Federal Agents Detain 121 Illegal Immigrants in Weekend Raids

Many immigrants were ordered deported in absentia, meaning they either did not show up for their hearing or did not know it was held, she said. They arrived in the USA with the flood of illegal immigrants from Central America in the summer of 2014, mainly entering Texas, surrendering, and requesting political asylum, claiming their lives would be in danger if they were sent back to their home countries of Guatemala, Honduras or El Salvador.

DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said in a statement released Monday that the operation to find and deport Central Americans launched over the weekend “should come as no surprise”. “Obama is cementing his legacy as the ‘deporter in chief, ‘” said Martinez, a director for United We Dream, an immigration advocacy organization.

In Dallas, immigration activist Greisa Martinez said she spent the break counseling her mother on what to do if immigration agents came looking for her. The moment was especially hard, Martinez said, because they had spent the previous Christmas break celebrating President Obama’s new program to protect up to 4.5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation.

The Salvadoran mother from Dallas had her asylum plea denied in by a Dallas immigration judge, but she didn’t understand she could file an appeal, said attorney Lindsay Harris of the American Immigration Council, part of CARA. The Homeland Security Department says 121 have been picked up out of more than 100,000 immigrants who crossed the border illegally.

The teen wasn’t at home when ICE agents arrived, said Holston, who didn’t identify the teen or her home country.

Immigration officials said 121 adults and children were taken into custody.

Muñoz said it’s been hard for many recent Central American migrants to navigate the immigration system.

Quan says Houston, with its large Central American population, may see some of these raids, though he’s unaware of any happening locally.

Johnson said the people they detained this weekend “exhausted appropriate legal remedies”.

Thousands of the immigrants are from Honduras and El Salvador, which have some of the highest rates of violence in the world.

The points listed are deportation, border security, unaccompanied children, smuggling, cooperation with the Mexican government, public awareness, citizenship and the Flores case, which addresses child migrants. The operation is targeting only people, including children, who have been ordered removed from the United States by an immigration judge, officials familiar with the raids have said.

This weekend, Guatemalan and Salvadoran government officials began posting warnings online for immigrants in the US targeted in the sweeps advising them not to open their doors, to seek legal help and avoid signing documents.

As her dad stood weeping, the agents took Hernandez and her six- and nine-year-old sons into custody and drove them first to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office and then to a detention center in South Texas.

Amaya said the information line was set up in response to the immigration raids in 2008 and 2010 that targeted day laborers in Riverside. They are among dozens of congregations nationwide mobilizing to either to open their doors to Central Americans or offer their support, he said.

Illinois Democratic Rep. Luis Gutiérrez is calling for a halt, saying the raids are a “cruel reminder of a discredited policy”, Politico reports, adding that the Congressional Hispanic Caucus will talk about the issue Thursday. “I would definitely not want that to happen here”. “If these families are deported – and majority would be women and children, they would be returned to places they fled to escape being killed, raped or tortured”.

US authorities have cracked down on convicted criminals living illegally in the United States in the past year.