hearing that could decide their fate, the Pachecos and their attorneys are making a touchy allegation: They contend Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents targeted the family to silence Gaby, a leader in efforts to legalize immigrant students who, like herself, were brought to the United States by their parents without permanent legal status.

In an e-mailed response to a request for comment, ICE spokeswoman Barbara Gonzalez declined to address the allegations, citing the pending court case, but added: ``What I can tell you is that ICE officers are sworn to uphold our nation's immigration laws. Those who are in violation of U.S. law should not be surprised if they are arrested.''

Gaby Pacheco, 23, who is from Ecuador, is not directly affected by the deportation effort because she has a student visa to attend MDC, where she is studying for a degree in special education.

She calls ICE's effort to deport her family members ''punishment'' for her advocacy. She contends ICE officials told her sister while the family was detained that they had Pacheco's activism to thank for their detention.

''It was heartbreaking for me,'' Pacheco said Tuesday during a news conference at the office of the family's attorney, Ira Kurzban. ``I never imagined something like this would happen just because I have been outspoken in saying that every human being has a right to an education.''

Pacheco and her two sisters were brought to Miami by her parents in 1993 with tourist visas. The family remained after the visas expired. While overstaying a visa is not a crime, it means the family can be ordered deported by an immigration judge.

The four Pacheco family members now facing deportation are scheduled for a court hearing Thursday.

Pacheco, who has lobbied Congress and state legislators and organized student rallies on behalf of undocumented students, has often been featured in media reports over the past few years.

Students Working for Equal Rights, the organization in which Pacheco has been active, will hold a demonstration at 1 p.m. Thursday at MDC's Wolfson Campus in downtown Miami to rally support for the family.

Although the family publicized the detentions when they occurred, Tuesday's news conference marked the first time they have publicly alleged that ICE targeted the family.

Pacheco, a former president of MDC's student association, has continued her activism since the detentions. She was prominent last year in supporting a bill in Congress known as the DREAM Act. It would allow the children of illegal immigrants a shot at legal U.S. residency after attending college or serving in the military for two years.

The long-stalled bill was revived after the highly publicized case of brothers Alex and Juan Gomez, who were detained by ICE along with their parents, who had brought them from Colombia as young boys. The bill died when the U.S. Senate refused to take it up for debate.

After graduating high school in Miami, Gaby Pacheco obtained an international student visa that allows her to attend MDC while working 20 hours a week to help pay tuition.

Family members say three ICE agents, accompanied by Miami-Dade police officers, woke them around dawn on July 26, 2006.

The family gave this account: The agents said they were looking for a Maria Pacheco Chavez, who might be involved in document fraud. Two of the Pacheco sisters are named Maria -- including Gaby, whose full name is Maria Gabriela -- but neither one has the Chavez surname.

Told there was no one at the house by that name, the agents then focused on the family. Eventually, all five wound up at ICE offices at Biscayne Boulevard and 79th Street, where they were questioned. Initially, they contend, agents confused one of Gaby's sisters, Erica, with the student activist.

'They asked her, `Why are you coming out on TV and saying those things?' '' Gaby Pacheco said.

While the Pachecos say the agents told them they came to their house in error, that comment and others they describe convinced the family that ICE knew who Gaby was.

Their attorney, Kurzban, said it's a case of selective prosecution and a First Amendment violation.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breakin ... 44148.html