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Ohio Dreamer Deported to “Lawless Nuevo Laredo,” Children Left Behind

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The Stakes Could Not Be Higher, Congress Must Pass Dream Act This Year

Senator Sherrod Brown: “Time to pass common sense solution”

Cleveland OH – Last night, The Cleveland Plain Dealer broke the news: “Fabiola Hernandez’ worst fears came to pass Tuesday night when she was taken from her cell in the Geauga County Jail, brought to Toledo and sent to Nuevo Laredo, perhaps the most dangerous city in Mexico.”

The Norwalk mom of three U.S. citizens has been held in Geauga County Jail since last week, when she dutifully appeared for her annual check-in at the Cleveland ICE office.  Instead of a routine meeting she – like so many others before her, including Maribel Trujilloof Cincinnati; Betty Casillas of Painesville; Jesus Lara of Willard; Pedro Hernandez of Elyria;Edith Espinal of Columbus; Leonor Garcia of Akron; and Fatiha Elgharib of Dayton – was told that her time with her children had come to an end.

Said Lynn Tramonte, Director of America’s Voice Ohio:

The government agents did not care that Fabiola is the mother to three young children – all U.S. citizens – including a daughter with cerebral palsy.  They did not care that she has lived in the U.S. for ten years and has a record of contribution.  They did not care that she had routinely received stays of deportation in the past.  They did not care that she would likely be eligible for the Dream Act, and that the legislation could pass in Congress over the next few weeks. Instead, they put her in a county jail, on the fast-track for deportation.  Fabiola’s children didn’t even get to hug her goodbye.

As Michael Sangiacomo wrote for The Plain Dealer:

The family waited all day for Hernandez’ call that she had arrived in the lawless city of Nuevo Laredo, a place where members of crime cartels prey on arriving deportees.

A little after 8 p.m., the call came.

Hernandez was very concerned about her deportation and the impact it would have on her children. She also worried about what would happen to them if she encountered problems in Nuevo Laredo.

“My children need me, Yasmin needs me,” she said through a translator Sunday night at the jail. “I don’t know what will happen to me if they send me to Nuevo Laredo. People are kidnapped there, murdered. I only had $100 on me when I was arrested and I don’t think I can get more before I go. I have no family in Mexico, nowhere to go. I don’t know what to do.”

As Fabiola’s family was frantically trying to confirm her safety, Senator Sherrod Brown was taking to the Senate floor to call for passage of the Dream Act, a bill she likely would have qualified for.

Speaking about the contributions of Ohio Dreamers Ariel LopezElvis SaldiasNathali Bertran, and Vania Saldias, Brown said:

We shouldn’t be targeting young people who grew up in this country…. This is the only country that they have ever known…  We don’t fix our immigration system by kicking out these contributing members of our communities who grew up here and made their home here….

It’s time for us to come together to put partisan considerations aside and pass a common sense solution that protects these kids, protects these Dreamers, upholds our American values.

Tramonte continued:

The Dream Act has the votes to pass in Congress and is broadly supported by the American people. It is the definition of a ‘common sense solution.’  Some Republicans – including President Trump – have argued that action on the Dream Act can wait until next year.  They are wrong.  Fabiola’s deportation proves they are wrong.  Dreamers are being deported today.  DACA beneficiaries are losing their work permits – and seeing their lives upended – today.  The time to act is not next year – it was long ago.  This is now a crisis for many American families, with a simple solution that Congress can and must address.