Latest news with #DACA
Los Angeles Times
4 days ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
After 28 years, O.C. man self-deports to Tijuana in search of a better life
For Arturo, the decision to self-deport to Mexico came crashing one morning. He headed to work at a construction site when a drunk driver rear-ended his truck in December, shortly after Christmas. Living out of a motel, the accident left him feeling frustrated about his lot in life as an undocumented Mexican immigrant trying to make ends meet in Orange County. Arturo, 28, who asked TimesOC not to use his last name out of concern for mixed-status family members, considered leaving the United States not long after Donald Trump won the presidential election in November and promised to bring about the 'largest deportation' program in U.S. history. In March, he self-deported from Anaheim to Tijuana alongside his wife and child, both of whom are U.S. citizens, to avoid any chance of family separation amid Trump's immigration crackdown. Turning the Mexican migration narrative of past generations on its head, Arturo also hoped the very same country he left behind 28 years ago could offer something his life in O.C. did not: an escape from poverty. 'The American Dream is dead,' Arturo told TimesOC over Zoom from Tijuana. 'I'm in Mexico now and I'm excited to see if I can build my dreams here.' Before self-deporting, the U.S. was the only country he knew. His family took him across the border from Puebla, Mexico to Santa Ana without authorization as a newborn. Concerned about street gangs, the family moved to Garden Grove, where Arturo spent much of his formative years until a dispute with his mother put him out on the streets at 13, he said. He spent time in juvenile detention — including for a pair of assault with a deadly weapon misdemeanors — that made approval for a legal work permit under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy difficult to obtain. An immigration attorney advised him that a U visa was an option, if Arturo pressed charges against his mother for child abandonment, but that was something he was unwilling to do. Without any adjustment to his status, Arturo bounced around working odd jobs under the table or with fake Social Security numbers, paying into a system he didn't stand to benefit from in the future. Housing remained a struggle for the past three or so years with him and his wife alternately living out of a car, motels, rented rooms and a studio apartment. They last rented a room in Anaheim off Beach Boulevard near Stanton. 'My room, in particular, was just a gateway for mice,' Arturo said. Like other Californians struggling with the cost of living, the couple contemplated moving out of state before crossing the border. Arizona looked like an affordable option, but California's status as a 'sanctuary' state for undocumented immigrants kept them from leaving. That sense of security eroded with news about the infamous Terrorism Confinement Center, commonly called CECOT, in El Salvador, where migrants removed by the U.S. government were being detained without due process. Fearing what could come next, the family headed south to the San Ysidro crossing with $2,000 in tow to start life over in Tijuana. 'I had a free week before I left,' Arturo said. 'I grew up by Little Saigon. I love my pho. I went to Pho 79 in Garden Grove. There's a pho restaurant down the street in Tijuana, but I'm scared to try it.' He couldn't get his truck across the border and left it in a paid parking lot for a relative to retrieve. The family crossed over by foot. Arturo and his family carried a backpack, duffle bag and a diaper bag while storing everything else they owned in a stateside storage unit. 'You know you can't come back,' a Mexican border official warned. Arturo acknowledged the warning, crossed into Mexico and checked into a hotel. Self-deportation is not a new concept, but it is something undocumented immigrants are grappling with more during the Trump administration. In 2008, U.S. Immigrant and Customs Enforcement piloted 'Operation Scheduled Departure' and ran ads in Spanish encouraging undocumented immigrants without criminal records who had otherwise ignored deportation orders to report to an ICE field office for voluntary removal. Santa Ana was one of five cities targeted under the pilot program. But only two immigrants living in the city self-deported before the pilot ended weeks later. Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney made self-deportation a plank of his immigration policies but faced ridicule for the stance during his failed 2012 campaign. President Trump's visible immigration raids, coupled with pulling back on protected areas like churches and schools as possible avenues of enforcement, has ratcheted up the pressure for immigrants to self-deport like never before. On May 5, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security launched a self-deportation incentive that offers $1,000 in travel assistance. More recently, the Trump administration has urged DACA recipients to self-deport despite the deferral on deportation the program offers. Leo Chavez, a UC Irvine professor emeritus of anthropology and author of 'The Latino Threat: How Alarmist Rhetoric Misrepresents Immigrants, Citizens, and the Nation,' researched the impact of xenophobic messaging and statistically found elevated stress levels in immigrants. 'The policies and rhetoric are so severe now that some people are saying they've had enough,' he said of the current self-deportation trend. 