ICE Closes Dozens of Deportation Cases in Arizona
New America Media
PHOENIX — At age nine, U.S.-born Kathy Figueroa became the public face of hundreds of children impacted by immigration raids and family separation in Arizona. In a YouTube video she pleaded with President Barack Obama for the release of her parents.
It was a bold move for a young child whose undocumented relatives were living in the shadows at a time when immigration raids were taking place in neighborhoods and workplaces on an everyday basis.
Four years later, a turn of events has the now 13-year-old going from fear and uncertainty to thinking about what dress she will wear to her Quinceañera.
Carlos and Sandra Figueroa have been in deportation proceedings since 2009 when Maricopa County Sheriff’s deputies arrested them in an immigration sweep at a local car wash in Phoenix.
But this week, the family got unexpected news: U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) closed their deportation case.
The decision is the latest in a series of cases that the federal agency has decided to close, ending deportation proceedings against dozens of undocumented immigrants who were arrested in Arizona’s immigration raids.
“After conducting a comprehensive review of the Figueroas’ immigration case, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has chosen to exercise prosecutorial discretion in this matter,” authorities said Monday in a statement.
“There’s still hope, that even the most difficult cases can be resolved,” said Sandra Figueroa, 38, from her home, just a few hours after she got the news.
ICE was responding to a special request by Delia Salvatierra, an immigration attorney who recently took the Figueroas’ case. Salvatierra has been challenging the way local prosecutors are enforcing state laws: They have been charging undocumented workers with felony identity theft. If convicted, these undocumented immigrants would have a felony on their criminal record, something that could hurt their changes at legalization.
“ICE chose to do the right thing,” said Salvatierra about this week’s decision to close the case. “Maricopa County is putting ICE in a very difficult position, because normally ICE doesn’t look into the conviction; they accept it at face value.”
Salvatierra believes that the fact that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is suing Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) for racial profiling might have influenced their decision to close the case.
The lawsuit filed by the DOJ alleges that the Criminal Employment Squad (CES), a unit at the Sheriff’s Office, conducts “raids at worksites in an effort to arrest undocumented persons who are working without proper authorization.”
“These raids are conducted in a manner that results in the seizure of Latinos without reasonable suspicion,” according to the DOJ.