Thread: These undocumented immigrants thought they could stay. Trump says deport them.

These undocumented immigrants thought they could stay. Trump says deport them.

4:24 p.m. ET March 22, 2017 | Updated 7 hours ago

Non-violent undocumented immigrants who were left alone by by Obama are now being rounded up by the Trump administration


Angel Ortiz Paz holds Angel Jr., his 6-year-old-son. Ortiz has lived in the U.S.
for 17 years, but was recently arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement
agents and may be deported back to his native Honduras.(Photo: Family Photo)

Angel Ortiz Paz was warming up his car just before 6 a.m. outside his Gaithersburg, Md., townhouse on a recent morning when federal agents pulled in behind him.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were looking for two other men who were undocumented immigrants in the neighborhood, but they started asking Ortiz about his status. As his wife and two children — all U.S. citizens — were inside the house, Ortiz showed them his Maryland-issued driver's license and his Honduran passport.

The agents ran a background check on the information and found that Ortiz was also an undocumented immigrant. They saw a 9-year-old DUI conviction on his record and a 16-year-old deportation order issued by a federal judge shortly after Ortiz illegally crossed the southwest border into the U.S. The agents handcuffed and arrested Ortiz, who is now in federal custody in Louisiana and set to be deported by Friday.

As his attorney scrambles to halt Ortiz's deportation, the construction worker has become the latest face of President Trump's deportation program, which calls for rounding up non-violent undocumented immigrants who would not have been deported under former president Barack Obama's policy.

"When my son watches the news, he says, 'Look, the people who took my papi,'" Ortiz's wife Francis said, referring to their son, Angel, 6. "He is everything to this family. My whole world is missing. Trump has destroyed the lives of many people in my situation."

From the start of his presidential campaign, Trump made clear that he would clamp down on illegal immigration by ramping up deportations. But he and members of his administration repeatedly said they would focus on undocumented immigrants who were hardened criminals — gang members, murderers, rapists or "bad hombres," as Trump described them.

Since Trump took office, however, ICE has made clear that while agents target criminals, they also will round up any other undocumented immigrant they catch along the way. The agency even sent a series of tweets two weeks ago reminding young undocumented immigrants granted deportation protections under Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that they also could face deportation.

The result: A growing number of DACA recipients, mothers, fathers and grandparents with no violent crimes in their backgrounds are being deported or face deportation in the two months Trump has been in office.

ICE spokesman Matthew Bourke said Ortiz qualified for a deportation because he was an "immigration fugitive," based on his DUI conviction and the deportation order issued by a judge in 2001.

Bruce Coane, an immigration attorney who represents Ortiz, said his case shows several changes in deportation priorities. Before Trump took office, he said, Ortiz wouldn't have been questioned or arrested, and prosecutors wouldn't have moved so quickly to deport him.

"Under Obama, there was a concern about tearing families apart," he said. "Everything seems to be very harsh now. The high-profile cases you hear about are just an example of what's going on in the real world. They're definitely becoming more frequent."


Supporters of Trump's expanded use of deportations say the president is following through on his campaign promises to fix an out-of-control situation that has led to 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for lower levels of immigration, said immigrants like Ortiz have only themselves to blame for violating U.S. immigration laws.


"Sure, it's unfortunate. But he's a grown-up, he created this situation, and he has to bear responsibility," Krikorian said. "Somebody who is not paying his mortgage and gets evicted doesn't get to stay just because he has kids."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/w...rump/99455428/

Trump did not destroy your life and has not destroyed the lives of many people in your situation.

You destroyed your own lives when you chose to enter another country illegally.

You knew what you were doing was illegal but did not care and did it anyway.

Just because you managed to evade law enforcement for many years and gave birth to anchor babies
does not give you immunity or special privilege to avoid deportation.

Quickly and quietly. Bing! Bing! Bing!

You have been here for years, enjoyed the freedoms and benefits bought by others.

Now say, 'Thank you, Americans' and go home gracefully.