Illegal Immigrant Shocked at Deportation Arrest After Failing to Appear in Court
by BOB PRICE
29 Oct 2017
Oklahoma City, OK
An illegal immigrant from Mexico appears to be surprised that immigrants officials arrested him after he failed to appear for hearings for three years. The Mexican man had been given a second chance by an immigration judge in 2013 who stopped a deportation order.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO) officers arrested Luis Plaza Moreno, 44, at an immigration office in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, earlier this week. Moreno went to the office to renew a work permit, The Oklahoman reported.
Plaza illegally entered the U.S. near Nogales, Arizona in 2002, ICE officials told the local newspaper. Nine years later, he came in contact with police during a traffic stop. Despite not getting a ticket, Plaza’s attorney, Giovanni I. Perry, said immigration officers moved against him an obtained a deportation order. She successfully blocked the deportation order and the immigration judge enrolled the illegal immigrant in an Alternatives to Detention program.
ICE officials told the newspaper that an immigration judge issued a removal order on April 16, 2013. Four months later, immigration officials granted the man a stay of removal for one year. At that time, the officials enrolled him in the program but told him to report to immigration officials in Oklahoma City on August 13, 2014. When Plaza failed to appear, officials reclassified him as an “immigration absconder.”
“After more than three years with no contact from Plaza Moreno, ICE deportation officers arrested him Oct. 25, 2017, after he arrived at the ICE Oklahoma City to request a stay of removal,” according to immigration officials.
Plaza has six children. Three of the children are U.S. citizens by birth. Another of his children has Permanent Legal Resident status. The two remaining children received President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
His oldest son, Luis Plaza, Jr., described being shocked that his officers arrested his father.
ERO officers transferred Plaza to the detention facility in North Texas. His family is seeking to stop the deportation despite his alleged violations of the terms of his previous stay of deportation.
http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2017/...-appear-court/
ICE deports OKC man in country illegally, family vows to fight
By Josh Dulaney Staff Writer Published: November 1, 2017 12:00 AM CDT
Despite protests by his family and local activists, a father of six who entered the country illegally and has lived in Oklahoma City for more than a decade was deported over the weekend.
“Luis Plaza Moreno was removed to Mexico through Del Rio, Texas, on Oct. 28,” said Carl Rusnok, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in an email.
On Oct. 25, immigration officers arrested Plaza after he failed to report to ICE for more than three years, as required and instructed, federal officials said. They detained him outside the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in south Oklahoma City.
His family didn't know Moreno had been deported until he called them from Mexico.
“We couldn't get ahold of him because they moved him,” Luis Plaza Jr. said Monday. “He called and said they dropped him off. They didn't even give us a chance to sort this out and fight the case. I just don't know why they made it so quick.”
Moreno's family says their 44-year-old father, who entered the U.S. illegally near Nogales, Arizona, in 2002, checked in regularly with ICE following a traffic stop in 2011. They say ICE detained him last week when he tried to renew his work permit.
ICE transported Moreno to a detention facility in North Texas before deporting him to Mexico.
Federal immigration officials took custody of Moreno from the Cleveland County jail in 2011, "following his arrest on criminal charges," according to ICE. He was released from federal custody after posting an immigration bond, authorities said.
In 2013, an immigration judge in Dallas issued a removal order for Moreno, but later, immigration officials officials granted him a stay for one year and placed him into the agency's Alternatives to Detention program.
On May 28, 2014, he was removed from that program and instructed to report to immigration officials in Oklahoma City on Aug. 13, 2014. Moreno did not report as instructed, and he was classified as an immigration absconder, according to ICE.
Immigration officials say Moreno was arrested when he arrived at the ICE Oklahoma City office to request a stay of removal. Moreno's family, their attorney and local immigration activists on Friday protested his arrest outside the office.
“They didn't even bother to process the request for a stay that we filed,” said Giovanni I. Perry, the attorney for the family.
The family has contacted U.S. Sen. James Lankford's office and requested assistance, Perry said.
“Normally they don't step in on cases, but because we have the stay pending, they're looking into why it wasn't processed,” Perry said.
A spokesman for Lankford's office did not immediately return a request to confirm the family has reached out to the senator.
Moreno has six children, his family says. Three of them are U.S. citizens, one of them is a green card holder, and two are DACA recipients, they say.
The family is disappointed that ICE quickly removed their father, but are relieved that he's no longer incarcerated, and is with family in Mexico.
“He's definitely heartbroken but he still has hopes,” Plaza Jr. said. “He believes this was God's plan and he won't go against it. It sucks, but I truly believe we can turn this around. I'm hoping we can get a chance. There's gotta be something we can do out here to make this right.”
http://newsok.com/ice-deports-okc-ma...rticle/5570317
