In New York, Jose Molina is facing deportation after living in the US for almost forty years. He’s been married to his wife for 16 years, has a green card, is a permanent resident, and works for the New York City Department of Parks.
The Trump Administration is trying to deport him back to Panama because of a crime he committed when he was 18 years old. Jose served his time for assault before growing up, turning his life around, meeting his wife, and starting a family.
Immigration officials first started talking to Jose five years ago, but it was not until last Thursday during a check-in with ICE that Jose was detained. His immigration attorney, Jennifer Molina, said the grounds were seemingly arbitrary: “The only answer they could give me was we have a new president now,” she said.
Boston janitor in immigration detention asks for help
In Boston, Francisco Rodriguez is a janitor who works at MIT who was detained after a check-in last week even though he has received the support of thousands of petition-signers, both of his US Senators, and his congressman, Rep. Mike Capuano.
Francisco fled El Salvador more than a decade ago after a colleague at his engineering firm was murdered by gangsters. His undocumented status prevented him from ever obtaining legalization or citizenship, but ICE has issued him a stay of removal every year since 2011, which allowed him to work legally.
This week, in detention and facing deportation, Francisco penned this op-ed in the Boston Globe highlighting the fact that he’s never done anything wrong, how his family needs him, and asking for help. Read the op-ed in full below:
My name is Francisco Rodriguez. I have never been arrested for a crime in my life. But today I am in jail in Boston, wearing a prison uniform and in this terrible place away from my wife and my children.
My wife is pregnant, and now I do not know where I will be when our baby is born. She and the baby are now in more danger because of the stress that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has made for us. My mother is also sick. My daughters are not sleeping. They cry all the time and do not understand why I can’t be with them. I worry so much for them.
I was told that if I did what ICE said, I would not have to be in jail. I believed them. I came when they told me and did what they said, but they took me. I do not understand why I am here.
I believe in this country. I believe in what people can do here. I believe in God and have faith. I have permission to work in this country legally. I have paid my taxes to the government. My only mistake in my life was coming to this country the way I did. But it saved my life.
I appreciate all of the support from so many people. I have never had to ask anyone for help before. But it is so hard for me now, away from everyone in this place.
My family needs me now. Please help me if you can. Thank you.
Michigan mom of three faces check-in tomorrow
In Ann Arbor, Michigan, advocates are holding a vigil and rally for Lourdes Salazar Bautista tonight before she goes in for a check-in with ICE tomorrow.
Lourdes came to the US twenty years ago, has three US citizen children, has no criminal record, and is facing a deportation date of August 2. The Washtenaw Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights successfully won a stay of deportation for Lourdes six years ago, but now they say they “don’t know what’s going to happen.”
When asked why ICE wanted to remove her now, a spokesperson parroted a line from DHS Secretary John Kelly: “ICE will not exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement” — even though ICE (and Kelly) has the prosecutorial discretion to let mothers like Lourdes stay so that they can focus on immigrants who really need to be removed.
But as WICIR co-founder Laura Sanders said, it seems ICE has “ramped it up big time” in the area, targeting anyone who’s undocumented.