'Some people would like to escape the onslaught of this rhetoric on their lives. There is a certain amount of liberation from not being blamed for everything.' Chavez also noted that young Mexicans considering self-deportation would encounter a different country than the one their parents left behind. 'Young people are able to find jobs,' he said. 'The Mexican economy is doing relatively well. That migrant push out of Mexico to the U.S. has gone down in the last two or three decades.' But this costs the community — in the form of family separation — and has many undocumented immigrants in the U.S. still taking a hunkered down approach, Chavez added. Arturo has described the experience of being Mexican in Mexico as a 'peace' he has not felt before. The appearance of masked and armed federal immigration agents arresting undocumented immigrants this summer throughout Southern California sent a chill through local immigrant economies with some workers either staying home in fear or risking arrest while laboring at car washes or selling food on the street. Arturo felt like he 'dodged a bullet' by self-deporting as he watched the news unfold from the safety of the 3-bedroom apartment he now rents in Tijuana. He does admit to feeling a bit of survivor's guilt. But Arturo has been more preoccupied with getting established in Tijuana. For the first few months, his life somewhat resembled the one he left behind. He was able to get a tax identification number but needed to wait for three months before the Mexican government issued him a voter identification card, which allows him to vote in elections and is a valid form of identification accepted by employers. Arturo used his passport in the meantime to secure odd jobs, from security to landscaping. But as a self-described 'no sabo' kid, his lack of proficiency in Spanish cost him one job. Nearly six months into self-deportation, Arturo, as of late July, was working at a call center. He pays the equivalent of $500 a month for his family's Tijuana apartment. At his wife's insistence, he chronicles his self-deportation journey on social media, from a tour of his apartment to answering a slew of questions from a growing base of intrigued followers. Arturo doesn't claim to romanticize self-deportation and notes that everyone's situation is different. He didn't have family in Mexico depending on remittances like other immigrant workers in the U.S. The decision to leave came down to his own family and their future. 'I've shown that you can come here to make a life,' Arturo said. 'If it's a viable option for others, I would tell them to come to Mexico, too.'
Hindustan Times
4 days ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Supporters rally to free Alabama social worker detained by ICE
* Supporters rally to free Alabama social worker detained by ICE Giovanna Hernandez detained by ICE after traffic stop in Alabama * Hernandez missed DACA cutoff, faces possible deportation under Trump's policies * ICE arrests of people with no criminal records spikes under Trump By Ted Hesson WASHINGTON, - Friends and family of an Alabama social worker detained by U.S. immigration authorities are pushing for her release days after she was pulled over for an alleged speeding violation, a case that reflects the broad sweep of President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. Giovanna Hernandez, 24, was stopped by local police while driving on Tuesday morning in her hometown of Leeds, near Birmingham, according to her brother, Dilan Hernandez. She was taken to a county jail and is now in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody there, ICE's detainee locator showed. Hernandez's parents brought her to the U.S. from Mexico at age 7, her brother said. She was valedictorian of her high school class, has bachelor's and master's degrees in social work, and works with young people applying for college through a local non-profit organization, he said. Trump, a Republican, has vowed to deport millions of immigrants in the U.S. illegally, saying it is needed after high levels of immigration under his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden. While the Trump administration frequently highlights the cases of immigrants with serious criminal records, the number of people picked up by ICE with no previous criminal charges or convictions has skyrocketed since Trump took office in January. State and local police have played a key role in Trump's deportation pipeline, arresting people and holding them for ICE to take into custody. U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said Hernandez was driving recklessly when she was pulled over by ICE and local police. 