After speaking out about her personal experience with recent immigration reform at a press conference at Jackson Miss.’s City Hall on March 1, 2017, Daniela Vargas was taken out of her car by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents that are reported to have threatened her by saying “you know who we are and you know why we’re here.”
At the press conference Vargas boldy said:
This incident occurred only two weeks after both Vargas’ brother and father were detained by ICE agents on February 15. Vargas’ brother and father remain detained in Louisiana where their deportation is steadily impending. ICE agents attempted to arrest Vargas that night as well, but they were unsuccessful as she locked herself into the closet of her bedroom.
Vargas is a part of the Deferred Action-Program for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA as instated by Barack Obama, but her status as a DREAMer (someone that is qualified for DACA protection) has recently lapsed as of November 2016. Daniela Vargas’ attorney Abby Peterson said that Vargas could not currently afford the $495 renewal fee for DACA protection in November, and so she planned to pay it when she had the funds to do so.
Greisa Martinez Rosas, advocacy director for United We Dream says that because Vargas spoke out at the rally while ICE agents were still trying to find a reason to lawfully arrest her — Vargas’ expired DACA gave them the chance. “Because her DACA was expired, ICE agents played a game of gotcha with her life” Martinez stated.
Although President Trump has signified DACA as one of the exceptions to his virulent immigration policies, Homeland Security’s newly issued rules make a grey area between the DACA exception and no exception accessible to those wanting to strictly enforce immigration laws under a bigoted lens; thus the suspected reasoning behind Vargas’ sudden arrest on Wednesday.
DACA was designed to allow for children who illegally migrated to the United States to be deferred from unlawful deportation with a two-year renewal for protection from this deportation. Vargas entered the United States when she was seven-years-old.
Amy Fischer, policy director with the advocacy group RAICES elaborated on the arbitrary arrests of DACA citizens by saying “ICE’s essential policy is they’re going to try it and try to get away with it, and unless they’re held to task they’re just going to deport whoever they want to deport, even if the person is supposed to have reprieve from deportation.”
Immigration suspicion has always been potent in the United States, but on a more closeted scale. With President Trump’s ability to create a synonym between the words evil and immigrant we see the normalization of the dehumanization of a group of people for no other apparent reason than prejudice being hidden behind cries for safety.
Vargas left the following comments with the Huffington Post before she was arrested:
“We weren’t here doing any harm. We were just going to work and going to school. I feel like I belong here… I feel like I am an American.”
