Washington, DC — In a new Substack post from America’s Voice, Gabe Ortiz and Yuna Oh highlight the recent Senate forum spotlighting how Dreamers are increasingly being targeted: “DACA Recipient Testifies That Her Wrongful Deportation Was ‘Abuse Of Power’ That ‘Traumatized’ Family.” As Republicans plan to take up the budget reconciliation bill after Memorial Day recess, including tens of billions of dollars to scale up mass deportation funding to even greater levels, the stories in the new Substack serve as a reminder of the real people and real lives that will be affected. Read “DACA Recipient Testifies That Her Wrongful Deportation Was ‘Abuse Of Power’ That ‘Traumatized’ Family” in full on AV’s Substack and find key excerpts below:
“Maria de Jesus Estrada Juárez – the DACA recipient who was wrongfully separated from her U.S. citizen daughter this past February despite holding valid deportation protections – testified during a Senate Judiciary Committee “spotlight forum” that her ordeal was no bureaucratic mistake. “It was an abuse of power that traumatized my family,” she said, “and showed how easily immigrant families can be treated as disposable.”
The mom was targeted, detained, and kicked out of a country she had called her home for 25 years just hours after attending what she thought was a routine immigration appointment related to her green card application. “For 40 days I was trapped in a country I do not call home while my daughter lived in fear wondering if she will ever see me again,” she testified during the May 12 forum.
Estrada Juárez was able to win her fight to the U.S. only after a federal judge ruled that she had been deported “in flagrant violation of the regulatory protections afforded to her under DACA” and “in violation of the Constitutional protections afforded to her under the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” the Los Angeles Times reported. “But while her family is now reunited, she told federal lawmakers that they are stuck in a state of unchanging anxiety.
“Now we live in fear. Constant fear,” Estrada Juárez said. “These are not just political talking points or policies on paper. These decisions to destroy families leaves permanent scars on children.”
Stephanie Villarreal testified on behalf of her husband, DACA recipient and essential healthcare worker Juan Chavez Velasco. He was detained for three months after ICE abducted him while he was on his way to deliver milk to their hospitalized newborn. “‘I never got to hold her’ before being taken away, he said in a phone interview from the Webb County Detention Center,” MS Now reported in March. He said he tried to tell ICE that he had DACA, they responded that it “doesn’t matter.”
Villarreal echoed his account during her testimony to senators, saying that Chavez Velasco tried to tell mass deportation agents that his protections were active and that he had already submitted renewal paperwork several months prior and was waiting for it to be approved. “They told him that it didn’t matter, and they took him,” she repeated. “I was on the phone with him and I heard it all happen.”
The dad’s DACA status ultimately expired while he was in detention. “He did everything he was asked to,” Villarreal continued. “He applied on time, he renewed successfully since 2012. That didn’t matter.”
In much-needed good news for the young family, Chavez Velasco finally got to hold his baby daughter after finally being released from ICE detention the Families Belong Together campaign shared Monday.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) said during the spotlight forum that his office has heard from constituents who have also filed their DACA renewal paperwork ahead of time but, like Chavez Velasco, are “still losing their protections due to delayed adjudication.” Some applicants have been forced to wait for as long as six months – or even longer – to have their paperwork processed, leaving them at risk of losing their jobs and housing if their status expires and are then unable to legally work.
“As a result, the number of people with active DACA status has dropped by 32,000,” Senator Durbin said. “Additionally, USCIS is applying so-called ‘processing holds’ on applications from DACA recipients from 39 countries which the President said we will accept no one from. And there is no timeline for when processing will resume.”
The administration is also breaking DACA’s promise by issuing a decision that just disregards DACA period, and “sets a precedent that DACA status is no longer enough to automatically protect immigrants within removal proceedings, which can lead to deportation,” as Mission Local reported.
“Let’s be clear—the cruelty is the issue here,” Senator Durbin continued. “These are people who have lived in the U.S. for years, graduated alongside our kids, married and had their own U.S. citizen children, and are contributing to our communities.”
