Trump’s immigration nightmare began yesterday in Phoenix
By Victor Landa, NewsTaco (2.5 minute read) 
Today is like one of those times when you saw that something was going to happen and there was no way to stop it. A woman named Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos could become the first undocumented person to be deported under the Trump’s orders.
There was a protest yesterday in front of the Phoenix Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility when a mother was detained with the intent to be deported after she went to the government office to “check-in” as she has for eight years.
[pullquote]Protesters surrounded the van, chanting, ‘Liberation, not deportation.’[/pullquote]Here’s the background:
Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos was arrested years ago by Maricopa County Sheriff’s deputies in one of their infamous immigration raids. Guadalupe had a false Social Security card that she used to get a job and Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s officers booked her on identity theft.
Under President Obama’s rules identity theft is not a deportable crime. The U.S. Supreme Court determined that it wasn’t a felony offense because person’s who use false SS numbers to get a job have no idea whether the number they’re buying in the black market is made-up or an actual person’s number. Also, there is no intent to do harm when the number is purchased.
Regardless, Arpaio booked Garcia de Rayos.
And because of that she was required to report her activities to the immigration office every year – as she did for eight years with no problem. Yesterday was the ninth check-in.
Read more stories about Trump’s immigration order in NewsTaco. >>
The New York Times pick’s-up the story:
“On Wednesday, immigration agents arrested Ms. Rayos, 35, and began procedures to send her back to Mexico, a country she has not seen since she left it 21 years ago. As a van carrying Ms. Rayos left the ICE building, protesters were waiting. They surrounded it, chanting, ‘Liberation, not deportation.’ Her daughter, Jacqueline, joined in, holding a sign that read, ‘Not one more deportation.’ One man, Manuel Saldana, tied himself to one of the van’s front wheels and said, I’m going to stay here as long as it takes.’
Drama ensued.
The man was cut loose from the van’s wheel, the driver reversed into the government property and the protest continued. Garcia de Rayos was later taken from the facility in an unmarked vehicle but it was “unclear whether officials planned to take [her] to Mexico or to detention.” Her husband and daughter say they don’t know where she is.
This comes in the wake of Trump’s immigration order.
The order widened the definition of deportable offense to almost any crime or criminal charge – a person needs only to be charged and not convicted of a crime to be deportable. Under Trump’s rules the power to determine who is and isn’t deportable rests on the immigration officer at the point of contact.
So with this unleashed power the estimated 1.8 million undocumented workers who used a false Social Security number to get employment are now deportable. I’ll bet there’ll be 1.8 million cancelled immigration check-in appointments.
This is the nightmare scenario that many people feared.
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[Photo via Twitter]
