(I’ve edited this somewhat due to the day’s events and added another update, because my promotion didn’t “stick” this morning. Interesting case study in the power of social media — a less prominent family would not have gotten a reprieve. – promoted by ProgressiveCowgirl)
PCG Update: Latina journalist Pilar Marrero reports on a national outcry that stopped deportation in this case — the mother was being driven to Mexico when the driver was called and ordered to return her to her Arizona home.
UPDATE– ICE just confirmed, through past AILA president David Leopold, a stay of removal several minutes ago. David is a good friend of mine and I alerted him to the situation a few hours ago.
Obama claims to understand the plight of immigrants, yet his administration raided the home of a prominent DREAM activist last night.
Erika Andiola is a prominent DREAMer. She has been on the cover of Time Magazine.
http://www.time.com/time/cover…
She is one of the leaders of Arizona’s DREAM coalition.
http://freedomfromfearaward.co…
Partly for these reasons, prominent hispanic news site Latino Rebels describes her as “one of the most well-known DREAMer activists in the country, as well as a champion of comprehensive immigration reform.”
http://www.latinorebels.com/20…
Beyond all of this, she is a friend of mine, and one that I successfully pranked into thinking that an asteroid was going to hit earth on the day of the supposed Mayan apocalypse.
Now Erika and I have had our political disagreements. In short, I’m a bit more conservative than she is, being a pro-immigrant member of the tea party and all. Partly because I’m more conservative, I’ve always looked skeptically at Obama’s purported commitment to go after only the really bad immigrants and to bring immigration reform as soon as he could.
The events of last night may help convince many in the pro-immigrant community that I am right to be skeptical. You see, last night Erika’s mother Maria Arreola and her son Heriberto Andiola Arreola were picked up in an ICE raid in or around Phoenix Arizona. This is a fast changing situation and information is currently limited, but I understand Maria and Heriberto to have never been charged with any crime that would make them ineligible to be considered low-priority for enforcement. Recently both were charged with traffic violations which, according to the recently revised ICE protocols, should not have resulted in this detention. Maria may have been previously stopped at the border in 1998.
I understand that Maria is scheduled to be deported today. I have been repeatedly trying to call the following numbers to voice my disagreement with this deportation:
602-766-7030
202-732-4242
and
202-732-5200
So far I have had little to no success…however some of my other friends have white house contacts and have been relaying the information ahead. The White House has been made aware that this is occurring. Scant hours may tell whether Maria is deported or not. I ask that anybody reading this who has any further ideas on how to prevent this deportation from occurring to please post them.
Sending ICE agents to arrest and deport the non-violent parent of a prominent DREAM activist hardly seems pro-immigrant. I am hoping that this deportation is immediately halted, and if not, that people can open up their eyes to the fact that Obama is not as pro-immigrant as he claims to be.
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Want to reiterate I don’t agree with blaming Obama — especially for events in a state known for defying him on immigration to the point the Obama administration has had to sue Arizona over it. ICE agents appear to be acting counter to the administration’s orders. Why? Dunno.
I agree that you drew a correct lesson PCG. Erika’s mother was actually on the deportation bus and it was en route when it got turned around. I don’t believe any other people were let off – just Erika’s mom. As you said, a mother of a less prominent daughter wouldn’t have been as lucky.
I could see the “more conservative” justifying a comparison to Ms. andiola.
But claiming your relative conservatism as a reason to be more skeptical about this administrations immigration enforcement policy- you lose me.
Being more Republican would justify skepticism of the President and his administration. Being more of an ideologically blinded partisan would explain (define) your skepticism. But just claiming to be conservative does not.
How exactly ar eyou defining your conservatism?
(ps
DST causes the local 4:30pm sunset. Eliminating DST would leave sunset at the “normal” time.)
And I’m skeptical that Obama is a friend to immigrants – I follow Ruben Navarette’s writings on the topic.
Are you running the old “some would say” grift?
Accusing the President of lying to the Dreamer community, pretending to sympathize with them for votes while actually being a pinko in truth, deporting them like the redlegs want?
PCG made a great point re: Arizona being quite non compliant in its’ following the President’s EO, and Madco kind of put an end to your high brow superiority complex with the “conservative” bullshit.
What apparently happened to this lady’s wrong. It obviously smacks in the face of What President Obama’s policy represents.
You’re also suggesting others on the raid weren’t so lucky, because they aren’t “high profile”.
Frankly, this sounds like a pinko taking the opportunity to cheap shot the Democratic President of the United States, with the old “he doesn’t deliver on his promises any better than the reds” scam at the end.
So, after all that, what’s your point?
If you’re going to accuse, man up and do it, whatever the accusation is.
Otherwise you sound like sean hannity.
While claiming to be pro-immigrant. I firmly believe that his pro-immigrant RHETORIC (not actions) helped the Dems win in 2012.
If you want something else, take a look at the constant moving back of the date to get immigration reform done. First it was supposed to be 2009. Then 2010. Then after election. Now its after gun control, consumer protection, and who knows what else.
All this from the guy who was a deciding vote for the poison pill Dorgan Amendment that killed immigration reform in 2007.
of the Republicans helped Dems more than Obama’s rhetoric.
As did DACA.
You’re floating the red herring that the Democrats in general and Sen’s Dorgan and Obama inserterd a poison pill?
Hewitt ran that con in ’07. So did Boortz.
Hannity, the goof CNN fired who went to faux news, and even Kudlow went with it.
Stripping the “guest worker” provision should not have been a problem in the Bill’s passage.
Both Senators were cognizant that the amendment drove wages lower nationally, a redleg priority, and protected their districts and their country.
At one point I thought you might be a “concerned and thoughtfull conservative, seeking civil dialogue”.
You’re a troll. I’m suspecting a pinko former poster, and eventually you’ll reveal yourself.
I remember Mario Solis Marich getting involved to stop a DREAM student from being deported a few years back, I think in Basalt area. Kid wanted to be a police officer when he graduated.
I often wonder how much influence the President’s directives (including formal Executive Orders like the ones supposedly redirecting immigration enforcement attentions) are actually having among the regional departments. These are signed orders from the President, not some random statement to the press that can be simply ignored once the mics are turned off.
ICE seems to be relatively deeply embedded with Sheriff Arpio’s gang in Maricopa County, AZ, even as the DOJ is trying to shut down Arpio’s abuses of authority.
I wonder how many political appointees embedded by the Bush Administration remain in positions where they’re outright disobeying the President.
The bureaucracy is forever. You’re absolutely correct about the subversive Arizona ICE office.
Hey, this column is from High Times magazine — yeah, man, pffft, pffft, pass the big fat doobie, ha ha ha! (Now that we’ve gotten that jokie shit out of the way…) It’s worth reading, because it details how any of us can be stopped in places far from the Mexican border and interrogated about our immigration status:
http://hightimes.com/legal/ht_…
I noticed a Border Patrol vehicle when I was in Rochester over Christmas and wondered WTF it was doing there.
Technically, Rochester’s closest border is its shoreline on Lake Ontario. Not 65 miles away in Buffalo, but 0 miles away where the city ends. And though there is no formal port of entry in Rochester, there are most certainly docks, and there have been ferries and talks about ferries going to Toronto (the latest was supposed to have started this past year, but was cancelled before launch).