'On August 5, Giovanna Hernandez Martinez was tailgating a law enforcement vehicle, passed them erratically at 80 MPH, and cut them off," McLaughlin said. "Upon witnessing this reckless driving, ICE and local police initiated a traffic stop and discovered she was an illegal alien from Mexico. Unlike the Biden administration, we are not going to ignore the law." Dilan Hernandez said his sister was driving slightly above the posted speed limit on a highway. Reuters could not immediately ascertain the posted speed limit on the road. The Leeds Police Department and Pickens County Jail, where Hernandez was being held, did not respond to requests for comment. Hernandez was brought to the U.S. in 2008 and missed a cutoff date to qualify for deportation relief and a work permit under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, launched under former President Barack Obama, a Democrat. Trump tried to end that program during his first term but was rebuffed by the Supreme Court. Dilan Hernandez, a 21-year-old senior at Christian Brothers University in Tennessee, said his sister was a role model who had shared the experience of adapting to life in the U.S. and guided him. "That's why I just really want more people to help her, since she was always willing to help everybody else," he said. SUPPORTERS RALLY A petition calling for Hernandez's release has more than 5,000 signatures as of Thursday, and a GoFundMe page has raised $8,500 to help cover legal expenses. The petition calls for her immediate release, stopping deportation proceedings against her, and a pathway for her to remain in the U.S. legally. Mariana Alvarez, who has been friends with Hernandez since college, said she worried about what could happen to her in jail or immigration detention. "She's a social worker. She's a very gentle, straight-laced, church-going girl," Alvarez said. Alvarez, currently in medical school, said her friend barely remembers living in Mexico. "The thought that this could end with her being sent there, away from her family, I'm definitely scared of that," Alvarez said. "What would she do? Her whole life is here." This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Murdoch Paper Rips Trump Over His Plot to Punish Migrants' Kids
The Wall Street Journal has torn into President Donald Trump for 'discriminating' against Dreamers after a crackdown was launched at five universities. The Department of Education launched a series of 'national origin discrimination investigations' at five colleges with scholarship programs specifically designated for Dreamers—undocumented young people who arrived in the U.S. before 2007, have no ties to their parents' country of origin, and who were granted clemency under the Obama administration. The Journal, in an editorial, said the investigations seem to be punishing Dreamers for the crimes of their parents. The DoE announced a crackdown on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) students, or Dreamers, at Louisville, Nebraska Omaha, Miami, Michigan, and Western Michigan universities in July. Dreamer students are often, the Journal 's editorial board wrote, from modest backgrounds, and their legal status means they are not eligible for federal aid, meaning such scholarships are their only source of aid. Now, the Trump administration has argued that colleges that provide such scholarships are 'discriminating against native-born Americans,' and citing the 1964 Civil Rights Act to advance its agenda. 'Why is [the Trump administration] needlessly harassing colleges that provide scholarships to young people who came to the country illegally as children?' the Journal asked, claiming the move is 'discriminating against DACA students.' In an X post announcing the investigations, Education Secretary Linda McMahon said, 'Non-citizens should not be given special preference over American citizens for scholarships at American universities.' But the Journal rejected McMahon's logic. 'Denying Dreamers an opportunity to learn and advance in society doesn't help anyone. It's another example of the way the Trump Administration's mass deportation agenda is at war with the country's need for human talent,' the paper wrote. 'Keep in mind these DACA students are currently legal residents of the U.S.' It added, 'The real point of these investigations seems to be one more way of punishing Dreamers because their parents crossed illegally into the U.S. decades ago. Ditto the Justice Department's lawsuits against states that provide lower in-state tuition to Dreamers.' The DoE's office for civil rights also announced it would be investigating scholarships that appear to exclude students based on race and national origin. Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights, said, 'Neither the Trump Administration's America First policies nor the Civil Rights Act of 1964's prohibition on national origin discrimination permit universities to deny our fellow citizens the opportunity to compete for scholarships because they were born in the United States.' The Journal accused Trainor of having a 'rationale in search of a problem that doesn't exist,' and the government of discriminating against Dreamers. The University of Louisville, the University of Nebraska Omaha, the University of Miami, the University of Michigan, and Western Michigan University are the five colleges being investigated by the DoE over the alleged discrimination. Earlier this year, the University of Michigan announced it was cutting its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs following pressure from the federal government.
Epoch Times
5 days ago
- Politics
- Epoch Times
ICE Officers in LA Barred From Impersonating Local Police in Home Arrests
Federal immigration officers in Southern California are now barred from posing as local police or using other deceptive tactics to conduct home arrests, under a court settlement approved this week in a class-action lawsuit challenging U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE's) practices. U.S. District Judge Otis Wright on Aug. 4 granted final approval of a settlement agreement in a case filed in 2020 by a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status recipient and two advocacy groups—the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) and the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice (ICIJ).
