Phoenix mayor calls deportation of undocumented woman a ‘travesty’
Feb 9, 2017, 12:00 PM
(Screenshot)
(Screenshot)
PHOENIX — Mayor Greg Stanton said the deportation of an undocumented woman who was detained overnight in Phoenix is a “travesty” and waste of energy.
“Rather than tracking down violent criminals and drug dealers, [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] is spending its energy deporting a woman with two American children, who has lived here for more than two decades and poses a threat to nobody,” he said in a statement.
Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos, who entered the United States when she was 14, was deported Thursday after reporting for a required check-in with immigration officials.
She was convicted of felony identity theft following a 2008 raid on her workplace by then-Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. She was allowed to remain in the country, so long as she checked in with immigration officials, under an executive order signed by then-President Barack Obama.
However, an executive order signed by President Donald Trump makes all illegal immigrants convicted of a crime eligible for deportation.
U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) said Trump’s policy strikes fear in the immigrant community.
“Ms. Rayos’ case proves that, in Trump’s America, you could be praying in church one moment, and targeted for deportation the next,” he said.
Stanton has opposed Trump’s deportation plans and reiterated that stance in his Thursday statement.
“As long as I am mayor, Phoenix will not participate in the 287(g) program or enter into any other agreements with the Trump Administration that aim to advance his mass deportation plans,” he said.
