Arizona churches offer refuge for Central Americans facing deportation

The American Immigration Council said the raids were proof that the White House failed to understand that many Central American families should be given “humanitarian protection rather than punishment”.

Most were placed in family detention centers in Texas to await deportation.In the statement, Johnson said the raids “should come as no surprise, ” adding that he has said publicly for months “that individuals who constitute enforcement priorities, including families and unaccompanied children, will be removed.” Those targeted in the raids had been issued final orders of removal by immigration courts and had exhausted other legal remedies, including claims for asylum. The agency usually exercises discretion on a case-by-case basis, using a family’s individual circumstance, length of time in this country and ties to the community, Homeland Security officials said. Some had missed immigration court dates because they didn’t have attorneys, she said.

Johnson declared that recent border crossers who have entered the U.S. illegally since May 2014 are an enforcement priority, along with convicted criminals and threats to public safety.

Advocates from Yale Law School also spoke at the rally, including law professor Michael Wishnie, who co-directs the Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic.

Immigrant advocates have sounded widespread alarm about the raids, saying the government is targeting vulnerable women and children who could have valid asylum claims if they had access to legal representation. ICE could have taken her into custody in far less frightening and invasive methods than sending seven armed ICE agents to her home to detain the mother and her four children.

– None of the families saw a warrant before Immigration and Customs Enforcement entered their home.

Immigrants have the right to deny ICE officials entry, and if they say no, the federal officials are expected to honor that.

The raids had been rumored for days after a report in The Washington Post revealed that immigration authorities were planning a nationwide sweep this month.

Over 11 million immigrants are living in the USA illegally, according to estimates.

Obama administration officials are defending the 2016 raids as a part of the 2014 executive actions that sought to soften enforcement on immigrants in the country illegally with deep ties in US communities and are otherwise law-abiding.

He said migrants ordered deported can apply to have their cases reopened if they were ordered deported in absentia.

“You have rights that must be respected”. Once inside, they told her to get her kids together and go with them.

“She’s in deportation proceedings”, Paz said of her cousin.

For the past two years, President Obama has made speech after speech calling for the U.S.to open its doors wider to refugees.

The feds plan to continue to expand a messaging campaign to convince families to stay in their home countries, illustrating the “dangerous realities of the journey” while “highlighting the recent enforcement operations”, Johnson said.

“We expect heated calls for raids and deportation from the other side”, said Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez, an Illinois Democrat and top Hispanic leader.

They have received calls about those detained on Long Island and in Austin and Houston, Texas. Lawyers advised the migrants to simply not open the door if approached by immigration agents. The family escaped Guatemala, he said, after a kidnapping attempt. An immigration attorney will be present to answer questions.

“Many of these mothers and children had no lawyers because they could not afford them”, she said. Of those who do, the vast majority have no legal counsel to help them navigate the complex asylum process.

One of Rosa’s daughters, who gave birth to a child in the United States shortly after her arrival, wasn’t taken into custody by the agents over the weekend. “If they feel their detention efforts aren’t serving as a deterrent, they need to prove to people they will face real consequences if they come”.