Newsweek
5 days ago
- Politics
- Newsweek
DACA Recipient Detained by ICE at Airport Before Boarding Domestic Flight
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Catalina "Xóchitl" Santiago, a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient and longtime immigration activist, was detained by Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents on Sunday at El Paso International Airport as she prepared to board a domestic flight. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told Newsweek via email on Wednesday that CBP arrested Santiago, a migrant from Mexico, because of a criminal history that included charges for trespassing and possession of narcotics and drug paraphernalia. "Illegal aliens who claim to be recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) are not automatically protected from deportations," McLaughlin said. "DACA does not confer any form of legal status in this country. Any illegal alien who is a DACA recipient may be subject to arrest and deportation for a number of reasons, including if they've committed a crime." According to KVIA, a local ABC affiliate in El Paso, Santiago will remain in ICE custody pending her removal proceedings. Community organizer and Cosecha leader Cata "Xóchitl" Santiago was detained by Border Patrol this morning in El Paso, TX. — Movimiento Cosecha (@CosechaMovement) August 3, 2025 Why It Matters Santiago's detention has sparked concern among advocates as it highlights the fragility of legal protections for DACA recipients, often known as "Dreamers." DACA provides work authorization and temporary protection from deportation, but it does not confer legal status. Recent detentions of DACA recipients—including Santiago's—raise pressing questions about the program's limits, particularly under intensified immigration enforcement. The incident comes amid continued debate over the fate of DACA and its beneficiaries, as legal and policy battles play out across the U.S. What To Know Santiago, a member of the Movimiento Cosecha advocacy group, had reportedly presented a valid DACA work authorization card when taken into custody. Around 4 a.m. local time on Sunday, she was approached and detained by two agents as she was about to board her flight. Despite presenting her DACA work authorization card, agents took her into custody and transferred her to a federal immigration processing facility in El Paso, according to Border Report. Representative Sylvia Garcia, a Democrat from Texas, speaks during a news conference with immigration experts, DACA recipients and Dreamers to mark the 13th anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in Washington, D.C.,... Representative Sylvia Garcia, a Democrat from Texas, speaks during a news conference with immigration experts, DACA recipients and Dreamers to mark the 13th anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in Washington, D.C., on June 11. More ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images Supporters, including Movimiento Cosecha, have mobilized a response through social media and organized a GoFundMe campaign that, as of the morning of August 6, had raised more than $56,700 for Santiago's legal defense of a goal of $70,000. She has received more than 1,200 donations. Activists dispute the grounds for her detention, arguing that she has legal protection under DACA and is an integral part of her community after more than a decade of activism. They said Santiago had made "such a profound and powerful impact on so many loved friends and community members from Florida to Texas and beyond," notably aiding the immigrant community and families in El Paso. "Now, we need to show up for her," the GoFundMe page said. "Immigrant communities have been targeted for decades, and the Trump administration is taking these fascist tactics to unprecedented levels. This unexpected and cruel detainment will likely result in high legal fees alongside immeasurable emotional impact on her and her family." It continued: "We are asking for support for her legal funds and post-release care and healing. Please give what you can to ensure that Xotchil has the resources needed to fight for her case, her ability to stay in the U.S. with her family and community, and can take the time needed to recover from this traumatic experience after she is released." Newsweek has contacted the page's organizer, Lagartija del Sol, for comment. A separate petition on has garnered more than 3,200 signatures calling for her release. Organizers have scheduled a protest for August 6 at the ICE detention facility in El Paso demanding Santiago's release, according to KVIA. What People Are Saying Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told Newsweek via email on Wednesday: "Illegal aliens can take control of their departure with the CBP Home App. The United States is offering illegal aliens $1,000 and a free flight to self-deport now. We encourage every person here illegally to take advantage of this offer and reserve the chance to come back to the U.S. the right legal way to live the American dream." Catalina "Xóchitl" Santiago said in a statement posted on her GoFundMe page by Lagartija del Sol: "I love everyone and thank you so much for walking with me in so many ways, for thinking of my well being and for reminding me of importance of organized struggle and lightening up my spirit." What Happens Next Santiago remains in federal immigration custody as legal proceedings continue. Her supporters are coordinating with her legal team to challenge her removal and demand her release. The broader legal future for DACA recipients remains uncertain amid ongoing court battles and evolving immigration policies.
